Fortunately I was able to get a lift to Penrith with Adrian and Steve which gave me something of a flying start. Then dropped me at the Railway Station where I waited for the X4 bus to Keswick. I caught thr 8:25am and my first decission was which ticket to buy. My objective was Honister pass involving 2 buses. Do I get a single ticket on each bus or an Explorer ticket for £9 that will get me there on one ticket? I opted for two and hoped that they'd be cheaper. The Keswick ticket was £4.95. I didn't have long to wait in Keswick before I caught the 9:15 77a Honister circular bus.

The bus leaves Keswick.

A climbing above Honister Quarry.

The ticket cost me £4.55, so I'd made the wrong choice and paid 50p over the odds. Never mind, at least it wasn't raining. There were quite a few walkers on the bus and more got on as we continued the journey. It was just before 10am when I arrived at the Honister Youth Hostel stop. I found a nice large slab of slate by the quarry car park to sit on while sorting my pack before setting off up the steep incline of the old quarry tramway. The clouds stayed fairly high and I had good views as I climbed. I stopped a while at the summit to admire the slate stonework before turning left and heading up the rougher path towards Brandreth.

I didn't have too definite an objective as I wasn't sure what the weather would do. The forecast was bad but the cloud had thinned a bit giving dappled patched of sunshine on the fells. The wind was very light which made choosing a pitch for the tent much easier. I chose a site on the edge of Brin Crag at an altitude of 665m. The views down into Ennerdale and Buttermere were exceptional and the distant views were clear enough to see across the Solway into Scotland.

A nice view of Buttermere and Crummock Water.

Camp for the night.