Newlands Valley and High Spy

Wednesday 20th December 2017

In rather dark and dingy weather I set off from the Borrowdale Youth Hostel and immediately went onto a path that I have never taken before, which is astonishing considering the number of times that I have stayed at the hostel. The path follows the edge of Johnny Wood before climbing up the fell and passes Scaleclose Force on the way, but part way up I saw a footbridge over Scaleclose Gill and I assumed the path went that way. It was a beautiful crossing in a delightful dell and proved too enticing for me to miss and soon took me through Scaleclose Coppice to a waterfall, but this could not be Scaleclose Force as it is not on Scaleclose Gill. It wasn’t until after a good look around the beautiful waterfall in its woodland landscape that I realised I wasn’t where I should have been as the right-of-way doesn’t cross the bridge over Scaleclose Gill. Crossing a wall I followed a faint path that took me onto the clear track that follows Tongue Gill up towards Rigghead Quarries. Formally this area would have been a noisy and very busy place full of people delving deep into the fell, but as I climbed I found it a quiet, but damp and misty place with levels delving deep into the mountain dripping with water.

The weather was slowly deteriorating as rain began to fall and I slowly made my way up the slat-covered path through the quarries. I popped my head into some of the levels, the abandoned mine openings, but wisely did not venture inside, and continued plodding up the wet path into the mist that enveloped Rigg Head. Despite the poor weather this was a good climb with interesting scenery, but when I reached the top it deteriorated considerably as a far bit of quagmire has to be crossed before reaching Newlands Beck. I had decided that in view of the weather I would not climb any higher at this point, but made my way down into the Newlands Valley, however I had rather a bit of difficulty finding the path in the misty conditions. After wandering around for a bit and visiting Dalehead Tarn I eventually dropped steeply down grassy slopes to reach the beck and there, which had been unseen to me, was a slender, poorly maintained and deteriorating footpath. Wainwright describes this route up Dale Head as tedious and although I’ve never taken this path before I am not going to be in a hurry to return.

The crags of High Spy loomed above me, topped by cloud, and littered the path with scree making this a tricky path to walk upon and one that seems to be crying out for someone to tidy up and improve. However, with hindsight I do wonder why I would have thought that as in its present state it is special, raw, untamed and wild. Many paths in the Lake District have been tamed and made too easy whereas this one does have some appeal in the fact that is not easy and is difficult to follow. Walking in the Lake District should not easy and the walker should sometimes be challenged with rough and muddy paths. There are places in the Lake District where the paths have been ruined rather than fixed and maybe I shouldn’t be moaning about this path, but rather rejoicing that it was still in its raw, untamed state. Eventually I reached the bottom of the valley where a good, wide track finally enabled me to put my feet up, or more accurately put my poles away and stride confidently, secure in my steps, along the valley to the little town of Little Town.

After a quick stop for lunch I headed along the path towards Hause Gate, which I had passed through just the day before while coming down from Cat Bells, but I had no intention on reaching Hause Gate again. I wanted to take a seldom used path up Maiden Moor, but despite Wainwright’s admonition to ‘Watch for this junction’ I completely missed the junction, although the path may have been up a groove that I had spotted. It wasn’t until I reached the Yewthwaite Gill crossing that I realised I had missed the junction so I headed up into Yewthwaite Comb from that point through very boggy ground until I eventually found the clear path through bracken that heads round to the top of the crags that overlook Little Town. This path fades as it heads up to a sheepfold and beyond the terrain steepens considerably so I had to toil all the way up until I reached the main path that traverses Maiden Moor.

Beyond me there were tremendous views in the improving weather over Cat Bells with the widening Newlands Valley on one side and Derwent Water on the other side. However, there was a bitterly cold wind blowing across this exposed ridge, so I wrapped up warm before setting off along the ridge up to the summit of Maiden Moor. Properly clothed against the wind I felt wonderfully cosy and enjoyed walking over Maiden Moor under the brightening skies that marked a vast improvement on the dark and wet conditions that had marred the morning. After making my way along the ridge of Narrow Moor I headed up Blea Crag diverting across to the prominent cairn that has good views across Derwent Water and towards the cloud-covered Skiddaw. Continuing along the top of the ridge past the extensive hinterland of Goat Crag I eventually reached the impressive cairn that sits at the summit of High Spy.

Rather than continuing along the clear path towards Dalehead Tarn I took a branch that heads towards the top of Rigg Head thus bypassing the quagmire that I had crossed earlier. Returning down the path that I had climbed earlier in the day, it was noticeable how much brighter and dryer was the path and surroundings. On reaching Rigghead Quarries I took a branching path that I had spotted earlier passing more mine workings until I reached an old building that has been restored for use as a climbing hut. The OS map shows a path from this point that follows a wall, but on the ground there is no sign of it and instead a clear path descends straight down the hill until it reaches the clear bridlepath that comes up from Grange. I kept heading downhill beyond the bridlepath thinking that I was on the old, non-existent path hoping to find the right-of-way that I had wandered off at the beginning of the day.

Eventually I realised that I was on the path that I had actually taken earlier in the day, so since it was now beginning to get dark I continued along the track beside Tongue Gill all the way down to the River Derwent where I turned south to follow the river back to the youth hostel. The weather on this walk was rather challenging, particularly in the morning, and finding the path at the top of Newlands Beck was rather difficult, but the weather improved in the afternoon and provided me with some great walking along the ridge from Maiden Moor to High Spy. It was a pity the sun sets so early at this time of the year as I really wanted to keep on walking after I passed over High Spy to make the most of the weather that was improving so significantly, but that would have been foolish and led to my finishing the walk in the dark.