Haycock

Wednesday 3rd April 2013

My holiday in the Lake District was rather frustrating as I was unable to do the walks that I had planned due to the snow, but what I had instead was amazingly sunny weather almost every day. I came back from the Lake District with a suntan that made people ask where I’d been for my holidays. They were very surprised when I told them. The weather on this walk was probably the best with wall to wall sunshine and great views across the Lake District and beyond all day. The walk started from the Ennerdale Youth Hostel without a cloud in the sky as I crossed the valley and up the tongue between Silvercove Beck and Deep Gill. I had previously taken this excellent route back in 2005 and I had no hesitation in taking it again as it is easily the best route up to the ridge south of Ennerdale. In 2005 I had turned right at the top of the ridge to visit Caw Fell so this time I turned left towards Haycock. There had been no snow on the ascent, but there was quite a bit of snow around Haycock and particularly on the sheltered rocks of Little Gowder Crag.

This small outcrop lies between Haycock and the point where I’d reached the ridge and blocked my path. I could have gone around Little Gowder Crag and this would have been the sensible, safer option in order to avoid deep, compacted snow, but instead I thought I’d try my hand at a bit of mountaineering, albeit on a tiny, almost insignificant scale. It was tricky but fun as I made my way up the hard snow, digging in with my boot to create steps in the not particularly steep snow. Anyone else would scoff at my playing in the snow but I was excited by my courageous efforts to scale this mountain that was actually a small crag. There was very little actual danger in what I was doing, but it was fun to pretend otherwise and it wasn’t long before I passed over Little Gowder Crag and was up at the top of Haycock.

It was very windy at the top of Haycock with a harsh, cold easterly, but the views beyond the top over Scoat Fell and towards the Scafell Pikes were stunning in the cold, clear air. However, I didn’t want to stay at the top exposed to the cold wind for very long so I carefully made my way back down the snow-covered slopes and around Little Gowder Crag following the wall that lies along the top of the ridge over to the top of Caw Fell. This is a vast fell that Wainwright describes as being “a rolling upland of modest height, predominantly grass-covered, and of mainly easy gradients.” I had left the snow of Haycock behind me now and the wide grassy slopes of Caw Fell were completely clear of snow so I had an untroubled and carefree walk across the open fell surrounded by bright sunshine and clear views all the way towards the coast.

The highest point on the fell is in the north-eastern corner not far from the wall that I was following, and beyond that the wall takes a sharp right turn whereas I continued straight on past a shelter to a cairn that afforded me with wide-reaching views across the West Cumbrian coastland, and there I stopped to have my lunch with the views stretching across the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man and beyond. Returning to the wall, I followed it down a slope and over a fell that Wainwright doesn’t recognize as being a separate fell and really doesn’t warrant such a title as it is only a grassy mound above the small Iron Crag. I had a long distance to cover across this vast fell, but the gradients were easy with grass underfoot that made for easy, relaxing walking. There is a cairn at the top of the mound, above Iron Crag, but getting to it wasn’t easy as the only way across the wall was through a gate that was blocked by a drift of snow.

The long slopes led me to a conifer plantation that was soon crossed and a short climb led me up to the top of Crag Fell, a fell that I have visited several times before, but always at Christmas. The first time I climbed Crag Fell I tried to take a route past the Crag Fell pinnacles, but made a mess of it due to the snow. Now I tried to do the route in descent joining an interesting little path that follows a precipitous route across the steep hillside high above Ennerdale Water. The path isn’t in very good condition, crumbling away in places, and is very narrow which made the walk tricky but exciting as a result. The latest version of Wainwright’s guide recommends taking a higher path above the pinnacles just below Revelin Crag, but I probably wouldn’t have found it as exciting.

This path took me to the top of wind-swept Anglers' Crag where I took the path that drops steeply down to the shore of Ennerdale Water and the excellent path below Anglers' Crag around Robin Hood's Chair. that cleverly tackles the craggy terrain falling precipitously from the top of the crag down to the lakeshore. This is on the Coast-to-Coast route so must be a great introduction to the delights of the Lake District for those making their way from the west coast of Cumbria all the way across Northern England to the east coast of Yorkshire. After passing Robin Hood’s Chair, the walk settled into a pleasant stroll beside the lake on a lovely path that leads all the way into Ennerdale and back to the youth hostel. This was a nice little walk but nothing more as the snow on this holiday stopped me from doing great mountain walks up the high fells like Pillar or Great Gable and forced me to explore areas of the Lake District that I wouldn’t otherwise have visited.