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.