You may have noticed that I'm now back from my short break. It's not often I plan holidays longer than a couple of days, but I had a few things I wanted to do which co-incided with the last week in October. The first thing was to get some proper walking in since it's a while since I've taken a 'real' peak. In all my years on the fells I've never been on Skiddaw, and I have a friend in the area with whom I could stay. I couldn't have chosen a worse day however, as we set off it didn't look too bad but was windy and the top of the mountain was obscured from view. From Ullock Pike it was obvious we'd be doing the next 300m in dense cloud, and the winds were getting quite strong too. On the last section of scree everything suddenly got very bleak, visibility nil, wind, drizzle and no view. Or was that a blessing as it meant we couldn't see the steep drop beneath us? Finally making it to the top I was so relieved, but wet and cold. Another peak under my hat and I noticed my fitness has really improved as the climb didn't seem to bother me at all. At 931m I felt quite pleased with myself. Just a pity I couldn't get any photos of what would have been a fantastic view if not for the dense cloud all around!!!!