Grange Fell

Monday 1st April 2013

After spending a couple of wonderful nights at Skiddaw House, I finally left the isolated hostel and set off along the Cumbria Way south all the way into Borrowdale. I had considered many different options for this walk including walking up the quiet Shoulthwaite valley and then, when I decided I wanted to get to Borrowdale as soon as possible, I considered catching a bus. I’m glad that I didn’t catch a bus in the end, as it would have been a waste of money and it would have robbed me of a fabulous walk overlooking Derwent Water to Borrowdale. The weather for this walk was absolutely amazing. It was really cold and icy when I left Skiddaw House and the footpath that had been muddy the day before was now frozen solid. There were quite a few bits of ice on the path for me to contend with, and a harsh, cold wind blew up the Glenderaterra valley that I had to wrap up against, but the views south across the Vale of Keswick were amazing. The weather improved markedly as I descended into Keswick, while the views opened up across Derwent Water to leave a surprisingly warm sunny day and provide me with great views to enjoy as I made my way to Borrowdale.

I love the path that crosses the Lonscale Crags on a dramatic terrace high above the Glenderaterra Beck before turning onto the southern slopes of Lonscale Fell heading towards Keswick. The only previous time that I have used this path, in 2008, was in failing light so it is only now that I was really able to enjoy this fabulous route. After passing the popular Gale Road car park near Latrigg, I continued to descend along the route of the Cumbria Way into Keswick, eventually dropping below the ice line where the path was finally clear of treacherous ice. This is a popular path to Skiddaw, but, judging by how poorly equipped everyone was, they were clearly not going up Skiddaw, and I couldn’t help thinking they may have difficulty even if their goal was only Latrigg, because of the ice on the path. I felt a marked change in the warmth and feel of the air in Keswick, compared with at one and a half thousand feet up at Skiddaw House, where it felt like winter still had a firm grip, but in Keswick it seemed like spring had come.

Without stopping in Keswick I continued along the Cumbria Way on the excellent route that I have used many times in the past that took me through Portinscale and Fawe Park to the foot of Cat Bells. At this point the Cumbria Way takes a lakeshore route, but I wanted to get to Borrowdale as quickly as possible so I took the path that I had used on New Year’s Day, half way up the eastern slopes of Cat Bells, all the way to the road at Manesty. Throughout the walk I had fantastic views across Derwent Water, back towards snow-topped Skiddaw and ahead of me towards the narrow gap of Borrowdale. This was a thoroughly enjoyable walk in the sunny weather along a broad, well-graded path that gave me absolutely no regrets about not catching a bus in Keswick. On New Year’s Day, I had stayed above the fell wall after Manesty, but later thought that it would have been better to have walked along the road, so that is what I now did, all the way into the delightful village of Grange where I had my lunch beside the tranquil waters of the River Derwent.

For a while I have had a desire to walk up Grange Fell from Grange on a path that Wainwright enthuses about saying that it “simply must not be missed. Sacrifice any other walk, if need be, but not this!” In 2008 I descended Grange Fell to Grange by the usual route through Cummacatta Wood, so this time I thought I’d take what Wainwright describes as the natural line of ascent through Troutdale. After following the road for a short distance, I took a track past Troutdale Cottages and into a charming, hidden little valley where beautiful views back down the valley stretched across Derwent Water to Skiddaw beyond. This path was a joy to walk, mainly because there was no snow and I didn’t need to take care of my steps, but also because it was through lovely, natural woodland on a great path that snakes deliciously up the hillside.

Unfortunately as the path steepened into a narrow gorge, lingering snow made the climb on slippery stones very tricky and made an exquisitely lovely walk so much more difficult than it could have been. Despite at one point missing the turning towards King’s How I eventually reached the top where I had stunning views all around me and rewarded me for my efforts. Eventually I wrenched myself away from the top of King’s How and made my way across the gloriously complex terrain of Grange Fell. One could easily occupy a whole day exploring this fabulously detailed fell, but I didn’t have all day so I followed the path across the fell to the multi-topped Brund Fell where, because of doubt on which top was the actual summit (there is no cairn), I visited all three of them. It’s amazing how the lower fells in the Lake District make up for their lack of height with a complexity that the higher fells just don’t have.

Heading towards Rosthwaite, I headed straight down into Borrowdale with stunning views across the valley to the snow-clad fells that surround. At Firth Wood I turned right through the wood on a lovely little path down to the valley road, and since it was still early and the weather was great, I walked through the Jaws of Borrowdale along the road back to Grange. My main reason for doing this was so that I could walk back through the Jaws of Borrowdale on the Cumbria Way on a fantastic path that is better than many paths over the fells. I went out of my way to walk along this path because I’d only been on it once before, in 2002, and it was worth every moment along the rugged, undulating path. This was a great day spent walking in tremendous scenery in glorious sunshine on great paths, despite only going up one small fell. That is all you need.

Skiddaw

Sunday 31st March 2013

Before this walk, I had stayed overnight at the Skiddaw House Youth Hostel, which is a great place despite being so cold that I needed to go to bed with a hot water bottle. One of the many advantages of staying there is that since the hostel is 470m above sea level you are already half way up the nearby hill of Skiddaw even before you’ve started, which gives you a huge help in the morning. There is a track that runs from the hostel all the way up to the summit on mostly gentle grassy slopes that can be climbed even when there is snow on the ground, as I had on this Easter Sunday. In glorious sunny weather, without a cloud in the sky and hardly a breath of wind, I left Skiddaw House and set off up the snow-covered hill of Sale How, but soon after passing over the top the weather started to deteriorate and the snow got deeper and deeper, which made for a much slower and tiring ascent than would normally be expected. After wading through the deep snow I eventually reached the tourist path from Keswick near the col with Little Man where the views over the other side of Skiddaw revealed an awesome display of fells around Derwent Water and towards the north-western fells. It was a truly astonishing and gob-smacking sight.

But there was a really harsh cold wind that got worse as I climbed the final slope to the summit ridge and battered me senseless as I made my way along the ridge to the summit. I didn’t want to expose any amount of skin to that merciless, easterly wind so I wrapped myself up tightly, even covering my face with a buff so I was peering out through thin slits. After getting to the summit I didn’t want to stay there for a moment so I immediately turned around and headed back along the summit ridge down to the col with Skiddaw Little Man. The crystal-clear views throughout this time were tremendous, stretching right across the whole of the Lake District, despite the clouds that had quickly developed during the morning. It was at this time that I realised that the water in my drinking hose had frozen solid, which had never happened to me before, but I guess it must have been very cold at the top of Skiddaw!

Before reaching the col I branched off the tourist path and headed towards the top of Skiddaw Little Man, pausing to admire the stunning views from the top (that Wainwright described as the finest view in Lakeland) before dropping steeply down to the tourist path, but I didn’t join it. Instead I stayed on top of the ridge and waded through deep snow over Jenkin Hill and up the wind-swept slopes of Lonscale Fell. The only previous time I’ve been up Lonscale Fell was in 2008, also when there was loads of snow about and I had started climbing Skiddaw but diverted onto Lonscale Fell. It had also been very windy in 2008 and only slightly better now, and now I had a great view south towards Thirlmere, but the funniest view was of the summit, looking back towards Skiddaw, where a snowman had been built beside a cairn, complete with stone eyes, nose and hat! That really made my day.

After visiting the 703m eastern top I had lunch and made my way across the northern slopes to a fence that drops disturbingly steeply (especially considering the snow) before levelling off along the lovely narrow ridge of Burnt Horse. Despite a bitterly cold wind this was an exciting descent, but all too soon I reached the main track that runs around the side of the fell on its way to Keswick. Across the valley I could see two people climbing the wide grassy slopes of Mungrisdale Common (the dreariest Wainwright in the whole of the Lake District) and considered following their example, but thankfully I soon came to my senses and walked back up to Skiddaw House having completed a round of Salehow Beck. This was a great walk despite harsh winds at the top, but it was still early in the afternoon so I quickly came up with another little walk. After passing Skiddaw House I dropped down to the River Caldew on the path that I had taken the day before, but immediately after crossing the river I left the path and climbed the pathless heather-covered slopes of Great Calva.

In 2008, after climbing Lonscale Fell, I had climbed Great Calva starting from the point where the Skiddaw House road crosses Dead Beck on an ascent that I found really tiring. This time, for a bit of variety, I was taking a longer route up the southern slopes through dense heather that gradually eased as I climbed. I didn’t find this climb as tiring as before because the gradient was gentler and I soon picked up a narrow path that led me all the way up to the summit. Since I wasn’t in a hurry I had a wonderful time strolling along the ridge between Great Calva and Little Calva following footprints in the snow around the fellside until I reached the snow filled gully of Dry Gill. This was gently angled enough to make walking down the gully not only safe but thoroughly enjoyable. A fence eventually blocked my progress down the gully, forcing me out before the gradient increased, which would have made the gully considerably more dangerous than it had been. Even in dry conditions that fence is a much needed hint to get out before things get hazardous. Just as in 2008, a steep descent down the heather-clad slopes brought onto the Skiddaw House track just above the Whitewater Dash Falls. It was now four o’clock so I decided that I had spent enough time wandering over the fells and I might as well make my way slowly back to the youth hostel. This was a really enjoyable walk in the snow, despite the strong wind that plagued me all day, even on Great Calva.

Blencathra

Saturday 30th March 2013

For the third year running I went to the Lake District for Easter week, but that hadn’t been my original plan for this holiday. For a long time I have been planning to go walking along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, but I couldn’t seem to be able to get the buses, trains and hostels to work together during the Easter week. In the end I settled on my backup plan of coming back to the Lake District and since it is such a brilliant place with many excellent walks left to do there, I was overjoyed to be coming back. Unfortunately my plans for this holiday were then given a huge setback by an obstinate winter that still had a tight grip on the fells. After the coldest March ever recorded there was a lot of snow still remaining on the fells. I am not a fan of winter walking and don’t have the crampons or ice axe that are required for walking over snow-covered mountains, so my walking would be severely restricted as a result of not being able to safely go everywhere I’d originally planned.

Undaunted I set off first thing in the morning and through a combination of trains and buses found myself in Scales at the foot of the mighty Blencathra by noon. After climbing up to the fell wall I set off beside the wall to Scaley Beck where a short scramble into and out of the small ravine (though not necessary as there is a path that goes around) thrillingly started my week in the Lake District. After lunch at the foot of Doddick Fell I set off up to the top of the ridge. Of the three ridges that lead up to the top of Blencathra the central and most notable ridge, Hall’s Fell Ridge, was the only one that I’d previously done, but Wainwright also strongly recommended Doddick Fell, to the east of Hall’s Fell. This good ridge offered me an interesting route to the top through heather and over crags while always showing me tremendous views of the summit of Blencathra. The weather was bright and sunny throughout, but it got colder the higher I climbed with a bitter wind blowing at the top.

Snow was not a problem on the fantastically craggy ridge until I was almost at the top where it became obvious that crampons would have come in handy. After safely going around the cornice at the top of the ridge I started to follow the path at the top of the steep south-facing crags upon heavily walked-on snow. There were a lot of people on this path and some of them were wearing crampons, but not all, and I found that I was able to safely walk up the hill with my walking poles keeping me upright all the way up to the summit of Blencathra, at the top of Hall’s Fell. Despite the popularity of this mountan there was no one at the summit when I got there, and I wasn’t even sure I’d actually reached the top so I carried straight on along the ridge to the top of Gategill Fell before turning around and returning to the summit. When I returned the sun had come out and was lighting the view perfectly along the summit ridge in a stunning landscape of fell, lake and snow.

This was such a stunning sight I was reluctant to leave the awesome summit, but eventually the sun went in and I decided it was time to leave, but I wasn’t sure where to go next. I hadn’t really planned anything except for a vague idea of visiting Mungrisdale Common, but that featureless plain didn’t appeal to me. Eventually I walked across to Atkinson Pike, down the steep Blue Screes and across the top of the River Glenderamackin to the top of Bannerdale Crags. This was a very different walk to the one I’d taken over Blencathra as I was now crossing relatively flat snow covered slopes, but with the added effort of wading through deep snow. After visiting the top of Bannerdale Crags I walked around the top of the crags (though far from the actual edge), around the edge and up to the top of Bowscale Fell. With hindsight it was probably a bit of a wasted effort visiting Bannerdale Crags as I then had to almost double back on myself in order to go to Bowscale Fell.

After visiting the cairn at the top of Bowscale Fell I set off straight down the expansive, snowy western slopes all the way to the Blackhazel Beck and its mouth with the River Caldew. I always find it fun to do something like that: dropping all the way from the summit of a hill down to the valley below. The first time I remember doing that was on Beinn Chabhail, dropping down from Lochain a’ Chaisteil all the way into Glen Falloch. I was not following a path, just making my own route, and I was free to wander wherever I wanted with a minimum of effort down long grassy slopes. It’s a descent that I would hate to do as an ascent as it would seem to drag on forever, but in descent I enjoyed every moment. At the Caldew I forded the river and joined the clear track on the other side. With the sun beginning to dip below the tops of the hills I walked along the path following the Caldew upstream into the heart of the Skiddaw Forest where a solitary house sits surrounded by heather clad hills: Skiddaw House Youth Hostel.

With the tiring climb up Blencathra and the long, snowy trek across to Bowscale Fell that had followed an early start in the morning, I was now feeling very tired and found the last uphill struggle to Skiddaw House very difficult. Eventually I managed to get up the muddy path to the hostel and wearily tried to open the door: it was locked. Panic quickly set in. I was booked in there, how can it be shut? Soon I heard a voice from the other side saying, “Try the next door.” The second door was indeed the entrance and inside I found a warm welcome inside a wonderful, character-filled hostel. I had never stayed there before, but I enjoyed my stay so much I’m sure it won’t be long before I return. And I’m sure it also won’t be long before I return to Blencathra, which never fails to satisfy whatever the weather, and this time I was treated to some brilliant, clear views from this magnificent fell.