Maiden Moor and Cat Bells

Tuesday 1st January 2013

At midnight before this walk I was standing in the centre of Keswick with several hundred other people watching the New Year clock on the side of the Skiddaw Hotel countdown to zero so that we could welcome in the New Year. I have never welcomed in the New Year with so many people before and it was a fabulous experience. My walk the following morning, starting later than usual, was through the glorious scenery west of the most beautiful lake in the Lake District, Derwent Water, with weather that was the best that I was to enjoy in the whole of this holiday: clear views in all directions and even occasionally flashes of sunlight. I started on a great route that I have taken many times before from Keswick through the village of Portinscale and Fawe Park to the northern tip of Cat Bells. I’ve walked around the western slopes of Cat Bells several times before but never taken the wide track on the Derwent Water side of the fell, so rather than climb this popular fell I joined this and found an excellent path that was a pleasure to stroll along.

This thoroughly relaxing path is well-graded and well-laid with stunning views across Derwent Water towards Bleaberry Fell and through the Jaws of Borrowdale, and took me all the way down to the road at Manesty where the path south deteriorated. With hindsight it would have been best to have walked along the road as far as the Borrowdale Gates Hotel and then taken the path through Peace How. Instead I took a rough, muddy path around Manesty and above a small wood to Ellers Beck. My plan for this walk was to climb Maiden Moor using Wainwright’s ‘Ascent from Grange via Peace How,’ because in the past I’d always walked along the ridge from High Spy to Maiden Moor and never climbed just this fell. However I got a bit sidetracked by an excellent path that climbs High Spy on a drove road between High and Low White Rakes. While climbing the steep grassy slopes beside Ellers Beck the crags to my left kept attracting my attention including the path that climbs between these formidable barriers.

Spurning the tiring trudge up the grassy slopes to Maiden Moor, I climbed the path to the foot of High White Rake and walked along the thrilling drove road that crosses the foot of the crags to the top of Low White Rake. This is a fabulous path high above the fellside with excellent views across Derwent Water; it is just the sort of path that I absolutely adore. Some years ago I tried to take this path from Castle Crag but I was coming from the wrong direction and ended up climbing through Nitting Haws. The drove road had brought me to the bottom of a vast and wild upland area east of the top of High Spy, filled with heather, bracken and moss set amongst rocks, and is a long way away from the popular path that runs along the top of the fell. When I reached this natural amphitheatre it started to rain as the good weather of the morning failed to last very long, and it continued to rain while I had my lunch and while I battled all the way up to the top of the ridge through the wind and rain.

My target was still Maiden Moor, however I was at Blea Crag on the northern edge of High Spy, and actually higher than the top of Maiden Moor. I’m not sure if this counts as an ascent of Maiden Moor even though I never actually visited the summit of High Spy. I had to battle against unbelievably strong winds, hail and rain while on the exposed ridge over to the top of Maiden Moor. The main path across the fell doesn’t go to the summit but actually descends the eastern slopes and would have sheltered me from the winds, but since I was trying to climb Maiden Moor I had to take the exposed path to the summit. The weather eased after I passed over the top of Maiden Moor and from there I descended the craggy path down the broad northern slopes of the fell to Hause Gate and from there up to Cat Bells. Cat Bells is always a pleasure to climb as it is like a miniature version of the big fells. Half their height but with everything the bigger fells have got except for height. It is a real family favourite. The excellent northern ridge of Cat Bells took me back onto my outward route through Fawe Park and Portinscale in dwindling daylight to Keswick. This was not a long walk since there I had started late and a long approach had been necessary at the start and end from Keswick, but it was a good walk on a great day through fabulous scenery and with some enjoyable weather in the morning. It was a great way to start the year.