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.