An Ode to the Fog - Gun, Roaches, Hen Cloud

bootsandbanter
Nov 26, 2025
4 min read

The Day the Peaks Became Timeless

Date: 22 November 2025

📍Route: Tittesworth Reservoir → Gun → The Roaches → Hen Cloud

📏Distance: 17.5 km

⬆️Ascent: 591 m

⛰️ Ethels: #62 (Gun)

Weather: Persistent drizzle, thick fog, low visibility, 3°C, zero views, full sogginess.

Mood: Calm, focused, happy to be back outside after 20 days

🌧️A Grim Morning and a Spontaneous Decision

There is a saying that there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing...well… apart from my Mordor day on Crinkle Crags and Bowfell when I was soaked straight through to the soul (and I did have appropriate clothing).

But generally, yes, appropriate clothing.

I woke up in the morning and it was grim, proper rain, not just a drizzle. I am not a fair-weather hiker, but even I do not usually head out into this kind of downpour for a long route.

However, I was craving that feeling of being outside for hours, wandering into places I have not yet discovered. It has been 20 days since I last went proper hiking and for me this is a geological era.

So, I made a very spontaneous decision and decided to go to the Peaks.

The wipers were working overtime as I drove, and I kept hoping the northeast would be better 🙏🏻.

I had plotted a route earlier this week that would take me to a new Ethel, but also extend it a little with a familiar but not visited in couple of years area.

💦 Soggy Start at Tittesworth Reservoir

I arrived at Tittesworth Reservoir and stepped out into full sogginess, pulled on the overtrousers, new gaiters, backpack cover, and off I went.

The drizzle was that special type the UK specialises in… The kind that looks harmless until you realise it has infiltrated your soul.

I crossed quite a few farm fields and buildings. No one around. Just me and very persistent drizzle.

Into the Mist on Gun

As I went up to the first Ethel called Gun, it became very misty. At that point I did not care how wet I was going to get.

I love fog.

Fog hides everything except what is right in front of you, so senses sharpen.

Fog makes the mundane look cinematic.

Fog turns a normal hill into a scene from a myth.

The Roaches and Hen Cloud

I continued to the Roaches and Hen Cloud, where I have been before, but seems like ages ago.

Just before stepping onto the Roaches ridge, an ice-cream van appeared and I made a decision that would horrify every Bulgarian mother and grandmother in existence.

I bought an ice cream.

At 3 degrees. In fog. In wet gear.

Somewhere in Bulgaria, an entire line of women just gasped.

This is the exact behaviour they warn us about from birth, “You cannot eat ice cream in weather like this, you will get ill, your throat will collapse, your lungs will give up, and your entire immune system will leave the country.”

Meanwhile there I was, standing in freezing fog, eating it with zero shame, like a rogue child.

The fog never lifted but the constant drizzle stopped, which made the whole place feel quietly enchanted. I could enjoy the fogginess even more now. Once the hood of my jacket came off, I could also enjoy the silence. There were barely any people in the area.

This year I have done some epic long days in conditions just like this and they feel familiar now. I have done the Welsh 15 in whiteout. Crinkle Crags and Bowfell in Mordor mode. Great End in very similar weather too. Many more others too.

I think I thrive in the elements that make other people turn back.

Days like this do not scare me, they make me feel alive.

🕰️Fog and Memory

Walking along the Roaches today actually reminded me of the Lake District on those wild days. Looming shadows, boulders, everything quietly beautiful and magical. Everything softened and sharpened at once.

Fog is like the ultimate time eraser.

When the world is blurred out, all the modern clutter disappears. Cars, fences, phone masts, people in Lycra, all gone.

What is left is land, stone, weather, and me.

It lets me imagine the Peak District as it might have been before anything existed here except stone and weather. It feels like stepping out of the present into something ancient.

Nature’s Gothic Architecture

The rock formations at the Roaches are so unique.

I do not know how many people casually admire rocks the way I do 🤣 but I stood there staring at the grooves and shapes.

It is like nature's Gothic architecture.

The Roaches are one of those places that look better in moody conditions like today. The texture of the rocks pops and they look like they are holding secrets.