Wetherlam

Thursday 12th April 2012

On my second ever day in the Lake District I travelled from Grasmere to the Coniston Fells. On this walk I repeated part of that day with some interesting variations but also with some disappointments. I left Elterwater along the Little Langdale Road and down to the tranquil setting of Little Langdale Tarn. After crossing the picturesque Slater Bridge I started exploring the disused quarries in that area. Wetherlam has had more mining activities around it than any other fell in the Lake District and on this walk I visited some, but by no more means all of them. A striking example is Black Hole Quarry near Slater Bridge which is approached along an overgrown ravine to a wide opening with an arch overhead and an opening onto the fellside above. The work that was done in these parts, mostly in the 19th Century, to extract stone from the fells is astonishing. It can be quite unnerving standing on the edge of one of these huge quarries, so care was definitely required. Any mine levels that delved horizontally into the fell were peered into, but not entered.

I climbed above the quarry and crossed an old miner’s road to enter a vast area of disused quarries. It was fascinating looking around these old quarries, but it wasn’t long before I lost the path and consequently spend quite a while backtracking myself as I tried to work out where I’d gone wrong, and still I could not find the correct route. The first edition of Wainwright’s guides shows an intermittent path above the quarries but I could find no sign of one, while Chris Jesty’s revision indicates a winding course around the quarries but no path. What started as an interesting climb ended up in frustration at not being able to follow the correct route. With hindsight I probably shouldn’t have been so keen on finding Wainwright’s original route and instead I should have just picked my own route through the quarries.

The fellside I emerged on was a delectable place, far from any clear path, and left me with a feeling that I was walking through an area that sees few visitors (not a common occurrence in the Lake District!). Wainwright described this area as one of the loveliest square miles in Lakeland, and in this tranquil seclusion I found myself in I could see what he meant (despite the nearby quarries). Climbing the pathless fells brought me to the top of Birk Fell where I dropped onto the clear path that climbs from Tilberthwaite Gill. I had been undecided on my route at this point. In 2002 I had climbed from Tilberthwaite Gill onto Wetherlam via the scramble of Wetherlam Edge, but I had a desire to climb Steel Edge. This is a route that Wainwright never mentioned and has been highly recommended elsewhere, but I was already much higher than the bottom of the edge and I didn’t want to lose that hard-won height. In the end the rocks of Wetherlam Edge won me over as it is the logical route up from where I was standing so I followed my route of 2002 climbing up to the top of Wetherlam along the satisfyingly prolonged scramble of Wetherlam Edge.

Ten years ago I had stunning weather for my first big fell in the Lake District, but now the weather was much colder with frequent hail showers that battered me while I was near the top of the fell. I have a lot of affection for this fell as it was my first and I remember the view as being particularly stunning. Returning ten years later after doing all the other fells I can see that the appeal of this view is in its variety as it affords views not only of fells but also of lakes, fields and the sea. Lying as it does near the southern edge of the high fells it provides the best of all worlds from the broad sands of Morecombe Bay to the craggy peaks of the fells. Descending south from the summit I dropped down to the top of Steel Fell. I don’t know what I’d really intended on doing there as it was really too late to climb the edge and after wandering around I eventually returned to the top of Wetherlam.

The Coniston Fells is an area that previously I had not stayed in for long. A walk around the tops of the fells can easily be done in a day and then you move on looking for more tops. For this walk I was expecting to be able to entertain myself for a whole day with just one of those tops and that was proving hard to do. I was disappointed with this walk as I felt like I was just wandering aimlessly around killing time, so after reaching the top of Wetherlam for the second time I set off along the path to Swirl How, but it wasn’t long before I veered off this path onto the intervening top of Black Sails. The path to Swirl How doesn’t go over Black Sails and since it’s not a Wainwright the summit is rarely visited; I don’t think I’d been to the top of it before. The summit is not great but the south ridge is fantastic. I had a wonderful time strolling down the craggy ridge; it’s a great way of coming down a fell, so why did Wainwright never mention it? There is a faint path but when I started blindly following it I realised that it is better not to follow it. You should go where you want, do what you want, and don’t follow the crowd. If you’re not following a path you’re looking around you at the scenery and picking your route, noticing things that you’d never see if you had your eyes locked on the path in front of you.

At the foot of the ridge I dropped right to avoid Kennel Crag down to Levers Water, and as it was still quite early I thought I’d follow a route around the Coppermines Valley that Wainwright recommended. Crossing the dam of Levers Water I climbed slightly to the top of the Boulder Valley. You miss so much if you just walk along the tops of these fells as down in the valley are huge boulders the size of houses. The Boulder Valley is an incredible sight with rock everywhere; it is quite unlike anywhere I’d been, and I was beginning to learn that there is more to the fells than the summits. Wainwright’s route took me down to Low Water Beck and then along the foot of Grey Crag down to the extensive mine workings in the Coppermines Valley, including the Coniston Coppermines Youth Hostel. This walk was disappointing in places because I hadn’t planned enough for me to do, but when I was doing something I had a great time. The quarries leading up to Birk Fell were fascinating in the morning sunshine, and the descent of Black Sails was thoroughly relaxing, with the day was capped off by a great walk around the old copper mines.

Lingmoor Fell, Pike O’Blisco and Crinkle Crags

Wednesday 11th April 2012

After the wind and rain of the previous couple of days it was wonderful to have a walk in absolutely great weather; I could not have expected anything better with bright sunshine and a light breeze. From Elterwater I climbed up Lingmoor Fell by what I think of as the quarry route. This route branches off the Little Langdale road near Elterwater Hall heading towards Baysbrown before climbing through woodland past the disused Banks Quarry. Before reaching Lingmoor Quarry a sharp turn left brought me up to the top of the ridge. On my previous visits to Lingmoor Fell I have come off the ridge southwards to Dale End Farm and from there walked along the Little Langdale road to Elterwater. Last time I was there I considered doing the quarry route and actually chickened out of it, which is unfortunate as it’s an excellent route with tremendous views across Langdale once out of the wood. Even after reaching the ridge an enjoyable walk along the top eventually brought me to the summit of Lingmoor Fell, known as Brown How.

When I reached the top I left the path and wandered down to Lingmoor Tarn, a lovely secluded tarn in a very picturesque setting with views of the Langdale Pikes on the other side of the valley. The sight is made even more enticing by the lack of any footpaths in the area. I could easily have been miles away from civilisation rather than above one of the most popular valleys in the Lake District. Despite the lack of paths on the ground my map indicated that a path leads westwards from the lake, and as I headed in the direction indicated I eventually found a faint path that led me back to the ridge-top wall. Ahead of me was Side Pike, a rocky prominence at the north-western corner of the fell. Steep crags face Lingmoor Fell with no obvious route up, apparently barring progress, however I recently learnt that there is a route up to the top. On the ground I found a clear path up to base of the crag where a tight squeeze through a ‘fat man’s agony’ brought me onto a thrilling terrace path that has great views across Blea Tarn towards Little Langdale. A short climb from the far side brought me up to the top of Side Pike, a top in the Lake District that I’d never been up before.

Dropping down from Side Pike to a road I immediately left the path behind and climbed the grass slopes opposite making my own route up the western slopes of Wrynose Fell. After climbing the ridge of Rakerigg I made my way across the slopes below Bleaberry Knott eventually picking a faint path that I think must have been the one I’d taken when I was last on this fell in 2007. On that occasion I had been trying to find a route down to Blea Tarn but instead I found a faint path that turned to the north. This fantastic path was now just what I wanted and it brought me up to the broad top of Wrynose Fell. Spurning the clear tourist path across the fell from the top of Redacre Gill I made my own way across until I eventually reached the summit of Pike O’Blisco. This was a wonderful route up and was just the sort of thing I needed to revitalise my interest in walking in the Lake District. I’ve been on all the usual routes so now I’m looking for something a little different. This route made me feel like I was going up a hill in Scotland rather than a popular fell in the Lake District that overlooks busy Langdale.

At the top of Pike O’Blisco I was distressed to discover that the magnificent summit cairn was partially collapsed, which is something that has happened before as Wainwright previously lamented its mutilation in 1959 before it was repaired again. Hopefully it will once again be restored to its former glory. Leaving the top behind I descended the pathless, southern slopes until I reached Black Crag where I had lunch while ahead of me were views of the Coniston Fells and of the Crinkle Crags. While dark clouds passed overhead and threatened rain I set off down the grassy slopes to Red Tarn and after crossing the boggy ground south of the lake I climbed up to Cold Pike. The usual route up Cold Pike would have started from the northern end of Red Tarn but once again I was trying to take the route-less-trodden (but I’m not sure that this would count as an ascent, it’s probably just a ridge route). Cold Pike is not a great fell and the wide, dreary, grassy plain lying between it and Crinkle Crags is its worst feature marring even the magnificence of Crinkle Crags. I quickly crossed the grassy plain reluctantly joining the wide stony path that climbs up to the Crinkle Crags.

The first of the five Crinkles is quite fun as there is a bit of a scramble on the broad rocky terrain. Even though this is the smallest of the Crinkle Crags I actually like it, not only for its abundance of scrambly rock, but because it is the largest in terms of area. Between the first and second Crinkle (in the direction I was going) is the Bad Step, a ten foot rock wall, which Wainwright described as “the most difficult obstacle met on any of the regular walker’s paths in Lakeland.” On all my previous visits (whether in descent or ascent) I have gone via the Bad Step, but on this occasion I thought it would be a good idea to follow in Wainwright’s footsteps and go up the gully to the left that bypasses the Bad Step. I was motivated to go this way not only because I’d never taken that route before but also because there were a number of people at the foot of the Bad Step struggling to get up. And actually the bypassing gully is still an enjoyable route and not at all a cop out! No one should be ashamed of using that route.

The previous day I had found a lot of snow on the higher fells which restricted where I could go but for this walk the snow had melted to such an extent that even on the 2,816 foot high Crinkle Crags the snow was patchy at best and not an inconvenience. From the summit I proceeded across the remaining three Crinkle Crags and across the Shelter Crags down to the Three Tarns pass. I didn’t enjoy my traverse of this excellent ridge as I felt there was something missing, possibly because I was just following the familiar tourist path and not making my own route as I’d been trying to do all week. At Three Tarns, however, I left the crowds behind and followed the Buscoe Sike stream down grassy slopes as it led me near the deep ravines of Hell Gill. The usual route down into Langdale is the Band (a route I’ve actually only done once, in 2003), and I found the Hell Gill route to be poor in comparison except for fleeting glimpses into the ravine. Having reached the bottom of Langdale I now had to walk along the entire length of the valley in order to get back to Elterwater. Despite the long walk back this really was a fabulous day with stunning views in clear, cold air.

Tarn Crag and Blea Rigg

Tuesday 10th April 2012

The weather for this walk was slightly better than the day before, which made for an interesting day, with bands of rain passing through the Lakes all day and snow on the higher fells. The snow ultimately forced me off the higher peaks meaning that I stayed below two thousand feet all day, but I was still able to enjoy a wonderful day on the fells around Easedale. First thing in the morning I left the Langdale Youth Hostel and I was immediately striding out over the fells heading towards Silver How. I thought I’d take a different route up Silver How, one that I’d not taken before, by dropping down from the top of Dow Bank onto a path that passes above the Wyke Plantation and walked through the junipers near the woodland. This was quite a pleasant walk, even if it was rather wet under foot and I was losing height. At the corner of the wood I encountered one of the paths that crosses the ridge on its way from Grasmere to Langdale, and was the path that I’d used on my second ever day in the Lake District. Ahead of me was a scree gully and I climbed that in order to get to the top of Silver How. I assume I’ve been up there before as I’ve walked along this ridge several times but I’ve probably not actually climbed it. Now I have.

With views of Grasmere and of the snow-covered high fells around me, as well as the ridge that leads all the way to Blea Rigg, I made my way north from the top of Silver How. The path that I took down is a delightful route that goes down to Grasmere along the edge of a plateau and through what Wainwright described as a ‘well-defined zone of juniper’. It’s always good to see vegetation other than the sheep-grazed grass that plagues many areas of the Lake Districtand the area near Grasmere seems less grazed than other areas. On reaching the first house I turned off the lane I had been on and headed across fields straight down to the river, where I found that after all the rain the day before the stepping stones were completely submerged. Fortunately I was able to head upstream until I found the path that climbs to Easedale Tarn, but now I was unsure of how wise it would be to take it. Fearing that the river would be just as impassable further upstream I went across New Bridge and joined the path that climbs through Far Easedale.

While walking along the path I reflected on how I had only once taken the path from Greenup Edge all the way down Far Easedale; all other times I have elected to use the far superior path along the Gibson Knott ridge, which is a pity as the valley route is not that bad. That previous time was in wet weather on a long traverse from Ennerdale to Grasmere, and just as then it was raining now. Any rain I had during this day was short-lived and had stopped by the time I reached the Stythwaite Steps where there is now fortunately a footbridge so I was easily able to cross the stream. Leaving the Far Easedale path behind I took the Easedale Tarn path, but before reaching the lake I turned off the path and started to climb the ridge to Tarn Crag. This was a great climb as there is not much of a path and the face of Tarn Crag itself was virtually un-climbable with spots of slippery melting snow dotted around the ground, but somehow I managed to pull myself up to the top. I had been to the top of Tarn Crag a couple of years ago, but that had been in descent while in a hurry so now I can say I have climbed it for the first time.

I was worried about all the snow that was littered around the top of Tarn Crag and especially with the snow on the higher fells, so after taking an early lunch near the top of Tarn Crag I turned south down easy grassy slopes to Codale Tarn. I had never been to this tarn before so I spent some time looking around and even considered trying to climb the steep slopes to the west of the lake until prudence got the better of me. Continuing south I joined the main path through Easedale and turning right climbed up to the head of the path. I had not been on this path beyond Easedale Tarn before and now I wish I had for the short section I climbed was an enjoyable route that ascends steeply through rugged terrain including a stone gully. Eventually I reached the top of the path where I obtained a great vantage point of the snow-covered peaks that surround Stickle Tarn including Sergeant Man, the fell that had originally been my target for the day. Instead I turned left and headed along the undulating terrain towards Blea Rigg.

The fell between the top of the Easedale path and Blea Rigg is littered with small tops and I took great pleasure in visiting every single one as I slowly made my way to Blea Rigg. Many of these tops have a small pile of stones on them, as is the habit in the Lakes, so I determined to visit each and every one of them even if, which is the case in virtually all of them, they serve no purpose at all. I had decided that I was going to enjoy my walk along the Blea Rigg ridge and I did that by going wherever I wanted, totally ignoring the path. The weather failed to leave an impression on me as one minute I was bathed in sunshine and the next I was being slashed at by hail stones. I have walked along this ridge a few times, in both bad and good weather, in ascent and descent, and I have found that this ridge is best in descent with clear views. I love descending long ridges, and the Blea Rigg ridge is one of the best for that because it is broad with many tops that can be explored to your heart’s content. I had a great fun on that ridge.

After visiting Blea Rigg the terrain becomes less craggy, with more grass and bogs and not so many outcrops but I continued visiting every major top until I reached Silver How which I missed out taking a direct route towards Spedding Crag and Dow Bank. Above Elterwater I dropped down the steep southern slopes of the ridge into the village. Despite the lack of high fells this was a very enjoyable walk where I achieved a lot of ascents that I’d never done before, which is the whole point of being in the Lakes.

Grizedale Hause and Nab Scar

Monday 9th April 2012

It rained all day. There’s not much you can do when you’re in the Lake District and it decides it’s going to rain all day. I’d have stayed indoors if I’d had a choice, but I was booked into a hostel near Grasmere and I was in Patterdale. Even by road this would involve going over a mountain pass in the rain, so on foot I was left with little choice. I just had to make the best of what the weather had dealt me, which is always the best approach to take when walking in an area with high rainfall like the Lake District. If the weather is good, great, make the most of it, enjoy yourself. But if it’s raining you don’t just sit inside, you get some good waterproofs and do whatever walk you can. Bad weather is an excuse to do walks along paths that you ordinarily wouldn’t have done. Low-level walks take on a life of their own when the weather is bad, and you can bet there’ll be a lot less people out there so you’ll have the fell to yourself.

I still had to get to Grasmere so I set off from Patterdale back along the route that I’d taken the previous day and walked into Grizedale. From there I decided to take the path on the northern side of the valley along the foot of Birkhouse Moor. I’d never taken this rugged, rock-strewn path before all the way up to Grizedale Tarn and it was really quite fun, despite the rain and the wind. Just beyond the top of the pass I reached a junction of paths where a sign said the bridge was out at the foot of Tongue Gill and recommended that I take the bridlepath down Little Tongue instead. Since I’d already decided to take the bridlepath that was the route I took. I had taken this path the first time I climbed up to Grizedale Hause but all subsequent times I have followed Wainwright's advice and taken the footpath beside Tongue Gill. I felt like a change now, but I was also attracted by the terraced route that the bridlepath takes across the southern slopes of Seat Sandal and above Hause Rigg. The descent down Little Tongue, though, was as boggy as I remembered. Incidentally when I reached the bottom I found that the bridge over Tongue Gill had been replaced so the sign at the top of the path is out of date.

On reaching Grasmere I walked along the main road to a bus shelter where I had lunch under its cover. Since the rain seemed to be easing (slightly!) I decided to prolong the agony by taking the path near the Swan Hotel that climbs beside Greenhead Gill. I had come down this way in 2006 from Stone Arthur in diminishing light and so failed to see the delightful lane with the stream running beside it. After the final gate I climbed up to an aqueduct over Greenhead Gill (the pipe from Thirlmere Reservoir) and from there steeply up the southern slopes of the fellside to Alcock Tarn. I had never been to this lake before but it lies on a shelf on the side of fell with stunning views across Grasmere. There is little attraction in the lake itself but the ridge above it proved too tempting for me. Rather than dropping straight down into the valley I crossed the small earth dam and following a faint path up for an easy climb onto the top of the ridge at a point just south of Lord Crag. A short distance along the ridge took me to the cairn at the top of Nab Scar. I have only once been to Nab Scar before and that was on my first visit to the Lakes in 2002 during a descent from Fairfield, so you could say I have now climbed Nab Scar for the first time.

A steep descent down the front of Nab Scar on a well-made path eventually brought me to Rydal where I crossed the main road and started to follow the route that I had taken on my very first day in the Lake District. On that occasion I had walked from Ambleside to Rydal and then climbed Loughrigg (and in the process lost my glasses). I’m not sure what my exact route up the maze-like fell had been ten years ago but I had a good guess at following it. After visiting Loughrigg Cave (fenced off and flooded but that hadn’t stopped the family I saw playing around inside it) I climbed above the cave to try and remember my route of ten years ago. I think I was quite successful while negotiating the undulating terrain and myriad tops, and even passed the point where I believe I probably lost my glasses (still no sign of them!) before eventually reaching the summit of Loughrigg. Wainwright said it would be really embarrassing to get lost on Loughrigg, which is a small family-friendly fell, but the fell is so complex that is a real possibility. Loughrigg is a good fell where finding an interesting route to the top is a nice challenge. I just kept climbing in the general direction towards the top and thankfully I found it.

After taking a previously used route to reach the top of Loughrigg I wanted to use a route down that I’d never taken before so I took a path that drops steeply down the western slopes of the fell to reach a narrow road not far from the Langdale Youth Hostel that I was going to be staying at. This was not a bad walk and was saved by the diversion that I took in the afternoon from Grasmere. Climbing over the Grizedale Pass was not the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever done, but the path up to Grizedale Tarn is terrifically rugged. Instead of just spending the afternoon in Grasmere I climbed up to Nab Scar via Alcock Tarn and then up Loughrigg, which shows that rain doesn’t have to mean that you can’t have a good walk. This was a great walk despite the rain.