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.