Seatallan and Pillar

Saturday 29th May 2021

I had spent the night before this walk camped half way down the side of Sca Fell, the second highest hill in England, and broke camp early, though not before a fellrunner ran past my tent asking if I had a cuppa ready for him. He must have started very early to be coming down Sca Fell before eight o’clock! Continuing my, much slower, descent, I followed a faint path above Black Crag and past Rakehead Crag where there is a lot of loose stones that I thought the path descended. However, the correct route is to continue west until you reach the old corpse road between Eskdale and Wasdale Head. It was soon obvious to me that I should not have tried to descend this precariously loose run of stones, but by then it was too late and I had to continue the steep descent. Eventually I reached a fence where a stile gave me access into a field that led me past scattered trees to the path beside Lingmell Gill. My goal on this holiday was to climb fells that I had not climbed recently and right in front of me was Yewbarrow, which I had last climbed in 2011, but this naturally leads to Red Pike that I have climbed many times in the last ten years. It seemed a waste of effort to climb Yewbarrow only to come straight back down again, so I missed it out and walked along the road beside Wastwater for far longer than I thought I would need.

I was astonished at the vast numbers of cars coming up the road into Wasdale Head, attracted by the Bank Holiday weekend, and wondered how the valley copes with so many cars. Restricting the cars into Wasdale Head has been suggested and on a Bank holiday weekend I can see why that would be a good idea. Eventually I took the turning onto the road to Greendale turning off onto the path that climbs towards Middle Fell, which I last climbed in 2006 and definitely qualifies as being a target for this holiday, however when I got to a junction, I could see a path that stays beside Greendale Gill and thought, I wish I was going that way, so I did. This is a narrow path that threads a course through steep, ravine-like slopes lined with gorse and was a delight, but I soon stopped to cross the stream and have a drink. Instead of staying beside Greendale Gill I now found myself climbing Brown How and crossing the top of the Tongues Gills towards the crags of Buckbarrow that had looked too appealing for me to ignore. I had intended on following my route of 2006 up Middle Fell and Seatallan, but I was now heading towards Buckbarrow, which I climbed in 2011.

Eventually I reached the cairn at the top of Buckbarrow, but I could see another cairn lower down on the edge of the escarpment, so I made my way down the short distance to the top of Bull Crag before climbing back up to the top and continuing up to the cairn at the top of Glade How. From this point, Seatallan, across broad, featureless, grassy slopes was an obvious target, but I was still interested in Middle Fell, so I crossed the dreary, boggy slopes above the Tongues Gills to eventually reach Greendale Tarn and from the col above the lake I turned right to climb the craggy slopes of Middle Fell, which is a fell that I have fond memories of climbing in 2006. Unfortunately, the weather on this walk was terrible for photography with overcast skies and very poor visibility all day, but it was warm, which made it nice for walking even if the views were difficult to see. This is a shame for Middle Fell as it provides good views of the Wasdale fells, but I was not in a good mood to appreciate anything. My convoluted route via Buckbarrow and across the tedious grassy slopes above the Tongues Gills in warm weather had worn me out, so I had wearily dragged my feet all the way up to the top of Middle Fell.

Returning back down to the top of Greendale Gill I crossed very boggy ground that can be avoided by going around the northern slopes over Winscale Hows, but just as in 2006 I went straight across the col. After completely enveloping my boots in water, I reached more solid, but ridiculously steep ground that brought me up to the summit plateau of Seatallan that doesn’t feel like it belongs in the Lake District and is certainly not a mountain, being a featureless grassy mound and never deserved to be climbed in the last fifteen years. Turning north from the trig point at the summit I zigzagged down the steep slope ignoring the poor path until I reached gentler slopes where I veered towards the western edge after much deliberation on where to go next. I had climbed all the fells before me several times in the last ten years so there was no obvious target, but the lure of the high fells eventually prompted me to climb Haycock taking a steep, grassy rake that leads to the south cairn. It was now four o’clock and as I made my way along the ridge from Haycock to Scoat Fell I reflected that the day trippers were all now heading back down into the valleys, but that didn’t leave me the fells to myself. There were fellrunners like the one that had passed me while I was packing away my tent at the start of the day and there were other wild campers, given away by their large rucksacks, attracted by the Bank Holiday weekend.

After passing over Scoat Fell I made my way carefully down the large stones that litter the eastern side of the summit before climbing up to the top of Black Crag. This is an often overlooked peak that is small, but very high, so I always make a point of climbing it while traversing the Wind Gap. This gloriously craggy ridge continues up to the top of Pillar where I met a guy who had just completed his round of the Wainwrights and was celebrating with a can of beer. I made my way across to the northern edge to look at the large crag of Pillar Rock and at the path that descends towards it. In 2006 I took this path to the start of a high level traverse from Pillar Rock towards Black Sail Pass and ever since I have wanted to walk across it again in the other direction, but I have been thwarted by bad weather on many occasions. Now, the weather was good, but I was at the wrong end of the path and the day. I was exhausted and didn’t want to attempt the crumbly path in a tired state while carrying a heavy rucksack, so I descended along the top of the ridge, which is still a great route, to the other end of the high level traverse, which also seems to be in a poor, disintegrating state.

Continuing to descend I passed over the top of Looking Stead, even though the path bypasses it, and down to Black Sail Pass where I made my way to the foot of the Sail Beck ravine to get some water. I had been short of water all day and had frequently stopped to drink from streams through a filter, but now I was able to fill the large reservoir in my rucksack with pure water. Continuing my descent I came all the way down into Ennerdale pitching my tent out of sight of Black Sail Hut beside Sail Beck. This was a very long and tiring day in very hazy weather that was really annoying. I should have had stunning views all day, but instead they were awful with the haze leaving the views just a colourless shadow. Previously, when I have been in the Lake District, I have been based in youth hostels that enable me to limit the weight of my rucksack, but now I was carrying all my camping gear and food with me, which makes the walking very tough and left me really tired at the end of the day. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the traverse of the ridge from Scoat Fell over Pillar to Black Sail Pass, despite having done the route several times in recent years, but great mountains always deserve to be climbed.