St John’s in the Vale and the Sticks Pass

Wednesday 23rd July 2003

The weather on this holiday was continuing to get worse with, on this day, some of the worst conditions I had ever walked in with strong wind and heavy rain. Up to this point I had not had much experience of walking at the top of a mountain in bad weather, but I was beginning to gain that experience on this holiday. The walk started by going back down the Keswick Railway Footpath, which I had used for the first time two days before,  and followed it all the way to the end in the village of Threlkeld. That was where I had to make my decision. Do I climb Clough Head and walk along the top of the fells or do I take the low-level route through St John’s in the Vale? There wasn’t really much choice as the weather had turned really bad: the cloud level was 1,500 feet and it was raining heavily.

Eventually I made my decision, for the second day running, that a high level walk was out of the question, so doubling back on myself a bit I headed down St. John’s in the Vale across the fields to Legburthwaite. It was still raining. There weren’t really any redeeming qualities about this walk and with hindsight it would have been better if I’d walked over the top of the low fell on the western side of the valley, High Rigg. The highest point is 357 metres, which is lower than the 1,500 feet cloud level and wouldn’t have taken me much longer. As it was I walked through muddy fields at the foot of the eastern slopes of High Rigg all the way to the southern tip of the fell near Legburthwaite where I had a quick lunch. Until a couple of years before this walk there had been a youth hostel at Legburthwaite and was still marked on the map I was using, so I thought I’d look for it, but what I found, actually the old school, was little more than a wooden shack. I wasn't surprised it had closed!

Not far from the former Thirlmere Youth Hostel is Stanah and the start of the path over the Sticks Pass. To get to Glenridding, where I was spending the night, I had to get over the long line of fells that has its top on Helvellyn. Between Grisedale Pass and the Old Coach Road below Clough Head is an unbroken chain of fells consistently more than 2,500 feet high except for the depression of Sticks Pass, which is slightly below. At 2,420 feet it is the highest pass in Lakeland crossed by a path in common use, but it is the lowest point in that long line of fells. Slowly I began my ascent and it seemed all right to begin with, but as I got higher the wind really began to blow and the rain started to lash into my face. It was terrible conditions, but I was loving it! There is something curiously exhilarating about being at the top of a hill when the weather is really bad, especially if your waterproofs are keeping you warm and dry while all around you is blowing a gale.

When the weather is good in the Lake District you’re never alone, as it won’t be too long before you pass someone coming the other way, such is the popularity of the area. But when the weather is bad you suddenly have the fells all to yourself and you are able to enjoy the wide, empty spaces on your own. Unfortunately as I struggled up the pass one part of me was getting wetter and wetter from a leak in the Gore-Tex lining of my right boot and soon I had a very sodden foot. Apart from that, the rain wasn’t really a problem for me and I could have continued to walk in the rain much longer than I did, which is exactly what good waterproofs should enable you to do. The previous year I had abandoned a low-level walk in the rain around Borrowdale after getting soaked, so I had gone out and bought myself a new waterproof cagoule and here it was performing perfectly. I walked all the way over the pass and down the other side, past the remains of Greenside mine and to the youth hostel in Glenridding. This was an interesting walk, but it was just a pity that the weather was so bad. I was hopeful that the weather would improve the next day, but it didn’t seem likely.