Blencathra and Bannerdale Crags

Saturday 7th July 2018

When I was doing my High Fells Challenge in the Lake District last May there were three fells above two and a half thousand feet that I failed to summit, and one of those was Blencathra in the Northern Fells. With plenty of great weather last summer it was easy to decide to return to the Lake District eight weeks after I’d left parking near the Blencathra Centre at the end of Blease Road. The weather was gorgeous as I headed back down the road to a permissive path that follows the fell wall avoiding Blease Farm and to Blease Gill where I had stunning views up the stream and behind me across the valley into the albeit hazy heart of the Lake District. I was seeing a very different landscape to when I was on the Lakes two months previously as now the bracken had sprung up and was in abundance while the ground was bone dry with yellowing grass clear evidence of the dry weather during the previous eight weeks. I had difficulty finding a path as I climbed beside the stream having initially attempted the east bank as per Wainwright’s instructions wading through dense bracken that prompted me to cross Blease Gill where it was safe, just below a small waterfall.

The latest edition of Wainwright’s guides, called the Walker’s Edition, recommends a route high on the west bank but I could not find a path and the ground was very steep which made walking really tricky. Eventually I dropped down to the stream thinking I could scramble up the gill, but Wainwright was right when he said “The bed of the gill is impassable in its lower reaches.” Initially it was great fun climbing up the gill with my progress aided by the scarcity of water, but I soon came across problems that forced me out of the gill. At a junction I took the right branch that initially was dry, though covered in moss, which enabled me to continue climbing the bed of the gill, but soon this became too wet to continue and yet I did. I thought Wainwright had recommended this route in the bed of the gill, but it seems he actually recommended merely walking on the scree beside the gill. Once I was within the walls of the gill I could not get out so I struggled on while trying to prevent my feet getting wet, as my footwear had been chosen to keep my feet cool, not necessarily dry. Eventually I emerged into the canyon that Wainwright describes as a gulch, Wild West stuff that is wider and filled with loose stones, and much easier to climb than the wet gill.

At the head of the gulch I climbed a grass bank out of the gill and onto the ridge that connects the main body of Blencathra to Gategill Fell where once again I had views across the Lake District after being stuck inside the bed of Blease Gill for so long, but unfortunately while in the gill clouds had covered the skies above Blencathra and robbed me of the sunshine that I had enjoyed at the start of the day. Nevertheless it was warm and great to be high up on a mountain, so I turned right along the ridge passing over a ‘rock turret’ and down a short distance to the outcrop of Knott Halloo where the views over the Lake District were great, but spoilt by the lack of bright sunshine. Turning around I headed towards Blencathra and up onto the summit ridge where a wide path took me to Hall’s Fell Top, the busy summit of Blencathra. Not lingering I turned north to skirt the edge of the of the steep terrain overlooking Scales Tarn before descending this steep ground on a badly eroded path that I had only taken because I’d never gone this way before, and I won’t be inclined to take this path again. The path did slowly improve and eventually I reached Scales Tarn where I had planned to turn towards Sharp Edge to head back up to Blencathra and ultimately back to my car.

This would have made the walk far too short so instead I descended beside Scales Beck continuing to follow the stream when the clear path veers off so that I dropped down to the young River Glenderamackin where I found an old miner’s track. I followed this clear track down the valley and remembered that I had taken this track three years before in the opposite direction coming off to climb up to the top of Mousthwaite Comb. On that occasion I had seen trees that had recently been planted in the valley but now I was disappointed to find that many of these trees had not survived the storms of December 2015 and later. Eventually, just before I reached Bannerdale Beck, I turned off the track and climbed through bracken towards the east ridge of Bannerdale Crags, which is merely a shallow, grassy ridge until upon reaching the crags the ground steepens and a path zigzags between rock and heather snaking past old mine buildings, occasionally requiring a bit of scrambling, until eventually I reached the top. There I had lunch gazing out on the view while the sun tried desperately to break through the cloud cover.

Passing the summit of Bannerdale Crags I descended to Glenderamackin Col where the ominous Sharp Edge lies tauntingly in view. I considered missing out this treacherous climb, but the sight of it was too tempting so I branched off the main path onto a path that is marked on maps but hardly ever used now, below Foule Crag and round to the foot of Sharp Edge. With mounting excitement I collapsed my poles, girded by loins and began the ascent of Sharp Edge in almost perfect conditions with not only dry, but warm, rock under my feet and against my hands. This climb is a great challenge and I enjoyed every step up the steep, knife-edged ridge while taking my time and being sure of every foot and hand hold as I slowly made my way up to the top of Sharp Edge. Upon reaching the end of the edge I ignored the well-trodden path that skirts the top of Tarn Crags but made my way up to the top of Atkinson Pike before crossing the saddle to return to the summit of Blencathra. In comparison the descent was a simple stroll as I made my way along the summit ridge and down the broad grassy slopes of Blease Fell.

I had easily justified the three and a half hour drive to the Lake District with a fabulous walk despite the clouds that hung over Blencathra for most of the day. I should have checked the correct route up to Wainwright’s canyon in Blease Gill and avoided the tricky gill scramble while at the same time trying to avoid getting my feet wet. This had been my intended route up back in May and I wonder how much of the bed of the gill I would have attempted then. It was good to make a return visit to the east ridge of Bannerdale Crags having climbed by that route only once before, in 2008, and Sharp Edge was the icing on the cake for this walk that made it all worthwhile. Blencathra is a fantastic mountain and I was really disappointed when I had failed to climb it two months before as part of my High Fells Challenge, so I was really happy to have finally done the walk that I had intended on doing in May.