Hard Knott and Sca Fell

Friday 28th May 2021

After three days of improving weather in the Lake District, on this day it was drizzly, overcast, dull, grey and miserable, but nevertheless I did a walk that felt like a great accomplishment. I left the Baysbrown Farm Campsite where I had been staying and walked along Langdale eventually reaching Stool End Farm where I started to climb the Band soon becoming too hot in my waterproofs. I already knew my cagoule was worn out and unbreathable, so I took off my cagoule reasoning that I was unlikely to get as wet from a few drops of rain as I would from my sweat. The rain was never very heavy all day and remained quite light, just a constant drizzle. How do you dress for that sort of weather? If you don’t wear waterproofs you will eventually get wet, but it was not really wet enough for full waterproofs, though that didn’t stop me from wearing them almost all day. Slowly I climbed the Band, the broad ridge that climbs from Langdale all the way up to Bow Fell, and is a route that I have climbed only once before, in 2013, when I don’t think I enjoyed it, though it makes a great descent with the stunning views of Langdale in front of you. Unlike in 2013, I now ignored Bow Fell and made for Three Tarns sitting beside one of the tarns where I had my lunch and put my cagoule back on.

A path descends into Eskdale on the other side of the pass that I previously climbed in 2007, but I have no memory of it and now I couldn’t find the path. The Ordnance Survey map indicates that it starts north of the three tarns, but I had started from south of the three tarns, so I had to veer to my right until I could find a groove in the grass that was probably the path, though nothing clearer. The latest version of Wainwright’s guides says the path is rough and difficult to follow, which agrees with what I found, though ultimately all I wanted to do was descend and for that the way is clear enough. It is interesting to note how clear the path up the Band to Three Tarns is, since it is very popular, compared with the path on the other side of the pass into Eskdale, which is not very popular. I often lost the path only to find it again lower down and eventually abandoned any idea of following it so I could keep away from Lingcove Beck. I was heading towards Hard Knott so deliberated stayed high above the valley to prevent losing too much height while crossing the slopes below Crinkle Crags until eventually I reached the col at the head of Moasdale where I joined a faint path that crosses the col and slowly climbs the grassy slopes towards Hard Knott.

Eventually the terrain became more interesting with rocky outcrops scattered around as I slowly made my way up to the top of Hard Knott where I found a bank of thick cloud obscuring the view further south towards Harter Fell. This was a surprise as despite the heavy cloud cover, all the fells around Eskdale, including Scafell Pike, were clear, though this bank of cloud would soon envelope all the high fells, albeit temporarily. I had previously visited Hard Knott just once before, in 2011, and was one of the last Wainwright fells that I completed, but it is not a particularly interesting fell whose main redeeming quality is its awesome view of the Scafell Pikes range. Turning around I made my way back down the ridge veering left at the end to Lingcove Beck where I found some stepping stones across the river and a clear path beyond that passes below Pianet Knott and Long Crag ending at Great Moss opposite Cam Spout. Although it was very boggy, this was a fun path with stunning views of the great, surrounding mountains, but it is not marked on maps and was probably made by fellrunners, as are many of the new paths in the Lake District.

I once said Upper Eskdale is my favourite place, but it has been a long time since I was able to explore the area, so although the weather was not at its best on this walk, I was enjoying the opportunity to make its acquaintance again. After skirting the edge of Great Moss I crossed the River Esk and climbed the grassy hillside directly in front of me between High Scarth Crag and Horn Crag on a groove in the grass that indicated I was not the first person to ascend this way, but I have no idea whether my predecessors were fellrunners or merely sheep. Veering right I crossed increasingly steep, craggy ground below Horn Crag that I found very difficult to negotiate and required a lot of care, so I was relieved when I finally reached easier slopes and found the clear path known as the Terrace Route up Sca Fell. I climbed this path in 2002 finding it very tedious, but subsequently thoroughly enjoyed descending this way and had not climbed Sca Fell from Eskdale since 2002 until now. Even though I now had a proper path underfoot I struggled as I climbed, feeling very hot in my waterproofs as I slowly made my way up to Slight Side, an outlier of Sca Fell. I was soon revived by the stunning views that I saw from the top of Slight Side, despite the overcast weather, with the top of Sca Fell looking tantalisingly close.

There had hardly been any wind during this walk, which had contributed to overheating in my waterproofs, but now that made standing on Slight Side seem extra special where one would expect a strong wind. This gave the surroundings an ethereal quality and gave me bountiful amounts of energy that soon had me climbing again towards Sca Fell across a fabulous, rocky landscape that reminded me of Scottish mountains and kept drawing me on. Since it was now early evening and I was climbing to three thousand feet it was much cooler and I did not have the overheating problems that I’d had earlier, so I just kept climbing. Sca Fell is a proper mountain, vastly superior to all the smaller fells that I had climbed earlier in my holiday as this was a Munro-sized mountain and it felt like it. There is no better feeling than being at the top of a mountain, especially when there is hardly any wind and I had a bit of that on Slight Side, but I really felt it at the top of Sca Fell. I had amazing views along the ridge to Scafell Pike while behind me I could see all the way to the sea where the setting sun was trying to make an appearance through the cloud and failing.

Eventually I tore myself away from the top of Sca Fell and descended the steep, craggy, western slopes for what seemed an age until I reached the top of the Lord’s Rake path and I was appalled at what I saw. It is ten years since I last traversed Lord’s Rake and since then the deterioration of the path that had already been advanced at that time, has continued leaving it in a terrible state so that from the exit, it looked horribly eroded and crumbly and not worth the attempt. Continuing my descent I tried to find somewhere to camp eventually stopping at the first level ground, just above Black Crag, where I was finally able to have a rest and get something to eat. This had been a very long and challenging walk that turned out completely differently to how I’d planned. I never imagined that I would climb Sca Fell on this walk and when I was having my lunch having only reached Three Tarns I thought I would never get anywhere near, but this walk turned out completely differently to how I’d planned. I had climbed a great mountain in Sca Fell and now I had tranquil evening in my tent half way down the mountain with hardly any wind and hardly any sound.