Coast to Coast Path: Greenup Edge

Wednesday 26th August 2026

After spending a couple of days enjoying myself in the Lake District, taking advantage of the good weather, I now turned my attention back to the Coast to Coast Path, which also coincided with a worsening in the weather. Soon after rejoining the trail at the end of the previous day I had reached the Borrowdale Youth Hostel where I spent the night so the following morning I set off along the Coast to Coast Path into the village of Rosthwaite to complete the second stage of the trail. A more direct route from the youth hostel towards Greenup Edge would take you through the small village of Stonethwaite, which is often the route I take, most recently at the beginning of 2025. I had plenty of time for this walk so I decided to stick rigidly to the trail and make up for going my own way between Ennerdale and Borrowdale. From Rosthwaite I crossed the river and onto the path that heads up the valley past Stonethwaite towards Greenup Edge, however, I am not particularly keen on it, partly due to overfamiliarity having taken it many times in the last ten years and it seems to have few redeeming qualities, besides the imposing Eagle Crag that dominates the view. I was feeling very tired on this walk, not helped by high humidity while sheltered from the wind which meant I was sweating and cursing freely as I toiled up the valley. Eventually I reached the steep ascent beside Lining Crag where I caught up with the many other Coast to Coast walkers who had earlier overtaken me, but were now having difficulty on the steep, rocky terrain. I didn’t find it too difficult and all too soon I found myself at the top of Lining Crag where there are usually good views, but the grey overcast skies meant that it wasn’t worth stopping so I turned back onto the trail and headed across the broad saddle known as Greenup Edge.

Previously the path has been indistinct with cairns marking the route, but this has now been paved, which has made the crossing significantly easier, and soon I reached the edge with views into the bowl at the head of the Wythburn valley. The path is now very clear down the side of the basin so the infamous Wythburn trap, which lures the unsuspecting into the Wythburn valley, is no longer a problem with the flagstones leading the Coast to Coast walker unerringly to the head of Far Easedale. Wainwright took the Coast to Coast Walk from this point along the ridge to the left of the valley, saying: “Let’s do a ridge walk.” The national trail instead uses Wainwright’s direct alternative route, reserved for poor weather, along the bottom of the Far Easedale valley, perhaps to make the trail as easy of possible, but I still think the ridge passing Calf Crag and heading east to Gibson Knott must remain a target if the Coast to Coast walker has the energy and the weather is good. I was feeling tired and the weather was poor, and also the ridge felt very familiar to me having previously traversed it in 2021 while the valley felt less familiar, probably last done at the end of 2017, so I kept to the national trail and was able to see the work that has been done to improve the path including a wide bridge where it crosses Far Easedale Gill. 

This was a quiet walk, sheltered from the wind, with other Coast to Coast walkers ahead of me and behind me, slowly descending through the valley until, after passing the bridge at Stythwaite Steps, a wide track appeared, which brought me into agricultural Easedale, with a bit of rain at this point. After passing the point where the ridge route comes down from Helm Crag I joined a road and followed that through the middle of a field where the national trail turns left at a signpost to head towards Patterdale while Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk continues along the road all the way into Grasmere. There it turns around and heads back up the road turning right just after Goody Bridge soon rejoining the national trail.  After having my lunch in Grasmere I walked out of the crowded village onto the Coffin Route that goes to Ambleside because I had decided that I would not be staying in Patterdale, because the YHA have closed the hostel there. It was now getting quite warm, even with a bit of sunshine while I was in Grasmere, which meant I had a wonderfully relaxing walk along an excellent footpath that eventually brought me to Rydal Hall. This continued through Rydal Park, until I branched off the main track before reaching the road onto a path I’d never taken before which ascends beside Scandale Beck to Low Sweden Bridge and provided me with an offbeat entry into the noisy town of Ambleside. Soon I escaped the crowds again and took to the streets off the main road that led me into Skelghyll Wood.

This has become a familiar route for me to and from the Ambleside Youth Hostel, having last taken it at the beginning of this year, but it is still a good path with a steep rocky section to enjoy until the gradient finally eased and I came out of the wood, walking along Skelghyll Lane all the way into the Trout Beck valley and the Windermere Youth Hostel. My lingering memory of this walk was how warm and humid it was, which does not make for comfortable walking. Although there was occasional rain, no one seemed to notice it or put on waterproofs. After my exertion the day before, passing over Sca Fell and Scafell Pike, I appreciated the chance of gentler walking to let me recover.

Sca Fell and Scafell Pike

Tuesday 25th August 2026

I was supposed to be walking along the Coast to Coast Path on this holiday, however, on entering the Lake District I couldn’t resist diverting off the trail to have a bit of fun in that wonderful playground for hillwalkers. So, at the beginning of this day I was in Eskdale, nowhere near the Coast to Coast Path, and the weather was good, though maybe not as warm as the day before, but still sunny and I wanted to repeat a walk that I made on my first ever visit to the Lake District, back in 2002, which involves crossing the two highest mountains in England, Sca Fell and Scafell Pike. I set off from the youth hostel and, after a short walk along the road through Eskdale, at a car park I turned off onto a footpath that took me past bracken and granite outcrops slowly climbing along what is known as the Terrace Route up Scafell. I know from experience that this is a long ascent, better suited for descent, especially in good weather, so this is actually the first time I have made the ascent since 2002, and the last time I did the Terrace Route in descent was back in 2011. I was quite prepared for a long ascent and savoured the early stages of the path as it weaved through the complex, boggy terrain until eventually, after crossing Catcove Beck, the ascent eased. The walking was now more tedious, but the craggy hill of Slight Side ahead of me with the bulk of Scafell lurking behind was enough to motivate my onward progress and soon I was ascending again while a cold wind began to make itself felt.

As the terrain steepened the rather sketchy path took me into an increasingly stony landscape dominated by the outcrops at the top of Slight Side, which provided me with a short, satisfying scramble to the summit of the fell. The sunshine that had started the day was now smothered by cloud leaving me feeling cold as I made my way across the broad, stony ridge that separates Slight Side from Scafell with a steep, mountainous climb to follow, which just brought me to the ridge of Long Green. The mountain was teasing me, forcing me to work hard for the achievement of reaching the summit of this awesome mountain and it was only after another steep climb that I reached the summit of Scafell. After lunch I made my way across the top towards Scafell Pike, which can easily be seen but the cliff face of Broad Stand is an unseen barrier to the walker in that direction, so the public footpath turns right at a col to head down a treacherously slippery scree slope. This was a very difficult descent and when I finally reached the vanishingly small Foxes Tarn my troubles were not over because now I had to scramble down a stony gully that was made even more interesting by having water in it and an abundance of slippery moss lower down. When I finally reached the bottom I was faced with a steep climb back up a scree slope, though it is easier ascending scree because it is not so slippery, and this brought me to the dramatic, narrow ridge of Mickledore with the impressive rock face of Broad Stand on one side and the long, rock-covered slopes on the other that would eventually lead me to Scafell Pike.

It is a long time since I have made the traverse between these two mountains, not since 2011, and on that occasion I took the only other possible route, Lord’s Rake, which is even more treacherous and difficult. The last time I did the Foxes Tarn route was in 2005 so I was keen to do so again, but I am not now so eager to do it again. It must be one of the toughest rights-of-way in the Lake District, if not in the whole country. As I made my way across the loose boulders that litter the mountain, heading towards the summit of Scafell Pike, I was astonished by the huge numbers of people coming up the path from Lingmell Col. I had hardly seen anyone all day, including at the top of Scafell, but, reluctantly, I joined them to reach the crowded summit of Scafell Pike, where I didn’t stay long and immediately headed down to Broadcrag Col. It had been intention to keep following my 2002 route past Broad Crag and Ill Crag to Esk Hause, but when I thought about it I decided it wasn’t worth it, so when I reached the col I turned left to descend the scree with a lot of people ahead of me who slowed my descent. When I finally got past them I skipped onto the Corridor Route, which was also very busy, but still a fabulous path and eventually I reached Sty Head where I considered diverting to bag Seathwaite Fell, until I came to my senses. The clear path north from Sty Head Tarn keeps to the left bank of Styhead Gill and then crosses the stream on a bridge, however, the map indicates that there is a path staying on the left bank, but when I tried to follow it there was no sign of it, just marshy ground.

After getting my feet wet the faint path eventually appeared, which led me to the stunning surroundings beside Taylorgill Force. Amongst spectacular views of the waterfall there is an exciting scramble across the rocks, which, for someone like me who had just experienced the scrambling down from Foxes Tarn, was easy. This tricky descent continued as I turned into the main valley with bogs now becoming more of a problem until I finally reached Seathwaite Farm. A route from Seathwaite to Borrowdale, which I have taken many times before and first in 2002, led me across fields to the road in Borrowdale, over the river and astonishingly back onto the Coast to Coast Path. This was an epic, challenging walk that was very difficult in places, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is not the sort of walking that you find on the Coast to Coast Path and was all the better for it. These are great mountains, but the best of the best has to be Sca Fell, which is all the better for being neglected by all the ignorant tourists climbing the other mountain, simply because it is slightly higher!