Grey Crag and Tarn Crag

Saturday 29th May 2010 

After a wet drive up the motorway I wasn't hopeful for a great walk in the Lake District before fortnight's holiday in Scotland. However as I approached the Lake District the rain eased and I had a lovely drive up the quiet, secluded valley of Longsleddale along a lane banked by wild garlic, bluebells and lots of other colourful flowers that I couldn't identify. This was a wonderful start to an unfortunately rather dull walk. Eventually I reached the end of the road at Sadgill where I parked the car and began to climb the eastern hillside. The rain still held off as I climbed up to the top of the outcropped Great Howe from where I could see distant views along the length of Longsleddale, though unfortunately this wasn't to last as I climbed up to the top of Grey Crag and was enveloped by clouds as it started to rain. 

After lunch at the cold, wet summit I followed a clear path across the bleak grass hilltop to a fence which I followed across the waterless Greycrag Tarn and up to the top of Tarn Crag. After visiting a survey post near the summit I rejoined the fence and dropped steeply down to a low pass where I took a crossing bridlepath down into Brownhowe Bottom at the top of Longsleddale. I had planned for a much longer walk from here but under these weather conditions my heart just wasn't in it. After the wet, disappointing walk over the tops I had a pleasant walk along the bottom of the valley below the awesome rocks of Buckbarrow Crag that skirt Tarn Crag. 

Despite the persistent rain at least I went up two Wainwrights that are off the tourist routes in this quiet corner of the Lake District. Grey Crag and Tarn Crag are not typical Lake District fells being on the edge of a vast, typically English upland moor, but their western edges are gloriously rocky and indeed the top end of Longsleddale is as Lakeland as they come. This wasn't that bad a walk, but the weather just wasn't agreeable and the terrain on the top wasn't worth walking on in these conditions. On my drive back down the valley I had an enjoyable, closer look at the flowers that bank the lane. One of the advantages of walking at this time of the year is the abundance of flowers that are out, and this year that has been added to by the late appearance of some of the earlier spring flowers, like Bluebells. During this holiday I enjoyed seeing many flowers in their natural environments and Longsleddale was a great start to this memorable holiday.