Derwent Water to Glenridding

Thursday 1st January 2009

I really enjoyed this walk as I travelled from the Derwent Water Youth Hostel to the Helvellyn Youth Hostel in Glenridding. The weather was once again fantastic without a cloud in the sky; I could hardly believe how lucky I was on the holiday with clear weather all week. I started the walk by going up to Ashness Bridge following a path that climbs beside Ashness Gill. I had started a walk here eleven months before during a snowy day in February, but on this walk there was no snow on the ground, though it was certainly very cold with ice in abundance all around the area. This is just the sort of weather conditions you want for a walk up High Seat, when everything in frozen, as it is notoriously boggy. On this occasion, however, I still had to dodge most of the bogs as they were now sheets of very slippery ice, which didn’t help . Another problem I had during the ascent was that since it was winter the sun was low in the sky and directly ahead of me, just above the top of High Seat, so everything before me was in silhouette, which made it difficult to follow the path. Eventually I managed to climb the heather covered slopes to the top of High Seat where the views from this centrally located vantage point were excellent.

After crossing over to the twin top, I descended the pathless grassy slopes to the top of Shoulthwaite Gill. This stream runs down a brilliant little secluded valley that is little-known, but where a narrow path threads its delightful way down the valley with imposing crags on the western side and dark, foreboding woodland on the east. I had the pleasure of walking through this small valley two years ago, but sadly on this walk I was only able to get a glimpse of the valley before crossing the stream and over a fence into the wood, where I followed forest tracks to a path that took me up to the top of Raven Crag. This is an awesome viewpoint with views down the length of Thirlmere Reservoir and across the lake towards the steep slopes of Helvellyn. I have been looking forward to going up Raven Crag for years and it was quite wonderful to be up there. I had tried to plan a walk up there several times before but I was not sure how to arrange it, so to finally be there was something of a relief and a satisfaction that the long wait had been worth it. Eventually, I left the summit and made my way down the steep woodland slopes to a road where I passed over the dam for the reservoir, (I don’t think I had ever actually been to Thirlmere until this moment) and crossed the main road to the foot of Castle Rock. I wasn’t sure whether I was going to go up this outcrop as it looked rather small from the top of Raven Crag (though still over 1000 feet high), plus Wainwright didn’t see fit to devote a chapter to it in his Pictorial Guides. However once I got to the foot of Castle Rock I couldn’t resist the temptation, thinking it would be a good place to have lunch. What I found was a wonderful little climb up a steep rocky path that zigzags up the slope, sometimes traversing along ledges as it climbs and is just the sort of path that I crave and live for. I really enjoyed going up there and once I got to the top of Castle Rock I was able to enjoy tremendous views of Thirlmere in the glorious sunshine. Once I had eaten my lunch I made my way across the bracken covered hillside, and across the deep ravine of Stanah Gill, to get onto the footpath over Sticks Pass. When I climbed over there in 2003 the weather was really poor and I was being subjected to painful, horizontal rain (this was my first experience of bad weather in the Lake District). On this walk the weather was also beginning to turn poor (though it didn’t rain), and I was hit by some strong winds while on the steep, lengthy climb all the way up to the top of the pass.

When I eventually reached the top I decided to go up Raise as I had some spare time, even though the summit was now covered in mist as had most of the other high fells in the area. Raise has a fine summit with an abundance of rock, which is quite exceptional on the Helvellyn range; further north, the Dodds are mere grassy domes with scarcely any rock to speak of, but Raise, even though it has dull grassy slopes, has a mountainous summit. After leaving the rock-strewn summit I ventured away from the main ridge path and set a course down the broad eastern slopes towards the remains of a chimney. The flue for this chimney went across the hillside and I followed this off the fell towards the disused mine workings of Greenside Mine just as the sun was setting. It was fascinating to look at all the old mine workings; even though it’s fifty years since the mine closed, a large amount of slag heaps, old flues and water channels litter the area (such was the scale of the mine). On joining the main path down from Sticks Pass I descended the steep slopes on an excellent graded track, obviously an old mine road that deliberately steers a course away from the unstable mine workings. The track passes below a cliff on a ledge and zigzags down the side of the valley to the bottom of Glenridding where a short walk took me to the hostel. These old mines that litter the Lake District are in one way a bit of a scar on the landscape, but on the other hand they are a part of the history of the area and lend some fascination as I found while walking into Glenridding, and was a fascinating way to end yet another brilliant day in the Lake District, and what a day to do it. I can’t think of a better way to spend New Year's Day than walking in the Lake District.