High Pike and Carrock Fell

Tuesday 1st June 2021

Nothing ever seems to go smoothly. Over the weekend my biggest problem had been sore spots on my feet, but with that problem fading away another takes its place: power for my phone. The campsite I stayed in during the first week of my holiday didn’t have a facility for charging phones so I had used the power pack that I’d brought with me, however the campsite I was now using in the second week also didn’t have a facility for charging my phone, and my power bank was now empty. This is a big problem as I was using my phone for everything in order to save weight. It is my camera, MP3 player, Ordnance Survey map, GPS, and Kindle. Therefore, first thing in the morning, instead of going for a walk onto the fells, I headed down into Keswick and walked into Costa where I had a cup of tea while charging my phone and power pack. However, when I had finished my cup of tea, twenty minutes later, my phone was still not charged, so while wandering around Keswick I wondered where I could also charge my phone, until passing the entrance to the youth hostel I saw a sign that promised tea and cake for £3.95. Thinking I could charge my phone there I went in and had a teacake as well as another cup of tea. With a generous amount of power in my phone I felt I could now go out for a walk even though it was quite late in the morning, so what I really needed was a short walk that wouldn’t take me too long.

Instead, I walked all the way over to the far side of the Northern Fells doing a walk that would eventually take over eight hours and I didn’t return to the campsite until almost eight o’clock in the evening. Leaving the Keswick Youth Hostel I passed the site of the old railway station and turned onto Spooneygreen Lane climbing steeply around the side of Latrigg sweating profusely as I enjoyed every moment of the familiar path on the route of the Cumbria Way up to the car park at the end of Gale Road. Turning off the Skiddaw path I went around the slopes of Lonscale Fell on a path that I have taken so times in the last ten years it almost feels too familiar and I regretted having to go over it again, but I still enjoyed it, especially on the rocky section below Lonscale Crags. Beyond that point the walk dragged on and on, over the watershed and up to Skiddaw House where I turned right down to the River Caldew. Mile after mile I kept walking through remote countryside in bright sunshine along a footpath that became a wide track after I passed Burbell Gill until eventually civilisation intruded upon the tranquil scenes with the sight of many cars ahead of me. An unfenced road heads into the valley from Mosedale to the junction of the Caldew with Grainsgill Beck and the good weather (and half term) had brought out the crowds.

I turned up beside Grainsgill Beck, still following the Cumbria Way, into a valley I had never walked in before and initially I found much of interest with the remains of Carrock Mine, but beyond the old tungsten mine the path disintegrated  so that what had been a lovely walk beside a pretty stream eventually became impractical. When I gave up following the stream I climbed the boggy heather fellside until I reached the clear path that heads north towards High Pike past Lingy Hut. Apparently a good path leaves the stream early to climb directly up to Lingy Hut and that would have been much easier, though perhaps not as pretty. My difficulty beside Grainsgill Beck was soon forgotten as I sailed along the clear path past Lingy Hut up to Hare Stones through scenery that was both vast and open as I continued up to the top of High Pike. I had climbed this fell twice before, both in 2008, and both with a thin covering of snow. With no such weather now I made my way back down the broad, grassy slopes and turned above Drygill Beck onto a broad ridge on an excellent, dry path that took me over Milton Hill, but then deteriorates into a bog as the vegetation suddenly changes from grass to heather and I was left to find my own route through the boggy ground until the terrain finally improved as I climbed through increasingly rocky ground to the summit of Carrock Fell.

I wasn’t sure of my route off the pleasingly craggy felltop having, on the only time I had previously been to this fell, in 2008, climbed the broad, southern slopes from Mosedale in poor weather. Wainwright wrote that descent from Carrock Fell is tricky so I took his advice taking the clearest path that follows the natural fall of the land to the top of the dry gully into which Further Gill Sike enters, but I found the path in the gully to be just a river of loose dry stones where it was impossible to keep a grip. It was horrible to walk on and I felt like it would be my death. With hindsight I wish I’d tried to take a less steep descent that kept off the loose stones, but somehow I managed to get onto Rake Trod that was slightly less steep and eventually I came off the stones and down to the unfenced road. I now had to walk for many bleak miles along the road through Mosedale, Bowscale and into Mungrisdale where I had a choice of whether to take the track beside the River Glenderamackin, climb over the top of Souther Fell or stay on the road around the fell. Initially I took the narrow road out of Mungrisdale, but only until I could start to climb the steep, grassy slopes of Souther Fell, which is a fell that I’d previously climbed just once before, in 2008. There is a good, usually dry, path that climbs diagonally up the side of the fell before depositing me onto the summit ridge between the two tops.

Turning back north I headed along the top of the ridge to the summit of Souther Fell where I turned around and headed back along the ridge and was distressed to see the poor state of the east ridge of Bannerdale Crags on the far side of the valley. This is crumbling into oblivion similarly to the gully that I had descended off Carrock Fell and made me reflect on the general deterioration of the fells that I had seen in many places on this holiday. I was even more distressed when I later read reports that blamed walking poles for the deterioration and led me to regret the way I had used my poles in the gully above Rake Trod. Steep, crumbly paths such as these should probably only be ascended as that is less destructive than a descent, or maybe they should be avoided completely until repair work can be carried out. Continuing along the ridge I passed the striking cairn at the south top and on into Mousthwaite Comb where I descended all the way down to the road and slowly made my way through the village of Threlkeld heading wearily back to the campsite. Over the weekend, when I had been wild camping, it had been necessarily for me to do twelve hour walks and I hoped that now I was staying in a campsite that wouldn’t be required, but this day had also been very long, so by the time I eventually collapsed into the campsite I was once again very tired.

Crag Hill and Causey Pike

Monday 31st May 2021

At the start of this day I wake up at the foot of the stream that comes down the narrow valley that is sandwiched between Whiteside and Grasmoor having wild camped in a bend in the valley just before it opens out to Lanthwaite. When I put my head out of the tent I found clear blue skies were once again welcoming me and I also found there was a brisk cold wind on the tops that prevented me from feeling too hot. After breaking camp, I set off up the heavily eroded path that follows the stream all the way up to Coledale Hause and marvelled at the power of water that in recent years have washed away the efforts of man to maintain a path in this valley. Despite the poor state of the path, this was a fabulous route up that passes many small waterfalls through stunning scenery and had me stopping many times to admire the view back down the valley until eventually I reached the pass of Coledale Hause where I turned right climbing the scree directly in front of me. The easiest route follows the footpath up to the col between Crag Hill and Grasmoor before turning up broad grassy slopes to the top of the hill, but I wanted to climb Crag Hill direct. I climbed this way in 2007 and relished the opportunity to do so again through a gully that provided me with some delicious scrambling up to a platform above Eel Crag where I stopped to admire the view down Coledale and all around me.

Slowly I climbed the ridge above Eel Crag enjoyed every step that led me all the way up to the top of Crag Hill. Wainwright called the whole fell Eel Crag, but even he acknowledged that Crag Hill is a better name and since that is what the Ordnance Survey calls it, then that is how I have always thought of it. The distant views from the dome-shaped top of Crag Hill were very hazy as they had been for several days, but at least it felt cooler. Continuing on, I made my way to the start of the narrow, rocky ridge that Wainwright declared was the best way off Eel Crag, but I was disappointed to see that it is now in a terrible state with an abundance of loose stones that have made the traverse particularly unpleasant. There are many places in the Lake District where the paths have been repaired with paved stones, but there are many more places like this that are still heavily eroded and have not been repaired. Sadly the fells are slowly deteriorating due to huge numbers of people who walk over them every year and the heavy rain that is becoming more severe and the existing paths are just not able to cope. With these sad thoughts in my mind, I climbed up to the top of Sail and, diverting off the clear path, I touched the summit before returning to the path to descend this pathetic mound of a hill.

The path down from Sail was repaired in 2010 with a huge number of zigzags and I was curious to see what the path was like now. This path has been heavily criticised by many people and studying it now I decided that the problem is that there are too many turns across too wide an area and is itself now showing signs of erosion. Plus, I was amused to see that there is now a clear path that goes all the way around the zigzags completely missing them out. I guess that’ll be the work of fellrunners. Passing over Sail Pass I climbed up to Scar Crags and battling against a strong wind continued along the ridge to Causey Pike having last been over these two fells in 2009. After having my lunch in the shelter of Causey Pike I set off back along the ridge passing over Scar Crags again and down to Sail Pass where I turned right onto the path that descends steeply below Scar Crags onto a mine road. As I was descending I was frustrated to realise that there is a path that goes direct from Causey Pike to High Moss which would have prevented me having to climb over Scar Crags again. Coming off the mine road I crossed High Moss and began to ascend Outerside reflecting that the weather had been poor on my previous ascents.

I was last on Outerside at Christmas 2009 when there was snow on the ground and it was blowing a gale, and the only other time was in 2006 when there was low cloud. With no such problem now I climbed the heather-covered fell to the top and down to Low Moss, over the tiny undulation of Sile End before descending to Barrow Door and finally climbing to the top of Barrow. There I had a relaxing descent down the ridge into the village of Braithwaite where I immediately bought some water to make up for my lack of water earlier in the day. While drinking from a large bottle of water I walked along the old road between Brathwaite and Keswick where I bought some supplies before climbing steeply out of Keswick passing the Castlerigg Stone Circle, down to Naddle Bridge and up to Burns Farm Campsite where I would spend the rest of my holiday. This was a thankfully shorter walk than the twelve-hour epics that I had been doing over the weekend and had left me feeling very tired. I appreciated being able to walk over some great mountains, but had been disappointed by the deterioration in the fells that has left some paths very slippery.

Fleetwith Pike and the Loweswater Fells

Sunday 30th May 2021

After spending the night wild camping in Ennerdale, I awoke to clear blue skies and knew that this was going to be a hot day with stunning weather. Setting off, I left my camp spot beside Sail Beck at the foot of the path from Black Sail Pass and headed onto the path beside Loft Beck that is part of the Coast to Coast walk. It was already hot and I stopped several times to have a drink of filtered water from the stream to cool off from the exertion of the climb. At the top I kept on the route of the Coast to Coast, but I now had a major distraction in the views to my left, towards Buttermere, which were sensational, though hazy. Once the path started to descend I had other things to distract me as the path is littered with piles of stones every ten metres, which is totally unnecessary. There were also large numbers of people coming up the path drawn to the area by the Bank Holiday weekend and the good weather. At the site of the drum house on the old tramway, I was able to leave them all behind as I kept going in the same direction to reach the edge of the escarpment above Honister Pass where I turned left to follow the broad ridge up the heather-covered slopes of Fleetwith Pike. 

Although a right-of-way is marked on maps, I found very little on the ground, until eventually a clear path appeared from the nearby quarry and soon I reached the top of the Honister via ferrata, which is something I have never done before and I’m not sure I would ever want to do it as I don’t have a head for heights. Continuing up the ridge I passed the remains of old quarries and reached the top of Black Star from where I now had a clear view along the heather-covered ridge to the top of Fleetwith Pike, which is a fell that I have previously climbed twice, both times up Fleetwith Edge, the steep ridge from Gatesgarth. Unfortunately, by the time I reached Fleetwith Pike the lovely sunshine that I had been enjoying was gone as dark clouds had come over, though fortunately they wouldn’t last. With much relish I began my descent of Fleetwith Edge reflecting that the last time I had come up here was New Year’s Day 2010 when there had been a lot of snow on the ground, which amazes me now as this ridge is a proper scramble so you wouldn’t have thought it could easily be done under snow. This time I had a thoroughly enjoyable descent slowly making my way down the rocky ridge until eventually I reached the crowds at Gatesgarth where I started to walk around Buttermere, which was quite a challenge to keep a proper distance from everyone.

 

Slowly I made my way along the footpath through Burtness Wood, ignoring the turning for Buttermere village, I continued past Scale Bridge and veered left after crossing Far Ruddy Beck to take a higher path that I hoped would avoid the notorious bogs of the lower path. This was still not always a clear path and was not completely dry, but it did eventually lead me to Scale Force, the highest waterfall in the Lake District, where I had my lunch. Soon after I set off again along the path, my feet complained so much I had to stop. I had been suffering from sore spots on my feet for most of the holiday due to my boots letting in water during the wet days and the problem with waterproof footwear is that they don’t dry out very quickly. My solution at this point was to take off my wet socks and put dry socks on, though it would not be long before these socks would also be wet. Setting off again, I now entered an area that I hoped would have much less people than the crowds I encountered around Buttermere: the Loweswater Fells that lie north of the Floutern Tarn Pass. There are five Loweswater Fells including Mellbreak in front of me that I have done twice before, the last time in 2013, but I have only done the other four once, under snow at Christmas 2009, so they were my target.

The, at times, boggy path slowly rose towards Floutern Tarn, but at a fence I turned off it to slowly climb north towards Hen Comb following a narrow, increasingly steep path over many annoying false summits until I eventually reached the top where I was rewarded with stunning views including back towards Fleetwith Pike. Coming back down the path I could see a fence that crosses the top of the valley to the ridge opposite that I thought would be an excellent way, but the name of this area is Whiteoak Moss and is abominably boggy, which begs the question why does there appear to be a path? Is it because of other idiots like me, or because of idiots like fellrunners? I should have kept to the high ground over Floutern Cop (near the top of the pass) and Banna Fell, but instead I just got my feet wet again. Turning north I followed a fence up to the top of Gavel Fell where I was frustrated to find the large summit cairn is across a fence that doesn’t have a stile, but after much grumbling I found that the fence is easily crossable. Since my socks were now wet I changed back into my previous socks that had dried while hanging off the back of my rucksack.

With the day lengthening, I followed the fence around the Loweswater Fells passing over Fothergill Head and up to the top of Blake Fell where I had taken a memorable picture in 2009, when I had previously done these fells, that looks back over the snow-covered landscape towards Fleetwith Pike in the distance. Now, when I got to the top of Blake Fell I was frustrated to find the terrain didn’t match my picture, but after much moaning I eventually realised the picture was taken from a small outcrop a short distance away from the summit. Unfortunately the view, without snow and with haze, was not as good as it had been in 2009, but was still awesome. Continuing north along the broad ridge I came up to Burnbank Fell and my fourth Loweswater Fell of the day, which had been my first in 2009. Crossing the fence I made my way to a pile of stones that overlooks Loweswater and turned left to descend steeply onto an excellent terrace path following Wainwright’s directions. In 2009 I hadn’t followed this route so I was happy to finally have a chance to do this terrace path and take in the brilliant views across Loweswater towards Grasmoor and the other North Western Fells.

 

Soon after crossing Holme Beck I took a path that descends steeply through the stunning woodland of Holme Wood that was decorated with many wild flowers, including bluebells, until eventually I reached the bottom of the path beside Loweswater. There I changed my socks again and considered my options. I needed somewhere to camp, but there didn’t seem to be any places in the valley to do that. I did consider going up onto Low Fell on the other side of Loweswater, but this seemed to need a lot of tiring road walking back and forth to get to the entrance, though with hindsight it may have been better. Instead, I walked along the road past Loweswater village and down to Scalehill Bridge where I turned onto a bridleway that climbs through Lanthwaite Wood up to the Buttermere road near Lanthwaite Gate below Whiteside. I had now been walking for over eleven hours and I was tired. I just wanted to stop and eat, but I had not been able to find anywhere I could wild camp without anybody seeing me. Eventually I climbed up to Liza Beck in the narrow cutting between Whiteside and Grasmoor and found a spot soon after a sharp turning, out of sight, where I could stop and put up my tent. The start of this walk was great, going over Fleetwith Pike, but after that the walk deteriorated due to the crowds and later the grassy Loweswater Fells with aching feet.