Skiddaw or bust

Tuesday 8th May 2018

With the good weather from the previous weekend lingering at the start of the day, even though rain was forecast, I left Keswick and headed through the fields north of the town to reach the village of Applethwaite where I took to the quiet, narrow roads while to my left a grand view could be seen towards Keswick and Derwent Water with the surrounding fells beyond. This view is described on a plaque beside the Underskiddaw Church Room just outside Applethwaite that declares: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” These are fabulous sentiments that often come to my mind when I am in the Lake District, and I have fond memories of this particular spot and the text it contains ever since I first saw it on one of my earliest visits to the Lake District in 2003. When I got to Millbeck I turned off the road and headed steeply up the hillside initially up a close-cropped grassy field. The steepness of the terrain prompted frequent halts that were amply rewarded by the tremendous view behind me across the fields to Derwent Water and the surrounding fells. Fortunately the sun was still shining at this point and I was thoroughly able to enjoy the view, although a lot of the fells seemed to have already acquired caps of clouds and provided a foretaste of what was to come.

After passing over a stile, heather took over the landscape while the footpath began to zigzag lazily up the steep hill. This was greatly received by me as I slowly dragged myself up the fell while behind me the views continued to expand and the clouds slowly increased in size over the high fells, though they still allowed gaps for the sunshine to peek through in between. The views continued to be fabulous until I reached the low crags of White Stones by which time the clouds now covered much of the fells, especially Skiddaw ahead of me where dark clouds had been drawn to the summit, so I knew it would not be long before they would envelop me and rain would follow.  I reached the clouds before the top of Carl Side, so I donned my waterproof top and not long after that my gloves and a woolly hat followed as the cold weather that had afflicted my holiday during the first week returned. The hot weather of the Bank Holiday weekend was now a distant memory, but surely cold, windy and wet sounds about right for the Lake District? Hot and sunny just never seems right in the Lake District, even though it’s always gratefully received.

Passing Carlside Tarn, possibly the smallest named tarn in the Lake District, I climbed the long, tedious scree slope that leads very steeply, and becoming even steeper as I climbed, all the way up to the summit ridge of Skiddaw not far from the middle top. It was now really cold, which always seems to be the case for me at the top of Skiddaw. I must climb Skiddaw in warm weather one time just to see what it feels like, although that would probably not feel right! Heading north along the ridge I stopped briefly at the summit before continuing north until I reached the north top where I sheltered behind a cairn. The clouds were broken on this side of the fell and the sun was still shining across the plains of North Cumbria, so while I sat having my lunch I gazed out over the extensive views north and east over the Back o’ Skidda’. Eventually I tore myself away from the views and headed back into the thick cloud and over the top of Skiddaw following the ridge down to the saddle with Little Man and up to the summit where Wainwright declared was the best view from the summit of any fell in the Lake District, but not when I was on Skiddaw Little Man at that moment.

Over the previous couple of days my right knee had begun hurting, especially during descents, so at the end of the previous day I had bought a knee support in Keswick, but it was still tricky for me when descending from Skiddaw and Little Man was even worse as it is steeper. My knee complained vociferously all the way down until the terrain eased and I made my way past the main tourist path following a fence over Jenkin Hill as the long-anticipated rain finally began to fall furthering the continuing deterioration in the weather. After briefly visiting the summit of Lonscale Fell I turned north and agonisingly descended the grassy slopes to reach the narrow Burnt Horse ridge that took me down to the bridleway and finally to the Skiddaw House hostel. I had planned on continuing east to climb Blencathra at this point, but after my slow progress thus far on the walk due to my dodgy knee and the deteriorating weather I decided it would be best to head straight to the hostel, despite it being very early, so I could take the opportunity to rest my knee.

This walk somehow felt more Lakeland than on my previous couple of days with the weather turning once again cold and windy. I still had stunning views and sunshine at the start of the climb and towards the north, but on the tops of the fells the clouds had descended obliterating all views anywhere. I should have been resting my knee for several days, but I wasn’t prepared to do that while in the Lake District, so instead I walked up one of the highest fells in the whole National Park. However, I did stop at that and I didn’t climb Blencathra, so in my goal of climbing all the High Fells in the Lake District I had reached thirty-one fells, but I had now failed to reach three of the fells. Nevertheless I was still determined to keep on with my goal of climbing as many of the High Fells as possible and after a good rest at Skiddaw House I was able to continue my attempt.