Crag Fell and Grike

Thursday 24th December 2009 

 

Last Christmas Eve I had intended on walking up Fellbarrow but soon after setting off from the village of Lorton I discovered that Lorton Bridge had been washed away in November’s floods. With no other way across the river I returned to my car and drove elsewhere to try a completely different walk. Later I discovered that the walk that I had intended on doing was not possible. The walk had been in the first edition of Wainwright’s guide to the Western Fells, but in the newly published revised edition this walk has been removed at the request of landowners and is described as ‘impracticable’, so it is maybe fortunate that fate intervened and forced me to do a walk elsewhere. The walk I actually did had originally been planned to be done at the beginning of the week, but bad weather had forced its abandonment. Fortunately it was now being given a reprieve, and produced a thoroughly enjoyable walk, apart from at one little point. 

 

I parked near Ennerdale Water at the end of a road through the tiny village of Ennerdale Bridge. The walk had originally been abandoned because I doubted I would be able to get my car along the icy country lanes to the start, but in the event a little thawing over the last day or two and very cautious driving on my behalf successfully got me to the admittedly well-used car park. My walk started beside Ennerdale Water which has a wonderful view across the lake towards the high fells in the valley. I'd never been to Ennerdale Water before so I was enjoying this chance to see it at close hand rather than from a distance, which was the best view I’d had before. After a short walk along the shore I took a branching path that climbs the heather clad hillside up to the top of the low promontory of Angler’s Crag. 

After another look at the stunning view towards Ennerdale, I started to climb the steep hillside opposite. With hindsight this wasn’t the right route to take up Crag Fell, especially with snow on the ground, and yet I made it even worse by not taking the route that I would have taken at any other time of the year. I should have taken a path “up the slope to a green rake that slants up to the right of some pinnacles (there is also an easier path below the pinnacles),” but instead I moved too far east and climbed a scree slope to the bottom of Revelin Crag. This was very steep and rocky underfoot that forced me to use mountain climbing methods in order to get up the snow slope. Once I had climbed up to the foot of the escarpment I was supposed to walk along the shelf until the escarpment ended, but I was too impatient to do that so I tried climbing Revelin Crag. In summer conditions this might have been an entertaining scramble but not under snow. Eventually I realised my error and slid back down to the shelf. 

 

Feeling frustrated with my futile attempts to climb the escarpment I eventually managed to get to the top only once I had reached the end of the escarpment after starting to go downhill for a while. Joining the main path that I probably should have been on, I climbed above the escarpment all the way to the summit of Crag Fell where I was greeted by tremendous views up Ennerdale thanks to the cloudless skies that I was once again enjoying on this holiday. After lunch I joyfully crossed the vast snow covered slopes to a fence which I followed, trudging through the ankle-deep, powdery snow all the way up to the top of Grike, a bland grass (well, in this case, snow) covered fell. I needed to be back home for Christmas so I quickly dropped down the wide northern slopes of Grike to the Ben Gill ravine where I picked up the main path from Crag Fell at the point where it crosses the stream. The path soon enters a wood along a wonderfully enjoyable terrace route that gradually drops down to the valley floor and the car park. I really enjoyed this walk, despite my mountaineering efforts trying to get up to the foot of the escarpment. I’m sure this was a lot better than any walk over Fellbarrow would have been. In future I resolved that I would use simpler routes to get to the top of snow-covered fells. I am not a fan of snow on hills as it robs me of the most enjoyable parts of hill walking, like scrambling up the escarpment in this walk. Spring can’t come soon enough.