Eskdale and Black Combe

Saturday 11th April 2015

A few years ago I came up with an idea of walking from Eskdale across the sprawling upland expanse of Birker Fell that stretches from Harter Fell and Eskdale all the way out to Black Combe, a two thousand foot high hill on the south-western corner of the Lake District overlooking the sea. At the time I thought it was a good idea to do this walk, so a couple of years ago I went to Eskdale and camped at the top of Harter Fell with the idea of walking along this ridge the following day, until bad weather forced me to change my plans. My plan for this holiday of walking along the watersheds in the Lake District originated from a desire to do that walk to Black Combe. After leaving the Derwent watershed my route has been dictated by a desire to end up on the watershed between the River Esk and the River Duddon on the ridge that ends on Black Combe, however the weather had intervened again, but not in the same way. Instead, it was unusually warm and sunny for the time of year and I wasn’t prepared. I had a lot of blisters on my feet that plasters were finally soothing and I bought some sun cream in Keswick to help against sunburn.

The sun cream, however, had made things considerably worse. I have now realised that I was having an allergic reaction to the sun cream and can only wonder how the week would have ended if I had not bought that brand of sun cream. My face and neck were very sore and as a result I was having trouble sleeping, so the day before this walk I had stayed out of the sun by spending the day on the local narrow-gauge railway. I still had hopes that my walk for this day could go ahead as planned, but it had rained overnight and because of a considerable drop in temperature there was now a light covering of snow on the high fells. Ultimately it was my skin problems rather than the change in weather that eventually prompted me to once again abandon my planned walk across to Black Combe. I am not sure whether this walk was ever a good idea as it sounds like it would be a really tiring walk over hills with little to interest me. Wainwright didn’t consider fellwalking territory to extend beyond Green Crag, near Harter Fell, and I should take that as a hint.

Instead I walked out of Eskdale almost reversing a walk that I did two years ago when I walked into Eskdale from Ravenglass. I set off beside the River Esk, but I could not resist the temptation, just as two years ago, to visit Stanley Gill Force. This is the loveliest waterfall in the Lake District, buried at the end of a deep, moss-covered ravine that is a delight to visit even though I found the ravine itself more interesting than the waterfall. After visiting the rock pool at the foot of the waterfall I climbed a steep path to the top of the falls and made my way out onto the open fell behind, which it occurred to me was similar to the sort of terrain that I’d originally planned to walk along. The views from this bracken-covered fell over the trees and across Eskdale to the snow-speckled high fells in the distance were quite spell-binding. The sun had come out making for yet another sunny day in the Lake District although it was now significantly colder with a brisk, cold wind coming off the sea.

Back down at the bottom of the valley beside the River Esk I took the bridlepath that I had taken two years ago and followed it to the road at Forge Bridge. Previously I had walked over Muncaster Fell, but now, for a variation, I took the bridlepath that skirts the southern slopes of the fell and found a dreary track through commercial woodland. On reaching a golf course the path turned tiringly uphill to join the fell top path at Muncaster Tarn where a gradual descent brought me to the gates of Muncaster Castle and the path that I had taken only the day before that led me all the way back through delightful woodland to Ravenglass. Since it was only lunchtime, and sunny, I thought that despite abandoning the walk over Birker Fell along the watershed I could still climb the fell at the end: Black Combe. This was an irresistible temptation for me, so I jumped onto the train to Silecroft and climbed to the top of this outlying fell so I could at least accomplish something on the last day of my holiday.

There is an excellent track that starts from the scattered hamlet of Whicham at the foot of the fell and winds its way up the hillside gorgeously easing the gradients all the way up. The cold wind did not help the climb and got worse the higher I climbed forcing me to keep my hood up despite the sunny weather. When I finally reached the trig point at the summit I headed north slightly down the other side until I got a glimpse of the Blackcombe Screes, possibly the fell's most striking feature, though not one that is visible from the summit. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get a very good view of the screes, partly because of the strong winds, so I turned back to the summit and suddenly realised that if I had done my original plan of walking along the broad ridge all the way to Black Combe I would have had a strong, cold headwind all the way. After visiting the magnificent cairn that sits on the south top, I rejoined the clear track down with clear views out to sea ahead of me and the cold wind in my face.

Before reaching the bottom I turned off the main track and made my way to a small cairn at the top of Seaness near the most southerly point on the fell. After one last look back at the top of Black Combe I made my way back down to Whicham and to the railway station at Silecroft. This was an astonishing holiday with blue skies and sunshine every day in the Lake District, which is not something that happens very often, if ever. I could easily focus on my problems and how this holiday ended with two days that were completely different to how I’d planned, but I shouldn’t forgot how good the weather had been. I had accomplished on this holiday climbs and walks that I have wanted to do for a long time, like climbing Skiddaw and Blencathra on the same day or to walk all the way from Patterdale to Borrowdale in one day. I set myself a very challenging schedule on this holiday and despite not completing that schedule this was an awesome, astonishing week.