Orrest Head and Wansfell

Monday 19th December 2016

As Christmas approached I eagerly anticipated the coming holiday as I would have another opportunity to go to the Lake District, but when my train finally arrived in Windermere it was to a grey and murky day with low cloud, however it wasn’t raining and it wasn’t windy and this made all the difference. When I was in the Lake District the previous Christmas, I had left on Christmas Eve by walking from Ambleside to the Windermere railway station and now at the start of this holiday I reversed that walk, but this time I did the fells that I maybe should have done the previous year. My first target was Orrest Head, a relatively small hill that overlooks the lake of Windermere, but a significant one as it is the first hill that Wainwright climbed in the Lake District and it was from the top of this hill that he gained his “first sight of mountains in tumultuous array across glittering waters, (his) awakening to beauty”. I first climbed Orrest Head more than ten years ago, Easter 2006, in good weather taking the recommended route that initially climbs up an tarmac track.

I decided that on this occasion I would take a different route this time on public footpaths rather than the permissive path favoured by Wainwright and I found that this was a delightful way on the sort of craggy paths that the Lake District has in abundance, but I sorely miss when away. Anywhere else in the country would love to have a path like this, but in the Lake District it is found on a less favoured route up a tiny hill. The path passes through gorgeous woodland and after turning right at a junction slowly climbs the hillside to the far side of the wood eventually joining the more popular route before passing through a gate dedicated to the benefactor who gave the hill to the people of Windermere. The cloud-covered summit of Orrest Head was only a short distance away where a view indicator shows what fells could be seen from the top if the clouds weren’t so low. It was disappointing to not have a view from the top of Orrest Head, but this wasn’t getting me down as I still enjoyed being back in the Lake District.

Picking a path that heads north, I descended to a stile, but rather than continuing on Wainwright’s recommended descent route, I turned left through a gate and down to the small, but delightful, St Catherine’s Wood. Although there was low cloud there was also no wind, which made the walking really enjoyable. There is a guy at work who often says to me: “Good walking weather!” even if it’s still dark outside, and on this walk, despite the low cloud, I would say that this was good walking weather because it wasn’t very windy. On reaching a quiet road I took a farmer's track from Crosses Farm, through Far Orrest to the Trout Beck Valley. I now had a bit of a view below the clouds along the valley and it looked splendid, even though it was still not as good as it could or should have been. After a short walk along the main road I came across a path that crosses the valley and was marked with a notice saying “Path damaged”. With this in mind I cautiously descended and when I reached the river at the bottom of the valley I found that the bridge had been almost washed away by the floods in December 2015. After considering wading across the river I eventually decided that I could make it across the remains of the bridge, which was lying on its side.

It was quite exciting getting across that bridge, because it was a little dangerous, but I managed to get across and climbed up the hillside to Town End and from there on bridlepaths up to Robin Lane. I had walked along this lane last year on my way from Ambleside to Windermere, but this time I didn’t take the turning towards Ambleside and rather stayed on the lane into Hundreds Road following it to where the track turns sharply, and headed off onto the pathless slopes of Wansfell. I had seen this route on the map a few years ago and thought it would make an interesting route up, but I seem to have immediately, in the misty conditions, lost the path that Wainwright’s guide claims is there. Initially I followed a series of trees that seemed to be marking a route, but these soon faded and I had to make my own way through the pathless, mist-covered landscape until I reached Nanny Lane. Just before I reached the lane the view ahead cleared to reveal a stunning panorama of the Troutbeck Valley with fog remaining in the valley and clouds clear of the summit ahead. It wasn’t a perfect thermal inversion and the scene was still dull, but at least I now had a view while walking up Nanny Lane.

This had been the route that I’d taken in descent from Wansfell when I climbed it in 2010 and I remembered then that the lane was very boggy, which is how it was now. At the end of the lane I took a path that veers away from the wall weaving a cunning and interesting route through the outcrops up the fell straight towards the summit of Wansfell. The Ordnance Survey map indicates a higher point further north, but this doesn’t look higher and it certainly didn’t seem higher when I stood at it, so I turned around and headed back to the recognized summit proceeding along the ridge towards Wansfell Pike at the western end of the fell. I wasn’t in a hurry, so I took my time enjoying myself as I slowly made my way along the ridge nipping up every little rise and enjoying the great views due to the temperature inversion. The sun was struggling to break through the clouds overhead and this managed to add a little colour to the surroundings when I finally reached the top of Wansfell Pike.

There is a route down the south-western slopes of Wansfell that isn’t marked on maps and wasn’t described in Wainwright’s guide until the most recent Walker's Edition. That describes this as the best approach for beauty, seclusion and a seldom-seen side of Wansfell, and in descent I really enjoyed it despite the fading light and mist below a certain point. It passes through landscape strewn with dead bracken, past a large cairn that overlooks Ambleside and the remains of an aqueduct observatory until finally plunging into Skelghyll Wood. The abundance of leaves on the ground made following the path through the wood difficult until I reached the main path near the top of Jenkin Crag, where I followed the bridlepath that gradually descends to the southern end of Ambleside. This was a surprisingly satisfying walk, and it was great to be back in the Lake District. Despite poor weather, a lack of wind and a view upon Wansfell had made this into a good walk in what turned out to be good walking weather.