Present: Carmen, Simon, er, that's it. As the fabled fuel embargoes began to bite, the numbers for this trip began to dwindle, until it was down to just two.

After driving across in pouring rain on Friday evening, we managed to strike camp in between showers. Saturday dawned cloudy, but with some promising hints of blue, and we decided to risk an ascent of Corvus, a 9-pitch Diff. on Raven Crag, on the flanks of Glaramara. The weather gradually improved, and by the time we reached the foot of the climb the sky had cleared and the sun was shining, giving superb views over Borrowdale and Derwent Water to Keswick and Skiddaw. Unfortunately, the crag we were climbing faced north-east, and so was in shadow for the entire day!

The climb itself proceeded uneventfully, the initial rather greasy pitch giving way to superb climbing on mainly dry rock, punctuated by belays on pool-bearing ledges. Even the infamous Hand Traverse pitch was far easier than its intimidating appearance suggested, and so after only 3 hours or so we were at the top.

The cloud was now lowering, and so after some discussion we decided to climb to the summit and go down the ridge on the other side of the valley! Navigation in the mist proved challenging, but we fared rather better than the elderly couple we met who had a compass but no map - "because we know the hill really well" - they were of course hopelessly lost.

The next day started wet, but the forecast was for improvement later, so we decided to risk it and drive over to Buttermere, and do at least part of the Buttermere Round. It was raining as we started walking, and the rain just got heavier, so when we reached Scale Force, we decided to turn back. Had we but known it, the Borrowdale Show was on that day, so we could have spent the day looking at sheep instead of getting soaked! But Buttermere is beautiful, and demands a revisit?