For my first holiday break of 2022, I set myself the challenge of activating my last 2 summits to complete the Lake District region - G/LD-012 High Stile and G/LD-036 Mellbreak. I stayed in the Kirkstile Inn, which is perfectly located at the foot of Mellbreak (good food and would definitely revisit again).
The trip started on Sunday 9/1/22 though we couldn’t get away until nearly midday, due to other commitments. I decided to do the 2 Mell Fells (G/LD-035 & G/LD-037) en route, partly (OK, mainly 
) for the winter points and partly as a little warm up. I changed my alert to VHF only due to the weather forecast. The forecast was accurate!! Wet, windy and a little chilly. My thanks to the regular “local” chasers and also to a net that I butted in to twice to get the contacts. They were very friendly and certainly helped me get the points in as a quick a time as possible. My wife loves walking, but doesn’t seem to enjoy sitting around on totally exposed mountain tops in adverse weather (strange girl 
). The weather was due to steadily improve throughout our stay.
Monday was down for Mellbreak. A really enjoyable walk, the mountain has some very varied aspects depending on your location. The northern end is quite imposing, whilst the eastern slopes are dramatic. The southern end looks quite gentle in comparison. I set up slightly down from the summit in the lee and enjoyed a good run on 40m. Apologies to the local chasers who had been waiting for me on 2m (I didn’t try that band due to trying to stay out of the wind).
Tuesday was to be my last fell to complete LD - High Stile. It was also forecast to be sunny with excellent visibility. We parked in Buttermere. My plan was to go up the Scales path to Ling Comb, then over Red Pike to the summit; before returning via Bleaberry Tarn. We left the mapped path just after passing the wall on the Scales path and took the direct route up to Ling Comb. This was possibly not the best plan as it resulted in a near mutiny near the top. Motivational words and wine gums succeeded in getting us to the Saddle. From here, we could see the rest of the route and agreement was reached to complete the walk (I thought I was going to have to do it all again for a while!). The scree going up to Red Pike also proved unpopular (in both directions) - I may need a new walking partner for anything similar in the future (but at least my marriage survived). Sadly the promised views never quite materialised as the summit was shrouded in mist. I also restricted myself to 2m (despite having carried the HF gear up there) in the interests of harmony. Sorry not to have worked you on your birthday Guru (@EA2IF), I was thinking of you.
We enjoyed a well-deserved take away curry that evening to celebrate (for me) completing LD and (for my beloved) never having to do High Stile again!!
