Whin Rigg and the Corridor Route

Friday 6th September 2013

After the wonderful weather that I enjoyed just two days previously, the weather on my holiday was becoming gradually worse until on this walk I had persistent rain that left me completely wet by the end of the day. It wasn’t raining when I started so I quickly set off to Lund Bridge and up the steep bank beside Greathall Gill to Whin Rigg. I had come down this way seven years ago in a hurry, but not this time as rain began to fall soon after I started to climb the steep, bracken covered slope. On reaching the top of the ridge I headed across the broad grassy terrain to the top of Whin Rigg, another first-time ascent for me, where sheer crags fall scarily down to the screes of Wastwater. During the course of the morning rain passed over me in waves, but it was still very windy and deterred me from exploring too closely to the perilous edges of the crags. Nevertheless I ventured as close to the edge as I dared in order to get a good view down the precipitous slopes and take a few pictures.

I continued along the fell beside the edge of the crags making my way across to the neighbouring top of Illgill Head and then all the way down to Wasdale Head on a great path in the best weather I got all day with the giants of Wasdale Head brooding before me under dark clouds. I had taken a similar route to Borrowdale from Wastwater in 2010, although I took the lakeside path then below the Screes instead of over the tops before climbing Scafell Pike. My plan for this day had been to once again climb Scafell Pike, but eventually I decided that this wasn’t the best day to climb the highest mountain in England. My easiest route over the fells to Borrowdale would have been to follow Lingmell Beck up to Sty Head, but I fancied taking a tougher route to Sty Head over Lingmell Col and along the Corridor Route. This involved climbing the tourist route towards Scafell Pike, which is usually a very busy path, but not on this day as soon after I started the climb it started to rain again and this time it would keep falling for the rest of the day.

As I climbed Brown Tongue the clouds descended around me and the rain fell ever harder. On occasions like this you can only keep your head down and keep going along the path hoping to reach your destination as quickly as possible. After sheltering from the rain at Hollow Stones while having my lunch, I finally reached Lingmell Col where I saw a large group of people resolutely walking from Corridor Route up towards Scafell Pike in the high winds, driving rain and low cloud. I don’t know who they were, but it was the first time I’d seen that many people since starting the climb. I passed over the col and immediately started to descend again, this time on the excellent Corridor Route. It’s been many years since I was last on this route and in places the demon path-builder has had his evil way and ruined what was a delightful path, but in many places it’s still just as good as it’s always been.

I guess the path repair is unavoidable as the problem is popularity with the more people who use a path the more it wears away requiring work to prevent erosion that itself detracts from the delectable quality of the route. The proximity of Scafell Pike means that this route is often used by people climbing that mountain (such as the group I saw) and so such remedial work will be required. It is a pity that I can’t have the Lake District to myself. The Corridor Route retains the scrambles that make the route so fun and interesting, and also fortunately deters the passing tourist from using it. The continuing rain failed to ruin my enthusiasm for this excellent path as I satisfyingly made my way along the route and eventually reached Sty Head for the third time in three days. The weather was getting worse each time I was there and I feared to visit the pass a fourth time in four days lest even worse should await me.

On coming down from Sty Head I decided to stay on the left bank of the Sty Head Gill rather than crossing the bridge on the bridlepath. On my first visit to this area I took the footpath on the left bank of the stream and ever since I have always favoured that route over the more popular bridlepath, and this occasion was no different despite the poor weather. The path was very faint, seemingly rarely walked, fortunately, with the wet conditions making it particularly tricky especially on the scrambly sections near Taylor Gill Force where the path descends perilously along a cliff edge above the waterfall. This is a fantastic route, and great fun no matter what the weather, especially due to the close views one gets of Taylor Gill Force. Once I reached Seathwaite Farm I returned to Borrowdale Youth Hostel by walking along the road to Seatoller.

Despite the weather on this walk I think I really did get the most out of the day by walking in some tremendous mountain scenery and along some great paths, even though I got awfully wet. When I got to the hostel I found that my rucksack, an Osprey Talon 33, had failed to keep anything inside it dry. This rucksack had been bought last Christmas, but the only time it had previously been used was last Easter when it had failed to rain all week so this was the first time that the rucksack had been exposed to persistent rain. It is a good rucksack and I’m considering buying another Osprey pack, but it is not waterproof and my Osprey Talon was not the only one in the hostel drying room that evening. Whether that is a reflection of its popularity or its ineffectiveness in the wet I don’t know, but I will have to remember to make better use of waterproof linings in the future. This may have been a wet day that left me and everything in my rucksack soaked, but it was a good walk through tricky conditions.