Glenderaterra and Lonscale Crags

Monday 18th December 2017

After the stresses and strains of the past year, it was wonderful to finally get a chance to be back to the Lake District, even if it was only on a short, three hour walk. I spent most of this day travelling and didn’t get into the Lake District until about three o’clock and at this time of the year it is getting dark by four o’clock. With very little light left I set off from the village of Threlkeld walking up the road below Blease Fell towards the Blencathra Centre. The valley paths between Threlkeld and Keswick along the course of the old railway line is currently impassable following the floods of December 2015, so instead I was heading uphill to take a route along the sides of the fells starting below Blease Fell at the western end of Blencathra. There were stunning views in the bright, setting sun as it shone on the fell and into the dramatic gorge formed by Blease Gill that leads up to the snow-lined edge above Knowe Crags. As I slowly circled round Blease Fell the sun slowly sank behind the fells below lovely blue skies streaked with wisps of cloud.

I was feeling overwhelmed with being back in the Lake District again. Apart my one day only walk up Scafell Pike in the summer, it had been a year since I was last there and I had really missed it and the fabulous walking that can be done in this wonderful area. The cares of the past year seemed to dissolve with every step that I made on the track and produced a euphoria within me that is better than anything that can be gained from bottle or tablet. I was back in the Lake District and my heart rejoiced and sang the praises of this tremendous region. I was not walking on the greatest footpath in the Lakes as it is too wide, but for me at that moment it was better than anything else. I was enjoying every step of this landrover track as it swung round the fell and into the valley of Glenderaterra Beck with the shadowed crags of Lonscale Fell looming darkly before me while I slowly made my way along the track to the head of the valley. Keeping to the main track I spurned all the short cuts that veered off to my left until the track reaches the main path that comes down from the Skiddaw House Youth Hostel.

Turning left I found that at this altitude and on this sheltered path below Lonscale Fell there was a significant amount of ice that required a lot of care to ensure that I didn’t slip and hurt myself, or worse. However this just made the walk even more exciting and thrilling. It was an adventure trying to negotiate this slippery path in the diminishing light and was actually quite fun, because it was slightly dangerous, in a very mild kind of way. The path was probably not that bad, but to my mind I was a brave and bold adventurer conquering a treacherous path through my skill and foolhardiness. Behind me the setting sun, invisible behind Lonscale Crags, was casting dramatic red colours across the clouds above the Back of Skiddaw, while I slowly, carefully, made my along this great Lakeland path. I had been on this path in diminishing light before, almost ten years ago, and I have often looked back on that walk with a peculiar sort of fondness for the night-time walking that I have hardly ever engaged in since.

At this time of the year I always make sure that I finish my walk before it starts to get dark, which is the wise course of action, and only an inexperienced error had left me walking in the dark ten years ago. Now I deliberately planned to end the walk in the dark following the exact same path that I had followed ten years ago just so I could get in a good walk despite having less than an hour of daylight at the start. There is a point towards the far end of Lonscale Crags where the path crosses the rocks, which in the twilight conditions and ice was really difficult, but eventually the path swung round to the southern slopes of Lonscale Fell which were ice-free so I was easily able to continue along the path. I now had a clear view of the sunset and although the sun had long since set there was still a wonderful display of varying colours from reds and yellows on the horizon slowly rising to deep blues high in the sky.

I had dug out my old head-torch, the same one that I had used ten years ago, for this walk but found that it was doing a very poor job of illuminating the path, possibly because it was still using the same batteries that I had used ten years ago. Fortunately, and wisely, I had brought a second torch with me that was a lot more powerful and brilliantly lit my path in the dark confines of Whit Beck and beyond. Upon reaching the Gale Road car park, at the foot of the popular Skiddaw footpath, I could have diverted off my route to reach the top of Loughrigg, which was not that far away, however by now it was getting really dark and it didn’t seem worth it. Instead I took the path that skirts the western slopes of Loughrigg descending through woodland all the way down into Keswick. Despite being a short walk, this was fabulous, made memorable due to the ice below Lonscale Crag and the night-time walking in the dark at the end. It was the relief that I was finally back in the Lake District after everything that has happened to me this year and that is what made this walk great.

The Recuperative Powers of a Good Walk

Saturday 14th October 2017

After my walk in the middle of July with my colleague from work, plans were soon made for a return visit to the Lake District to tackle Striding Edge, but once again the British weather intervened. I was keen to not see a repeat of the awful weather that we had endured on Scafell Pike, but good weather never seemed to materialise on a Saturday when it was convenient for us to go. The general trend of poor weather continued throughout the summer and autumn coinciding with a downturn in my state of mind. I was feeling very tired from stresses at work and then less than a week after coming back from the Lake District I was distressed to hear about the death of Chester Bennington, the lead singer of the rock band Linkin Park. I love their music and was greatly saddened and disillusioned by the loss. It has taken me a long time to get over his death and I believe if I’d been able to do a good walk it would have helped me recover sooner. For me there is nothing better for clearing my head of troubles than a walk through the beautiful British countryside with the sun shining overhead under clear blue skies.

If the time is short and the sun is shining, then I can get a quick recuperation by walking out of my door and going for a walk along Mill Lane between South Wigston and Blaby. Within a couple of minutes I am enjoying the sunshine and the quiet of the countryside and suddenly all my cares and worries seem less urgent. Just getting out of the house and breathing in fresh air with open skies above my head lifts my spirit better than anything else. For a more sustained recuperation, a Saturday with good weather is all I need to have me grabbing my rucksack and heading out for a day-long walk. Places like the Peak District are several hours drive away, so often I will drive just half an hour to north-west Leicestershire and Charnwood Forest where there is excellent opportunities for a good walk through ancient woodland and up small hills that are bestrewn with granite outcrops.

I have a walk that I devised that takes in much of this special landscape and takes me up to six hours to complete. I have done this walk many times always alternating the direction each time for variety. Despite how beneficial this walk would have been to me last summer I didn’t have a chance to re-walk it with poor weather and the demands of work preventing me from getting out, and my mental health suffered. My recovery started with my holiday in the Outer Hebrides at the end of August, however the weather was not good for most of the first week of that holiday and this did not improve my state of mind. On the Wednesday morning in Tarbert, on the isle of Harris, it was raining as I felt it had been all summer. I had not been lucky with the weather at Easter and I had been rained on in Glen Dessary at the beginning of June, so I was beginning to feel like the Travis song in wondering why it was always raining on me.

Thankfully the weather started to improve that day and for the rest of that holiday I had generally good weather and so my recovery had begun, but it was a slow process. September showed a continuation of the poor weather and prevented my colleague and me from going back to the Lake District. Finally in the middle of October, while the Lake District suffered under strong winds and rain, good weather came to Leicestershire on a Saturday. By this time I was feeling desperate for a good walk to clear my head, so I headed out to Charnwood Forest, even though it meant letting some people down as I felt that my mental health demanded that I go for a walk. The weather was unseasonably warm and I literally skipped along the path at the start through Swithland Woods. It felt wonderful to be out enjoying the countryside after so many months of being stuck behind a computer at work. I wasn’t going to describe the walk on this blog as it was the same walk that I have done many times before, so I didn’t take my camera.

The above picture was the only one that I took on the walk, with my mobile, in the Outwoods, but it does show the sunshine and that I had no expectations with this walk. I was finally carefree and able to enjoy the walk with no demands, not even from this blog. I had a great walk through Charnwood Forest in great weather and more than anything else it served to bring me out of the malaise that had been afflicting me since the summer. A great walk never fails to lift my spirits and the memory of a great walk often motivates me to get up and stop moping about. Many walks that I have done in the Lake District come to mind as excellent encouragements to go out and enjoy the British countryside. The longer I am absent from the Lake District the more keenly does my longing become and so it isn’t long before I am once more planning another holiday in this most special place. Whenever I am feeling down I need only to think of the Lake District and my soonest return to put all my worries into perspective.

Scafell Pike

Saturday 15th July 2017

Last year a colleague at work attempted to do the Three Peaks Challenge by walking up Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales, in the space of twenty-four hours. This he attempted to do with absolutely no previous experience of walking up mountains, but fortunately my colleagues challenge was well organised and when they came to an impassable stream they didn’t put themselves, and others, in danger by attempting to cross it. They wisely abandoned the ascent of Scafell Pike and settled for climbing the neighbouring Lingmell instead. The consequence was that my colleague had not made it to the summit of Scafell Pike, so this year he asked me if I would go with him for a walk up the mountain that he failed to summit last year.

A date in the middle of July was picked and the day before we drove up to the Wastwater Youth Hostel, but when we got up the following morning we found that the British weather had not been kind. You can never count on good weather in Britain, even in the summer, so if you pick a date a month in advance as we had done there is no predicting what the weather will be like. So it was that on that particular Saturday it was raining all day, but on the following days the weather was perfect with lovely blue skies. Unfortunately we were in the Lake District for just one day so I parked up at the village green in Wasdale Head and we set off towards Scafell Pike. The weather was abysmal as we set off through a field of herdwick sheep and over Lingmell Beck onto the western slopes of Lingmell where the views were non-existent with clouds that were so low that we could hardly see Wastwater. The rain was not heavy, merely a gentle drizzle, so we had hopes that during the course of the day the rain would stop and the weather improve (walkers are always hopeful!).

The path skirted around the lower slopes of Lingmell before coming round to join the main tourist path beside Lingmell Gill. Despite the poor weather there were many people on this very popular path, though most of them seemed to coming down the mountain even though it was only nine o’clock in the morning. We supposed that these were Three Peak Challengers who had climbed Ben Nevis the previous evening and travelled to the Lake District overnight in order to climb Scafell Pike, despite the rain, during the early hours of the morning. They have my pity as I have a low opinion of the Three Peaks Challenge, mainly because of all the travelling in between so I would prefer a challenge walk that takes place in just one area without having to be in a car for long stretches. I have no desire to do the National Three Peaks Challenge, though the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge does have some appeal as it takes place in just one area. Climbing up the path we eventually reached the ford over Lingmell Gill that had been impassable for my colleague last year.

There was no such problem now and we were able to cross the stream and continue our journey up Brown Tongue plunging into the clouds as we slowly made our way up the mountain. I must say the pace was a lot slower than it would have been if I was on my own and on the occasions when I was in front, whenever I looked back my colleague was often a long way back, so I had to stop and allow him to catch up. I am not used to walking with a companion and I was finding it difficult to keep at his pace. For me this walk was rather easy, compared with other walks that I have done, and especially so at this pace and on this good, well-made path. My colleague is not used to walking up mountains and he found the Three Peaks very challenging and this ascent was also exhausting for him. Slowly we made our way up the path with, for a time in the middle of the ascent, no one else around until eventually we reached Lingmell Col.

Now we were accompanied by many other people as we turned right and climbed all the way up the stony path to the summit that we thought we were never going to reach, the top of Scafell Pike. My colleague was overjoyed, raising his hands in triumph at reaching the summit of the mountain that had eluded him last year. It was getting windy and the rain was falling heavier now so it wasn’t long before we turned around and started heading back down to Lingmell Col, but rather than continuing back down the way we had come we turned right and took the Corridor Route. As the weather worsened I was actually beginning to enjoy the walk, as did my colleague, as we scrambled around the stunning rock-filled landscape that surrounds the top of the spectacular gullies of Piers Gill and Greta Gill. This path embodies the best of the Lake District, in a way that the tourist path up Brown Tongue cannot, and provided us with a thoroughly enjoyable walk, despite the worsening weather, along the Corridor Route and all the way down to Sty Head Pass.

There was a strong wind blowing through the pass that made for some really inhospitable conditions, so we quickly battled across and onto the bridlepath that heads down into Wasdale. This path is initially surprisingly scrambly, which in the poor weather required some extra care. I have used this path just once before, many years ago, in ascent. Eventually the path eased as we crossed the southern slopes of Great Gable with the awesome crags of this great mountain slowly disappearing into the mist. We were now finally able to stop and have a belated lunch before coming back down into the valley and follow the path back to the village green. The weather never improved, and in fact worsened, but although it would have been wonderful to have done this walk in good weather, we still managed to have a fantastic walk. Bad weather does add a certain thrill to a walk that you don’t get in good weather, even though it takes away so much more. A walk in the Lake District is always fantastic and a walk up Scafell Pike that includes the Corridor Route is great whatever the weather.