Esk Pike (via Rossett Pike and Seathwaite Fell)

Wednesday 31st December 2008

The weather for this walk was mixed with cold, foggy weather in the valleys but once I managed to climb above 1,500 feet I was bathed in bright sunshine with wonderfully clear views all around the Lake District. Starting from the village of Rosthwaite in the valley of Borrowdale I walked along Langstrath, past the short rocky gorge of Blackmoss Pot, and up towards Stake Pass. Langstrath is a beautiful, uninhabited valley, which is quite rare in the Lake District as most valleys have at least a farm. Ennerdale is the most notable exception but that is full of trees; I suppose at one time Ennerdale was just as deserted as Langstrath is now, before the Forestry Commission came along and planted all those conifer trees. I had been in Langstrath only once before, back in 2006 in pouring rain whilst on my way to Borrowdale from Grasmere; this time the weather wasn’t much better but that was soon to change. As I neared the top of the pass blue sky began to appear overhead and soon I came out into bright sunshine with amazing views behind me over a thermal inversion where the valley was colder than the higher ground which resulted in fog forming at the bottom of the valley rather than, as usual, at the top of the fells. It was an awesome sight that I had seen only once before, in Ireland in 2005 while climbing Carrauntoohil. Before me was an extensive ‘sea’ of white clouds with the hills forming islands and gave me a feeling of a lack of civilisation, of being a very long way from anywhere. There was no sign of human activity in any direction as it was all hidden beneath the clouds.

I immediately left the path over the pass and made my way across the grassy hills towards Rossett Pike. I had never been on this fell before even though I’ve walked all around it, even up Rossett Gill, but this is a Wainwright and there were excellent views from on it on this day into Langdale. I climbed along the enjoyable, undulating rocky top above Black Crags and Rossett Crags until eventually I made my way to the summit where I had lunch. With such good weather and fabulous views I decided I would extend my planned walk by going up Esk Pike so I dropped down to Angle Tarn and the heavily manufactured bridlepath that passes it. I didn’t stay on the horribly popular ‘highway’ long but soon turned off to climb towards Ore Gap. This path was so heavily affected by slippery ice that I spent more time off the path than on it! Beyond the gap is a good path that climbs up to the stunning views that can be found at the summit of Esk Pike. This is an often overlooked fell that is dwarfed by the giants around the top of Eskdale (including Scafell Pike, the highest hill in England); in fact until quite recently it didn’t even have a name on Ordnance Survey maps. To me, though, it is a fine fell that stands at the head of my favourite place in the Lake District: Eskdale.

After spending some time at the summit admiring the views and taking a few pictures, I walked down to Esk Hause on an excellent path, which I’d not been on in over five years, that passes along a thrilling ledge and over much rock. From the wonderfully familiar Esk Hause I made my way past the ravines of Ruddy Gill down to Sprinkling Tarn. There I left the well-used path and, for the first time, I made my way across Seathwaite Fell past its many tops and tarns, but none of the tops were the actual summit that I was after. This is one of the lower fells in the Lake District that seem to make up for what they lack in height by having a complex and interesting summit. Although the highest point on the fell is 632m, the top that Wainwright chose as the summit is 601m and is situated at the northern end of the fell overlooking Borrowdale, which I reached just as the sun was disappearing behind Lingmell. The views across the sea of clouds were still quite simply astounding, especially the sight of the mist falling waterfall-like over Sty Head into Wasdale. With the light fading I tried to find a way down but there were no paths on the fell and the mist in the valley was also making it difficult for me to discover the right way down; using my map and GPS I was able to locate the stream I was supposed to be following down into the valley, but it was still really tricky as the hillside was very steep and frost-covered. Once I was down in the valley I was back in the cold mist and I had to be careful as I gingerly made my way along ice-covered paths to descend down to Seathwaite and thence Seatoller. It was unusual to come down into a valley and find it so much colder than the tops as it’s usually the other way round; I particularly remember walking in the Lake District in 2003 in really high temperatures and being astonished at how hot it was when I got down into Langdale. This was an absolutely fantastic walk in awesome conditions with quite simply astounding views once I got above the clouds. I can’t think of enough superlatives to describe this walk, it was a brilliant way to end the year, and I didn’t have long to wait for my first walk of 2009.

Hindscarth & Dale Head

Tuesday 30th December 2008

I was back in the Lake District again over the New Year and I spent a total of six days in the Lakes, more time than I’ve spent there since Easter 2006. However on the first day, Monday, I didn't do much walking as I had caught a later, cheaper train and didn't get to Keswick until 3.15, sunset was at 4. Despite this I took a walk out to Friar's Crag, a viewpoint across Derwent Water and a popular tourist attraction. It's popular with young families as the paths are easy with no climbing necessary and it’s only a couple of minutes from Keswick. The following morning I was eager to set off as soon as possible as the weather was perfect; it was very cold and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The prospect of another walk in Lake District was filling me with joy just at the thought of it, which shows how much one can love being in the Lake District. Scotland could never match that sort of love; it may be a wonderful challenge with stunning scenery, but it’s not easy; the Lake District is relaxing, great fun and always really enjoyable. For the first hour out of Keswick,  I walked through Portinscale and south through Fawe Park to the foot of Cat Bells. This is usually considered a family fell, and you do get children and grandparents going up there, but it’s a really rugged mountain; there are a number of rock steps that have to be climbed but they are great fun going up, and it’s really steep in places; the only reason it’s considered family-friendly is because it’s not very high. A true family fell is something like Loughrigg or Latrigg, while Cat Bells is a real mountain, but in miniature. Coming down to Hause Gate I took a path on the right through disused spoil heaps and mines, and is a great path that I’d never been on before, though it was a little tricky due to stretches of ice on the path. Once at the bottom of the valley I went past the tiny village of Little Town (seriously, that’s its name – it’s a wonderfully small place, and I couldn’t help thinking “O Little Town of Little Town” as I passed!) and walked along the picturesque Newlands valley until I found a way across the beck.

I was now at the foot of the great northern ridge of Hindscarth that was wonderfully rugged and narrow in its early section as I passed over Scope End but later widened to become rather tedious. I have been on this ridge just once before back in 2002 on my very first visit to the Lake District and in rather poor weather with heavy rain, but now I was walking in much better weather. When I reached the summit of Hindscarth I had my lunch and basked in the bright sunshine. From Hindscarth I bent left below the top of the ridge and actually left the path to drop down into the cove near the top of Newlands with the striking gully of Far Tongue Gill not far below me. I was descending steeply across the head of the valley and making for a crag, Great Gable, but before I reached the crag I came to the path that I had been trying to pick up. I'd never been on this path before that climbs up from the Newlands valley across Far Tongue Gill and up to the craggy ground above Great Gable. I had really wanted to go on this path, but I also wanted to do the north ridge of Hindscarth, so this struck me as a good way to sample both paths. On this narrow path, high above the valley, I crossed the steep rocky hillside below the top of Dale Head and above Great Gable to reach the eastern side of the fell where easier slopes led me up to the summit.

The views were by now getting rather misty as the Eastern Fells were beginning to be deluged by clouds though their tops still remained clear. From Dale Head I dropped down the eastern slopes but I was not following a path, instead I was just making my own way heading straight for Dalehead Tarn. I later learnt that there is a very good, paved path that goes down to Dalehad Tarn from the summit via the top of Great Gable (I would have needed to reverse some of my steps – in fact I should have seen the path on my ascent, I think I was just trying to avoid going back on myself). After my initial frustration at missing out on this path I remembered that I had actually really enjoyed walking down the steep, rock spattered, hillside. There is some advantage to not following a path, just going your own way, and not following in other people's footsteps. One of the problems with the Lake District is that it’s really popular and the paths are well worn, but there is no reason why you have to stay on the paths. There is often more to be gained by venturing off the paths and exploring the area for yourselves as there is so much more to see.

When I reached the tarn I was stunned by the rock scenery that surrounds the lake and felt extra special even in such a secluded corner of the Lake District. Anywhere in the country would love to have the sort of scenery I saw around Dalehead Tarn, but in the Lake District it is just one tiny part of many such fantastic scenes (in fact I would say that even in the Lake District it is quite special). I'd never really been around Dalehead Tarn before and never realised it was this good. After passing the tarn I was thankful that everything was frozen as it would have been very wet underfoot otherwise and instead I had to dodge a lot of ice as I crossed over to Rigghead where I descended past old mine workings on a very slippery, icy path that later joins the stream, Tongue Gill, into Borrowdale. When I could I crossed the stream and took the miner's track around the hillside and through the gap between the fellside and Castle Crag, which towered over me on the right.

Since I was so close it seemed a shame not to visit the summit of Castle Crag, and especially to visit the eerie standing stones in the abandoned quarry immediately below the summit. It’s supposed to be a mystery why there are stones there standing upright, but I think I know how they came to be standing up, for I stood one up myself... Dropping back down to the col I followed the miner's track into a wood and down to the River Derwent eventually reaching the village of Grange where I waited for a bus that would take me to the Youth Hostel. This was yet another fantastic day in the Lake District, just I had anticipated it would be, just as any day is that is spent walking in the Lake District when the sun is shining and I had great weather for this walk, though the views later became increasingly poor as clouds and mist slowly began obscuring the distant views.

Arenig Fawr

Saturday 20th December 2008

The weather for this walk was quite horrible. It was raining, it was very windy and there was a thick mist everywhere. It was just not the sort of weather one would want to go for a walk in, and I couldn't help thinking as I prepared to set off that just a few years ago I would never have dreamed of going for a walk in these conditions. But things have changed; I have walked in this sort of weather many times before, and some of them quite recently. The weather was like this when I went up Snowdon at the end of August, and again in Scotland in September I had several walks that had weather almost as bad as this. It’s not ideal weather to go for a walk in, but since I was already in the area there was nothing else to do but go for a walk. Although it is always nicer to walk in bright sunshine there is still something about walking in weather such as this. It is a challenge of man against the weather, against the mountain; you are pitting yourself against the worst that the weather and the mountain can throw at you. Usually I come through unscathed, as on this day.

Arenig Fawr is a lovely mountain, somewhat isolated from others, but with some fantastic facets. It is a great sprawling mass of a mountain with narrow ridges, cliff faces and a lake (actually a reservoir). I walked up it four years ago during the same weekend I went up the Berwyns and I had clear views from the summit all around Snowdonia, even though it had been very windy. I could see north all the way up to Snowdon itself, south to the Aran range, and west to the Rhinogs. I remember noticing the remarkable notch in the Rhinog range and wondering what it was. Less than a year later I found out when I had walked up the Rhinogs and through Bwlch Drws-Ardudwy. Coming home that day from walking up the Rhinogs I drove past Arenig Fawr and I remember thinking what a fine looking mountain it was, bulky and adorned with plenty of cliffs and rocks. I was keen then to walk up it again; so it's a tragedy that it's taken me 3½ years to return to this fantastic mountain, and unfortunate that it should be in bad weather.

My ascent repeated the route taken in 2004 as it is clearly the best route up with a clear path, which is handy in these poor conditions. I followed a track that heads south from a minor road across heathland to Llyn Arenig Fawr where I crossed a dam and started to climb the ridge on the far side of the reservoir. This was an enjoyable walk with frequent rock under foot and a clear, winding path, and the wind and rain failed to spoil my fun, mainly because I was in the lee of the mountain. After crossing two fences, the rock under foot petered out and I crossed steep grassy slopes to head towards the summit. Rock returned as I neared the summit and climbed the steep slopes up to the trig point and wartime aircraft crash memorial.

After lunch at the summit I started to make my way down following old fence posts along a steep ridge. During the ascent I had been sheltered by the mountain, but now I was exposed to the full force of the wind and it was quite a battle to keep going. This was still a good route down as there was an abundance of rocks to maintain interest until near the bottom I found really wet ground and I had to wade through ankle-deep water to get to a track that took me finally down to the bottom of the valley. My return to the car was now a simple walk along a disused railway line that took me all the way back. Arenig Fawr is a wonderful mountain in any weather so, despite the poor weather on this walk, I really enjoyed it. I must do it again in good weather as this mountain really deserves another visit.

The Berwyn Hills and Pistyll Rhaeadr

Friday 19th December 2008

Just before Christmas I went to Wales for a couple of days to go up a few mountains that I had previously been up four years ago. When I went up then it was extraordinarily windy and started to rain as I made my way off the hills; on this walk it started overcast with glimmers of sun and just got worse. By the afternoon it was forecast to get really bad so I wasn’t going to take that long. This walk was on the Berwyns, a range of high hills and boggy heathland near Llangollen in Wales. I parked near a huge waterfall at the end of a narrow road from the village of Llanrheadr-ym-Mochnant (seriously, that is the name of the place, just don’t ask me to pronounce it!). Slowly, I made my way along a track that climbed the hillside into the short valley of the Nant y Llyn, which was a great, well-graded route through a picturesque, narrow valley with a sight of the Berwyns always ahead of me. The climb eventually brought me to the cliffs below Moel Sych with the lake, Llyn Lluncaws in the bowl below.

After climbing up onto the hilltop I bypassed the summit of Moel Sych and headed towards Cadair Berwyn, the highest point in the Berwyns, sticking close to the cliff edge as I walked along the ridge. Clouds had already descended onto the tops by the time I reached the ridge and the wind was picking up, but the weather failed to spoil my enjoyment as I reached the trig point at the summit of Cadair Berwyn. After a while I headed back along the ridge to the top of Moel Sych where I determined the direction I should go and followed a path across the boggy hills. After a couple of kilometres of walking I began to wonder why I didn't seem to be getting anywhere so finally I had a look at my map and GPS and realised that I had been heading west across a vast moorland in the opposite direction to where I should have been going. I had no choice but to reluctantly turn around and walk all the way back through the bogs to the top of Moel Sych.

Once I returned to the top I took the correct route off the hill, descending steeply down the grassy hillside of Trum Felen. The weather by now was beginning to turn nasty with the winds picking up and rain trying to fall on the tops so I was clearly getting off the hills only just in time. Near the bottom I reached a track that took me back to the bottom of the valley, rejoicing in the abundance of well-graded tracks in the area that are a hold-over from when lead mining was actively undertaken. Fortunately, the tracks are now the only trace that is left of all that industry but they do provide good, enjoyable routes for getting onto the hills. At the bottom I visited the waterfall that I had parked near and glimpsed from afar at the start of the walk. This is Pistyll Rhaeadr, the highest waterfall in England or Wales at 240 feet, and easily the highest waterfall I’ve ever seen; from the footbridge at the bottom it was really scary as I gaxed sharply up at the enormous waterfall that towered above me. This place must be absolutely amazing in the summer, unfortunately it wasn’t the summer and the weather was getting worse.

I don't think you can consider the Berwyns as great mountains as they have far too many bogs and so is really just high moorland, especially on their western side. But the route I took for my ascent was the best way up and showed off its best side. I was starting from the south beside an enormous waterfall that is surrounded by high cliffs to the rocky eastern edge of the Berwyn Hills.