We parked by the Patterdale Hotel (£4.50 for the day), taking the path up the long valley of Grisedale, which separates St Sunday Crag and its subsidiary fells from the Helvellyn group to the north. At the first stile we turned south, to climb steeply on another path to the viewpoint on Oxford Crag - a good spot to take in the view north over Ullswater. We pushed on, following the wall, diverting left to make our way through the crags up to the summit. This was a very windy place, and we had trouble keeping our stance by the summit cairn.

After summit photos, we dropped south, to shelter from the wind and debate our forward route. We had originally intended continuing up to Birks, at 622m. However, time was getting on, and we were not fully equipped for the full winter conditions we would encounter if we ascended above the snow-line. We decided to call it a day, in terms of summit-bagging. To vary the route, we headed SSW to Trough Head over an un-named intervening top, then contouring around the fell-side to reach the faint path down beside Hag Beck. A steep ladder-stile had to be negotiated to reach Glenamara Park, an area of grass and open woodland in the lower part of the dale. The sun, as it sank lower, lit up patches of the fell-side in rich hues of gold and orange. We arrived at the main path in Grisedale, soon reaching the wall where we had turned south to climb the fell. In a little while we were back at our starting point.