Kirk Fell, Pillar and Steeple

The Lakes 2003, part 4
Thursday 17th July 2003

After enjoying wonderful, hot weather on this holiday I shouldn’t have been disappointed when it finally started to deteriorate with this day being rather changeable: a day for both waterproofs and sunglasses. After spending the night at the amazing Black Sail Youth Hostel I set off first thing in the morning up to Black Sail Pass and from the top I tried to go up onto Kirk Fell, which I’d walked around, but not climbed, the day before. I had some difficulty getting up to the top of the fell from the pass, which I thought must have been because I had taken a wrong turning, but was actually because the path is just really difficult as I ended up struggling up very steep, rocky cliffs until, with great relief, I finally reached the top of the crags. I have climbed Kirkfell Crags from Black Sail Pass several times since and they have never been easy. A line of old fence posts should provide a sure guide, but since even these rock-climb up the crags that is what I had to do. From the top of the crags, despite the low cloud, navigation was easy as I simply followed the boundary posts and cairns that led me across the broad top until I reached the top of Kirk Fell where I was rewarded with views of Wastwater and Burnmoor Tarn through breaks in the clouds.

Continuing over the fell took me down to Beck Head where I took the path that I had taken the day before round the side of Kirk Fell and back to the Black Sail Pass. By the time I returned to the pass it had started to rain so I had to put my waterproofs on before continuing the walk over Looking Stead and up Pillar. I avoided the high level traverse to Robinson’s Cairn and the Pillar Rock because of the bad weather (just as I did last September) and stayed at the top of the ridge all the way up to the top of Pillar. This was a pleasant walk on an interesting ridge, and the rain stopped as I progressed along the ridge so that by the time I had reached the expansive summit the sun had come out. In the changeable weather conditions on this walk I was able to have my lunch at the summit of Pillar in bright sunshine while I thought about what I would do next. In view of the good weather I decided to descend to the Wind Gap and up to Scoat Fell.

When I reached the top of Scoat Fell I noticed dark clouds were heading towards the fells which signalled more rain so I decided that it was time to leave. I descended Scoat Fell over the top of Steeple, a small pinnacle on the northern edge of Scoat Fell, and followed the ridge of Long Crag all the way down into Ennerdale reaching the tree line just as the rain started again and my waterproofs came back on. Despite the OS map showing a right of way alongside Low Beck there is no footpath marked and the original version of Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide moans the lacks of paths, but the new revised Wainwright does show a path beside Low Beck even if it’s not recommended. I must have found this path on the ground following the route of the mapped right of way until I reached a forest road that ends just short of Low Beck. The trees in Ennerdale have restricted the routes off the fells for many years including some of the established right of ways and the route that I took is one such route that, back in 2003, I was able to use simply due to the determination of those who had gone before me. May they always continue to be navigable.

Once I had descended to the forest road I headed up the valley, across the River Liza on the memorial footbridge, and all the way back to Black Sail Hut. The hostel was now busier than the night before because it was curry night! I don’t know if Black Sail Hut still does curry night, but it was a wonderful evening with all the curry you can eat. I had a tremendous time during my two nights stay at the Black Sail Hut not just because of the quaint hostel in its stunning location but because I was able to share it with some really friendly and hospitable people. I don’t excel in crowds, but even I felt uplifted by the sheer enjoyment of socialising with people I’d not met before. It was a great experience and a highlight of my holiday, and possibly my best ever experience in the Lake District when not walking.

Esk Pike

The Lakes 2003, part 3
Wednesday 16th July 2003

The good weather that I had been enjoying continued on this walk where I saw some amazing sights from some really great mountains, but the weather was beginning to get too much for me. I started the walk by following the same route as the day before, a route that I was beginning to become familiar with and have used many times in the years that have followed. I passed along Langdale via Oak Howe before branching off my previous route at Side House to pass the front of the two Dungeon Ghyll hotels and take a bridlepath into the side valley of Mickleden. For this section of the walk I had the company of the chap with whom I’d had dinner the night before. He was from South Africa, which I thought does show that you get to meet lots of different people in youth hostels. He was walking the Cumbria Way, so at the end of Mickledon we parted company as he went over the Stake Pass while I climbed Rossett Gill. I had intended on following the bridlepath all the way up, but at a turning that Wainwright (in the original edition) described as being an ‘indistinct start of second zigzag (sharp left; on grass)’ I went straight on and ended up scrambling up bare earth beside the Gill.

I could see men working on the zigzags to create the hardwearing surface that now exists on the path, but ten years ago the direct route up was still very clear. When I came down this path last September I specifically looked for the point where I’d gone wrong ten years ago and it was completely overgrown. I don’t blame the National Trust for trying to prevent people from taking the gill route as it is very tricky and completely wore me out. Once over the top and around Angle Tarn I walked up to the Ore Gap and from there a short climb brought me to the glorious Esk Pike, a fell that I have since come to love, but now I was climbing it simply because I’d never been there before. However, my exertions while climbing Rossett Gill and up Esk Pike had been tremendously wearing in the heat of the middle of the day. After getting sunburnt on the back of my neck the day before I now wore my baseball cap back to front so the peak covered my sore neck rather than my forehead. The heat felt like it was draining the energy out of me so despite the views being just as good as the day before I didn’t feel like I was able to appreciate it.

While sitting at the summit of Esk Pike I put my waterproof on with the hood over my head, not because of any rain, but to shield my aching head from the hot, beating sun as I had my lunch. After eating I walked down to Esk Hause and along the path beside Sprinkling Tarn to Sty Head. After a rest in the shadow of the Rescue Box I headed up over the Windy Gap between Great Gable and Green Gable. This steep climb was also very trying, which further drained my energy, with loose scree making me work extra hard to get up to the top of the pass. The heat though wasn’t as much of a problem here because I took advantage of the delicious water that ran down the Aaron Slack. I hadn’t drunk stream water before, but in this case I had little choice because I had run out of the two litres of water that I had taken with me, and the freshly drawn water tasted so refreshingly cold that I decided I would have to make use of stream water again, especially when it is particularly hot. You shouldn’t rely on stream water and you do have to careful to ensure the water is uncontaminated, but if confident of the quality there is ‘nothing better ever came out of a barrel or a bottle.’

I dropped down the other side of the Windy Gap onto the Moses’ Trod path that runs by the side of the Gables and turned left to Dale Head, and from there I took the path that skirts around the side of Kirk Fell. I was heading to the Black Sail Youth Hostel, but I couldn’t see a path that went from the Moses’ Trod down Ennerdale to the Black Sail Hut. With hindsight I should have just descended the grassy slopes veering to the right onto the top of Tongue until I reached the path that comes down beside Loft Beck, or at least that is what I would have done now. Instead I followed a clear path to Beck Head and around Kirk Fell, until I eventually left the path half way round Kirk Fell and finally headed straight down the hillside into the valley to the footbridge over the River Liza and so to Black Sail Hut. This was my first visit to Black Sail and I was astonished by what I saw. It was so unlike any hostel that I had ever stayed in before as it was so relaxed and informal. We carried the dinner tables outside and had dinner with the fells all around us. I had never experienced anything like it before or probably since, and I loved it. The hot weather had been particularly draining on this walk, but I still went over some great fells and Black Sail was a delightful reward.

Pike O’Blisco, Crinkle Crags and Bow Fell

The Lakes 2003, part 2
Tuesday 15th July 2003

It was really hot on this walk, which taught me the importance of taking lots of water on walks, and to use a higher factor sun cream as my factor eight sun cream ultimately proved to be inadequate to the task. The walk was a true great: the Oxendale Horseshoe, but extended with the added burden of having to walk from the youth hostel along Great Langdale to the start of the walk at the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and then back again at the end. The walk along Great Langdale was varied but pleasant and I have always enjoyed it while passing the Wainwright Inn (now called slightly differently: Wainwright’s Inn) and Oak Howe. Near the National Trust campsite I turned left up the grassy hillside on what at that time was a very muddy trail, but where a path has now been constructed to eliminate such problems. At the cattle grid near Side Pike I crossed the road and started to climb the steep slopes beside Redacre Gill under a blazing sun. I remember this climb as being really difficult, not so much for the steepness of the terrain but for the heat of the day. In the sweltering temperatures and with very little wind I was sweating profusely and got through at least half of my water at just that point of the ascent. This sort of weather may be good for sunbathing in, but it doesn’t make climbing fells easy.

Eventually the gradient levelled and on this more exposed plateau, almost two thousand feet above sea level, it was cooler with a little wind which made for a much more pleasant experience. The rest of the day was an absolute delight as I walked over three of the best fells in the Lake District for the first time, starting with the underrated Pike O’Blisco. A great climb took me up to the rock covered summit where a magnificent cairn stands proudly at the top and where tremendous views can be seen throughout the length of Great Langdale, but most notably straight across the valley to the Langdale Pikes that I’d climbed just the day before. In good weather the top of a fell in the Lake District is the best place you can possibly be and on just my second ever visit to the Lake District I was seeing the fells at their best and from an excellent vantage point. From the top of Pike O’Blisco I dropped down to Red Tarn and up between Cold Pike and Great Knott to a glorious scramble over the Crinkle Crags. I had enormous fun on the Crinkle Crags, most notably on the infamous ‘bad step’, a ten foot high almost vertical rock wall that 'is the most difficult obstacle met on any regular walkers’ path in Lakeland.'

I had no problem with the bad step and was soon up the rock wall and eventually reached the top of Crinkle Crags where I had my lunch. I saw some people near the top who had been particularly burnt by the sun and had turned a deep shade of red, but I was confident that this would not be a problem for me as I slapped on some more of my woefully inadequate sun cream. The continuation along the ridge took me up and down the rest of the Crinkle Crags and over the five crags of the adjacent Shelter Crags as I reflected that I would have had a very different experience if the conditions had been worse, but with the excellent weather that I was enjoying my traverse was tremendously enthralling. Once I had passed over the crags I descended to Three Tarns, which were almost dried up, and ascended Bow Fell to the highest point of the walk. After all my exertion while trying to get up the steep scree slope to the top of Bow Fell it was annoying to have to come all the way back down the same scree slope again little knowing that there is a terrace path that leads straight onto the descent. Wainwright recommends it even though it is difficult to find, but since it was not marked on OS maps I didn’t know about it in 2003, and I have not been on it since.

Instead I dropped steeply down to Three Tarns and from there descended the fell over White Stones and along the Band, a popular walkers’ highway. I had great fun hopping around from rock to rock while at the top of the fells where it was windy and cooler, but down in Langdale it was very hot and windless. It was astonishing how hot it became as I descended with the heat gradually building up to almost unbearable levels and despairingly I realised that I still had a long walk ahead of me all the way back along Great Langdale to the youth hostel. Before I reached my destination the back of my neck began to ache terribly from sunburn, and other exposed parts of my skin felt no better. I heard on the radio during my walk back to the hostel that it is not recommended to use sun cream below factor fifteen and I could now see why as despite using sun cream all day I had gotten burnt. This walk was very enjoyable, but only when I was not being boiled alive. Nevertheless I had just enjoyed my best ever day in the Lake District up to this point, and whatever the weather I was eager for more.

The Lakes 2003, part 1 – The Langdale Pikes

Monday 14th July 2003

Once again at this time of the year I don’t have a new walk to blog about, so as is customary for me I’m going to write about an old walk. Last year I described my first ever visit to the Lake District, back in 2002, and now I am going to advance a year and talk about my second ever visit to the Lake District. I had returned to the Lake District for a second visit because there were many fells that I hadn’t gone up the year before, and also because I had enjoyed it so much. I took a train up to Windermere and got into the first bus I saw that was going to Ambleside, until it broke down, and it had never even left the station! Just as it was beginning to look as though my luck on this occasion was going to be as bad as the previous year, the driver managed to get the bus started and I was able to catch my connection to Dungeon Ghyll. I had decided to walk up to the Langdale Pikes starting at the new hotel walking up the ‘usual route’, taking the path to the left of the Dungeon Ghyll stream climbing all the way up to the gap between Loft Crag and Thorn Crag.

At that time Britain was in the middle of a heatwave with temperatures in excess of 30° Celsius. The heat was overwhelming as I slowly made my way up the steep path and with the sweat pouring off me I found it very hard going. I have never taken this route since, but I’m sure a return visit would be worthwhile as the path seems to be well-engineered and would be a delight to walk upon again. Once up to the Pikes I was finally able to relax and cool off before heading towards Pike O’Stickle where I had my lunch. I remember the area around the top of the path being rather boggy, but littered with helicopter bags full of paving stones in preparation for the laying of the paths that now cross the area. From the great viewpoint of Pike O’Stickle I headed up to Harrison Stickle, the highest of the Langdale Pikes, and since this was the first time I’d been to the Langdale Pikes I was keen to bag as many tops as possible so once the Pikes had been bagged I headed north over Thunacar Knott but bypassed Pavey Ark little realising that this insignificant crag was also a Wainwright.

It wasn’t until a few years after I started going to the Lake District that I started reading Wainwright’s Pictorial Guides and only then did start to eagerly bag every fell that he mentions. I wasn’t interested in the books until I later found one in Ennerdale Youth Hostel and discovered how meticulously well drawn they were and useful for devising walks over the fells. Beyond Thunacar Knott I climbed broad grassy slopes up to the highest point on the walk, High Raise, which I had just missed out on the year before. On that occasion the weather had been poor, so rather than hunt around for the summit on the broad top I decided to come straight back down, but now I had no such problem finding the summit: it’s much easier when you can see where you’re going! From High Raise I headed southeast across the grassy plain to the prominent top of Sergeant Man and from there I made my own route down grassy slopes to Blea Rigg. There is a great freedom in making your own way across a hillside and not follow a path but just keeping your destination in sight and using the lie of the land to devise your own route.

From Blea Rigg a fabulous undulating landscape proceeds for mile and after mile over Castle How, Lang How and Silver How as I slowly descended making my own way along the ridge. In good weather, such as I was enjoying, there are few better ways off the fells than to follow this undulating ridge that leads all the way to the Langdale Youth Hostel at High Close. The ridge is riddled with faint footpaths, but there are so many you’ll probably never take exactly the same route twice. Instead I was free to make up my own route from top to top without any problems as the steep slopes on the edge of the ridge ensured that I stayed on course. Good weather is vital to ensure you know where you are, and if you want to come off the ridge at a particular point that you come off at the right point. It took me all afternoon to come down off the fells, but I enjoyed every moment of the descent with fantastic views throughout.

I remember at one point on the descent, probably near Silver Howe, I tried to get into the pouch at the top of my rucksack without taking the rucksack off my back. This foolhardy endeavour resulted in me breaking the zip and ensured that when I next returned to the Lake District I would have a new rucksack. The Langdale Pikes are very popular, iconic fells that stand out from far away, notably from the northern end of Windermere near Ambleside and the great weather ensured that once I was at the top of the fells I had a fabulous walk. I have been back to the Langdale Pikes on several occasions subsequently and despite their popularity they always produce great walks.