Brock Crags and the Ullswater lakeside path

Sunday 27th March 2016

When I got up at the start of this day, there was no change to the weather from the previous day’s washout, so I had little hope for the coming day's walk and consequently it was with some resignation and dejectedness that I donned my waterproofs. However, when I set off from the Patterdale Youth Hostel I discovered that it had stopped raining, which had never the happened the day before. It wasn’t long, of course, before it started raining again with many showers passing overhead throughout the course of the day, but during the day I did briefly catch a glimpse of something blue in the sky and a bright thing that we used to call the sun. After crossing the valley of Patterdale I took a lovely footpath that follows a delightful course up the valley. Daffodils graced the side of the path adding a spot of colour to an otherwise grey day. I don’t think I have been on this path very often, and certainly not recently, which is why I chose to spend my Easter weekend in Patterdale.

Eventually I reached a point where the path seemed to diverge with one spur climbing the side of the hill while negotiating around a fallen tree. I plunged into damp woodland as the path continued to climb steeply, which would indicate that the junction was before Angletarn Beck and the woods were Calf Close. If that is correct then there should have been a path at some point going down to the village of Hartsop, but I don’t remember seeing it as I continued to climb and by the time I came out of the wood I was high above Hartsop looking over the village that was steeply below me, and across Brothers Water towards the Hartsop Fells. This was a delectable view and made me happy to be in the Lake District, despite the poor weather. Fortunately I hadn’t intended on going to Hartsop, far below me, as I was on the path that I wanted, which traverses the side of the fell above the village until eventually I veered off to take a grooved path that ascends the grassy hillside as rain fell for a prolonged spell.

I loved the construction of this grooved path that ensured I was walking on firm ground until the path swung around onto the boggy top of the fell with the wind increasing as I climbed. When I reached a wall I turned left to follow the wall through boggy terrain while battling against strong winds, hail and snow. I was being battered with vicious piercing hailstones, but I soldiered on along the ridge until I eventually reached the cairn at the summit of Brock Crags where the wind was just as savagely strong as it had been the day before on Glenridding Dodd. I couldn’t stand at the summit and it took all my strength just to stretch out my hand to touch the top of the cairn before slithering a short distance down the northern slopes to shelter from the ferocious winds. When I finally looked up I was surprised to the sun shining on Glenridding with snow speckled on the fells above the village.

The contrast between the windswept summit of Brock Crags and the tranquil calm and awesome views from the northern slopes were astonishing, and as I slowly descended towards Angle Tarn, with no rain and sheltered from the winds, I couldn’t help feeling that at this moment this was perfect walking weather for the Lake District. I had an enjoyable walk down the northern slopes of Brock Crags while looking across one of the most highly regarded, and distinctive, tarns in the Lake District, with the Angletarn Pikes tucked neatly behind. Before reaching Cat Crag I turned right at a wall to walk around the southern end of Angle Tarn until I reached the well-blazed path that passes the tarn on its way to High Street, or across the country on the Coast to Coast path. Crossing the trail and the ridge I dropped onto a fabulous, slender path that crosses steep scree below Heck Crag with stunning views along the length of the rarely visited Bannerdale.

I have wanted to walk below Heck Crag for a long time, ever since noticing it’s potential on the map, and it didn’t fail to deliver with some awesome crags above what Wainwright describes as a sporting path. As I traversed the path a herd of red deer crossed the slopes ahead of me descending into the deer forest of Martindale that is their home. The sunshine in the valley as I descended rounded off this great path and when I reached the grass on the other side of the scree I couldn’t resist stopping to take it all in and have my lunch. Unfortunately it wasn’t long before it had started raining again and so with my lunch only half eaten I set off, once more in the rain, down into the unfrequented valley of Bannerdale. Slowly I made my way down the quiet valley enjoying a peaceful walk along the path to Dale Head where a road took me into secluded Martindale. My original plan for this day had potentially been a very ambitious and exhausting walk, but the weather had forced a radical rethink turning it into a relaxing and ultimately more satisfying walk.

With glimpses of blue skies overhead I passed through Martindale and turned towards Sandwick where I joined the deservedly popular path that follows the edge of Ullswater below the slopes of Place Fell. The views on this path across Ullswater are tremendous, and the path held my interest the whole way with many ups and downs and good rock underfoot. Waterfalls, woodland and crags all add to the delights of this path that Wainwright describes as being no less than “the most beautiful and rewarding walk in Lakeland,” and you can’t get better praise than that. I have only once taken this path before, on my first ever visit to the Lake District, but on that occasion I had gone in the wrong direction (away from Patterdale). I enjoyed being able to take my time on this walk and linger in places to explore my surroundings, and this has resulted in a curiously satisfying walk in changeable weather.