After a fairly long train journey, the well worn ascent of Black Combe from Whicham was hot tiring work in the sheltered lower reaches, but emerging on the upper slopes we put on our fleeces rather sharpish in the sudden chilly wind. The vast majority of walkers ascend and return by this route and we met a few already coming down. By the time we reached the trig point and enclosing windshelter, everyone had gone and the top was ours.

The views were very hazy today from the broad flat top as we sat in the windshelter for a rest and a bite to eat. The original plan devised a while ago was to travel in the afternoon and camp here overnight, excellent pitching ground, leaving a leisurely two days for the remainder, but we decided to do it all in two.

A grassy path heads north-eastwards enabling rapid progress along the edges of Blackcombe Screes and Whitecombe Screes giving pleasing local views. At Whitecombe Head we took care to leave the very tempting onward path and veer over to Stoupdale Head on a vague line in the rougher terrain to the fence corner to start the descent to Black Dub on the eastern side.

Black Dub might well be the reason this south-western approach to the mountains is rarely used, it has a reputation as a boggy, tangled mess. Time to exercise our vast experience of botanical micro-navigation: careful interpretation of the subtle colours and textures of the terrain vegetation ahead to predict the easiest/driest line through. We finally reached good ground at the small plantation and crossed the wall at a breach to pick up the trodden path below Stoneside Hill to the pass road.

A good path ascends beside the wall to the rockpile of Buck Barrow where we picked up the squelchy path across the dip to Whitfell with its large summit cairn. The wind was surprisingly chilly and we were glad of the windshelter for our evening eats. There was a good view in the hazy air towards the sunlit sea and the sinuous patterns in the bay.

Holehouse Tarn is clearly visible ahead and we descended to pick up the trodden path through these fine fells with a view to a pitch near the tarn. The grassy terrain yielded many opportunities and we made our pitch close by with a view across the tarn to Stainton Pike and a pleasing dusk sky.

Several skylarks had already been twittering for two or three hours as we broke camp in the hazy dawn veil of broken cloud and continued on the path, the silhouetted mountain peaks to the east presenting a colourful scene in the shafts of early sunlight. This is fine walking and the path hugs the edges of the small rocky outcrops and tops around to Yoadcastle and Woodend Height where Devoke Water comes into view.

There was no discernible line in the trackless slopes directly down to the eastern end of Devoke Water: we descended north-eastwards, easily at first, with a view to following the nascent Hall Beck. Lower down it was time for more botanical navigation as we negotiated a variety of fairly rough and boggy bits to find a good line on the eastern side of the beck by a small ravine.

The air was clearer today and presented a good view of Devoke Water and Rough Crag with higher mountains beyond.

The plan was to cross the saddle between Rough Crag and Water Crag to reach Brantrake Moss. We gained some of the height on the access track as far as a nondescript metal fence post where a distinct trodden line set off up the slope at just the right spot. This path becomes a squelchy quadbike track that levels off and contours around to the saddle.

We have crossed Brantrake Moss before in the other direction but that was years ago and forgotten now. The trackless descent to the edge of the boggy valley was covered in bracken, fortunately the season was early and it was short and sparse. We reached the edge with very little difficulty, threaded a line across the valley to the foot of Brantrake Crags and ascended a short distance to meet the top of the bridleway coming up from the Esk Valley.

From the high point, the bridleway suddenly becomes an excellent path of cropped grass zigzagging down the steep slopes below the crags, just as well since the extensive bracken here was neither short nor sparse. The path reaches a wall and turns alongside it on a scrappy track to arrive on the valley road.

We walked along the road around to the woodland track that crosses the river to Muncaster Head. The Esk Valley trail, quite busy on this sunny Saturday, follows a track at the foot of the trees along the valley and ascends to Muncaster Tarn where we picked up our familiar route into Ravenglass near the castle.