This day was horrible. There was nothing wrong with the walk itself but when I started I had a killer stomach ache that soon went south. Miles from the nearest public toilet I was desperate to go, so the only thing for me to do was pull my trousers down and squat over a hole in the ground and I ended up having to do that three times during the course of the walk, and I had never had to do that before; I was lucky I was walking in an unpopular area. I was in the far north-western corner of the Lake District bagging all the Wainwrights in the area north of the Whinlatter pass.
To start I caught a bus to Embleton and then I walked past Wythop Mill almost all the way to Kelsick, but just before I reached the farm I came off the road and followed a wall onto Sale Fell. After making my first deposit I continued up to the highest point where I turned left following a path that passes over the summit. The views were fantastic with the early fog quickly clearing to once again leave me with glorious blue skies on this holiday. Descending from the summit I followed a path down until I reached a wall, turned left and descended back down to the road.
Returning to Brumston Bridge I climbed up to what the map calls the Corpse Road, which climbs around the northern side of Ling Fell. At the point where the track starts to descend I took a path past a series of disused grouse butts before veering off onto the summit where the views were getting even better. Tramping through the heather I made my way down to a fence which I followed until the gradient became too steep whereupon I turned diagonally down to the bottom of the fell and the start of the crossing that I had been dreading for weeks: Wythop Moss.
Following Wainwright's advice that the driest route across the marsh was in the middle between two fences, I proceeded in his footsteps soon finding that at this time of the year I was never going to be able to get through the moss with dry feet. Mostly, it wasn't really too bad apart from the occasional boggy patch until near the end when all semblence of a path disappeared along with the remains of the walls. Squelching through the wet ground I was very thankful to finally reach higher, firmer ground. There I followed a miner's track until I reached a fence and turned uphill dragging myself up the fellside to the summit fence near Graystones.
The summit of Broom Fell sports a very fetching cairn, constructed as a tall narrow stack, but once again the OS have the audacity to claim this magnificent structure hasn't been built at the summit. Here I believe the OS are correct as the terrain clearly indicates that the summit lies on the southern end of the summit plateau and someone has commemorated that fact by placing four stones at the appropriate point. Returning to the path I made my way to the top of Lord's Seat about which there can be no doubt about the summit as it is a clear peak.Despite skipping lunch I was beginning to realise that I wouldn't be able to bag all the fells that I'd wanted and still get to Thornthwaite in time for the bus at four. My progress was slowed again as my stomach ache persisted and culminated in a third deposit before I reached the summit of Barf. In view of this and the rapidly descending clouds I decided that it would be prudent to save Whinlatter for another day so leaving the summit of Barf by a clear path I descended to Beckstones Gill and entered the wood. Dropping steeply down beside the gill I arrived at the Swan Hotel (now called Powter How) in plenty of time for the bus back to Keswick. I know it may not be fair but I'll be glad if I never walk over these fells again. Apart from Barf none of them had any qualities that would make me want to revisit them again.
No comments:
Post a Comment