Crag Fell and Lank Rigg

Thursday 23rd December 2010 

On this walk I returned to the spot where I undertook my walk last Christmas Eve, near Ennerdale Water, visiting the lake before starting the walk. Last year was the first time that I’d actually been to the water’s edge of Ennerdale Water and I was glad to make the acquaintance again of this beautiful lake. Rather than taking the route over Anglers' Crag, which I took last year and was fraught with difficulty, I climbed beside the stream, Ben Gill, on a faint but fun, little path that climbs the steep hillside. This is a wonderful, brilliantly made path that made the climb a sheer delight for me as it ingeniously wound its way up the hillside. On the main path I crossed the gill and climbed the steep hillside up to the top of Crag Fell, which has awesome views up the valley of Ennerdale, but sadly on this day the higher fells were shrouded in hill fog, though fortunately the mist was keeping mostly away from me. Leaving the summit of Crag Fell I descended the grassy slopes and passed through a wood before climbing back onto the open fell. After passing over the uninteresting hill of Whoap I climbed steeply to the wind-swept, bleak and isolated fell of Lank Rigg. Ever since Wainwright left a two shilling coin at the summit of Lank Rigg, later visitors to this remote fell have left similar coins for others to find. I however didn’t find any buried treasure (though I didn’t look very hard), nor did I leave anything there myself. I stopped for lunch in the shelter of a cairn, southwest of the summit, and gazed out over the West Cumbrian landscape, towards Sellafield nuclear power station and out to sea. When I returned to the summit of Lank Rigg I found that a bitterly cold breeze was now blowing. For most of this holiday there had been little or no wind, so this was an unwelcome addition that prompted me to put my cagoule on as protection against the wind while descending the steep slopes of Lank Rigg before climbing over Whoap again. Passing through the wood once more I climbed back up to the top of Crag Fell where the wind was just as cold as it had been on Lank Rigg. Slowly I descended the long western slopes of Crag Fell back over Ben Gill and into a wood where an excellent path dropped me gradually down to the valley floor. 

This was a nice, relaxing walk in excellent, but cold, weather. The fells however, were not at the standard that would have made this a great walk. Crag Fell has a great, craggy, northern side but the rest of it is a dull as the entirety of Lank Rigg. My previous day's walk, over Fellbarrow and Low Fell, suffered from this as well. They were good as a short, relaxing, walk, but were not very satisfying as an all-day walk in the Lakes. My only real reason for going up these fells was because they are Wainwright Fells. Five years ago I started setting myself the target of going up every fell that Wainwright had written about in his Pictorial Guides. After going up Lank Rigg I had just four Wainwrights left to complete the list of 214 fells. These small, outlying fells may not have the stature of the bigger fells, but as Wainwright's they have equal standing with Helvellyn and Bow Fell and all the rest of the Lakeland Fells. Next Easter I aim to return to the Lake District and complete the Wainwrights

Fellbarrow and Low Fell

Wednesday 22nd December 2010 

I tried to go up these fells that are on the western edge of the Lake District last year only to be thwarted by a washed away bridge (which still doesn't appear to have been replaced). This year, with less snow on the ground, and taking a different route, I was finally able to accomplish what I’d failed to do before. I parked at the Lanthwaite Wood National Trust car park and set off along a side road to the small hamlet of Thackthwaite where a charming, tree-lined track took me steeply up the hillside onto the open fell. At a bend in the track I veered off and headed towards the most northerly point of this complex system of fells. Eventually, and with much effort wading through the bracken and snow, I reached the top of Hatteringill Head where I turned around and beheld the higher tops of Fellbarrow behind me. 

Striding forth from Hatteringill Head I passed along the top of the fells in glorious sunshine to the trig point at the top of Fellbarrow and on over other tops in the range, Smithy Fell and Sourfoot Fell. Eventually, after stopping at Watching Crag for the awesome views it affords of the Lorton Valley, I climbed up to the top of Low Fell, actually the highest point in this range of fells. The Wainwright top is further south, but even Wainwright himself didn’t think it was the highest point suspecting that the north top was even higher than Fellbarrow, as the Ordnance Survey have now confirmed. Onward I walked to the cairn that marks Wainwright's top, and it affords an amazing view across Crummock Water with the fells of Buttermere as a backdrop. It was sheer perfection spoilt only by the sun directly in my eyes. All that remained for me now was to descend steep slopes to Crabtree Beck and contour Darling Fell down to the road. A long walk past Loweswater (lake and village) took me back to my car. 

This was a fabulous little walk spoilt only by its shortness. With much of the afternoon left I considered doing my next day's planned walk but eventually abandoned it just after starting. In the end, with the sun quickly setting, I went up Binsey, a small hill that I walked up a couple of years ago in the dark. This time I also returned to my car in the dark.

Steel Fell and Ullscarf

Tuesday 21st December 2010 

My main priority on this walk was to climb Steel Fell, a Wainwright that I'd never done before. What I did after that remained undecided until I was on my way to the next fell, and the direction that I ultimately took was one that I'd never even considered beforehand. I parked at the Wythburn car park and walked along the road to West Head Farm (formerly Steel End) where I passed beside the farm houses and began my ascent of Steel Fell. This was not the first time that I'd started to walk up Steel Fell as I’d tried to climb the south ridge three years ago and turned back due to strong winds, but on this occasion the weather was fabulous with blue skies and no wind. The climb up the north ridge of Steel Fell was nothing special except for the stunning views behind me across the length of Thirlmere. Eventually the gradient levelled and I was able to enjoy walking across the snow bound terrain in bright sunshine and stunning surroundings. 

On reaching the summit cairn I turned right to follow a fence across the tremendous undulating terrain that links Steel Fell with Calf Crag. I really enjoyed myself during this stroll as I had already achieved my goal for the day and I felt free to take my time and do whatever I wanted. My original plan was to go to Grasmere via a number of possible routes around Easedale, but as I crossed the felltop at the head of the Greenburn valley my eyes strayed across the Wythburn valley, to my right, onto the craggy fellside of Castle Crag and the Nab Crags. My immediate thought was that I wanted to walk down that ridge sometime, but not today, however it wasn’t long before I was changing my plans. Bypassing the top of Calf Crag I reached the top of Far Easdale and turned right onto the Coast to Coast route that crosses the top of the Wythburn valley before climbing up to Greenup Edge. I had tremendous fun at this point as I rediscovered the proper route of this path where the footprint-marked route of my predecessors were clearly veering away from it. The original route must have been abandoned in favour of easier grassy slopes due to the snow and, most particularly, to the ice that was wide spread on parts of the path. I felt like I was discovering something that had been lain undisturbed for centuries, even if it was really only weeks, or possibly just days. Near the top of the path I turned right bypassing Greenup Edge to head straight for Ullscarf. The first prominent crag that I saw had an old fence post on top of it with an old boot that had been impaled through its sole. There I stopped for lunch while gazing across the awesome scenery towards Grasmere and particularly around Borrowdale. Resuming the walk I visited a cairned crag (marked on maps) before returning to the path which I followed all the way to Ullscarf. I previously visited this centrally-located fell in 2006 when I found a dull summit plateau surrounded by extensive bogs. On this occasion the bogs were all frozen but the summit was still as dull as ever. Turning around I headed back to the edge of the Wythburn valley which I followed all the way down to Thirlmere reservoir, which was a fantastic descent and a joy with every step as I established new routes across the vast, crag-filled terrain, hopping from crag to crag as I slowly descended. 

I turned around occasionally to look at how far I’d come and was filled me with awe that I’d managed to come down that way as it looked virtually impassable from below. In descent however it was quite easy, and in the places where I was unsure of my route down the sheep tracks revealed a sure route, after all the sheep know these fells very well; it’s their home! Eventually I ended up on the small top called Birk Crag which I'd visited last Easter on a wet weather walk from Borrowdale. Now I paid it a quick visit before taking the same steep path as before that plunges down a wonderful, gorse lined path onto the road. This was a great walk in awesome surroundings across brilliant terrain in very cold weather.

Harter Fell and Branstree

Monday 20th December 2010

After more than three months without a mountain walk I finally got my walking boots out of the cupboard and came to the Lake District for Christmas. This was the fifth year running that I had been to the Lake District at Christmas and the second year with a lot of snow on the ground. There may not have been as much snow as there had been the year before, but it seemed a lot colder as I drove to Mardale Head at the western end of Haweswater Reservoir. I had been concerned that I would be unable to drive along the Mardale road, but in the end it proved passable with care. I started off walking on a great little path that I’d never taken before and passes the lovely Small Water, and the path was made even more enjoyable by the snow underfoot. After rounding Small Water I climbed up to Nan Bield Pass where I turned left onto the rocky ridge that leads up to Harter Fell. This was a tricky climb where crampons would have helped, but by careful manoeuvring onto easier slopes I eventually managed to reach the summit of Harter Fell. When there is snow on the ground I usually try to abide by a two thousand feet rule, but this mountain breaks that by more than five hundred feet. I may have got away with it on this occasion, but I shouldn’t really have been doing ridges like that up to Harter Fell in those sort of conditions.

After passing the summit I stopped by the viewpoint of Haweswater that Wainwright famously drew a picture of himself viewing. There I stopped for lunch looking out on the same awe-inspiring views as Wainwright saw more than fifty years ago. The snow, which wasn’t there when Wainwright was there (he wasn’t that stupid), and the clear blue skies just made the scene even more idyllic. Moving on I descended the slope to the Gatescarth Pass and continued up to Branstree opposite. This was an excruciating climb up a big grassy mound of a fell that made me feel all four months of my mountain famine. Eventually I reached the summit and explored a couple of brilliantly built cairns on the nearby Artlecrag Pike. A third stone structure, a survey post leftover from the building of the reservoir, is over a fence near an insignificant, unnamed top. Rightfully avoiding this worthless top I left the cairns and followed a path beside the fence all the way to Selside Pike, my second new Wainwright of the day.

Most of the snow that I  encountered on this walk was dry and powdery (due to the cold temperatures), but occasionally I came across a mass of hard snow. At first this puzzled me until I remembered that there had been a heavy fall of snow in November which had subsequently melted except, perhaps, on the higher fells. These patches of hard snow were clearly the remains of the November snow and had to be treated with care as they could easily be very slippery. If I stayed below two thousand feet I would avoid all traces of this old snow. From the summit cairn of Selside Pike I followed a faint path down a vague ridge to an old corpse road where I turned left to descend all the way down to the Mardale road. This was a fantastic, but cold and tiring, walk, with weather that was wonderful, little wind and clear, blue skies that would remain for the rest of the week.