Yewbarrow, Red Pike and Pillar

Wednesday 27th April 2011 

The weather for this walk was brilliant again with a hot sun shining in a cloudless sky as I set off along the road beside Wastwater. After pausing several times to take pictures of the awesome scene across Wastwater and towards Wasdale Head, voted Britain's favourite view, I eventually turned off the road at Overbeck Bridge and climbed the steep grass-covered slope slowly making my way up Yewbarrow. After the initial tedious, steep climb, the path started to get very interesting as I skirted around the enormous buttress of Great Door and scrambled up a gully. After a lot of fun scrambling I eventually reached the top of the summit ridge where I couldn’t resist turning right to reach the top of Bell Rib, above the Great Door, from where I surveyed awesome the surroundings. Eventually I turning around and had an enjoyable walk along the summit ridge in the bright sunshine that brought me to the summit of Yewbarrow. I was unsure which top was the summit as the map gives a height for the north top but not for the central top, which suggests the north top is the summit. Once I was there it was clear that the central top is the summit, and Wainwright confirms it. (My old OS map says the central top is 2058 feet and the north top is 2009 feet.) Continuing along the ridge from the central top brought me to the north top where I had to take another scramble, this time down Stirrup Crag, to get off the fell. Yewbarrow is a fabulous fell despite not being much more than two thousand feet high and is looked down upon by its much bigger neighbours around Wasdale Head, but the great scrambling that is required to get both on and off it more than makes up for its small height. I had been over it only once before, in the opposite direction, but that was six years ago. Why has it taken me so long to return to such a brilliant little fell? At Dore Head I started to climb the long rock-filled terrain of Red Pike. This was an interesting walk, but very tiring under the hot sun. Red Pike is another fabulous fell in this area of fantastic fells (and I haven’t been over Red Pike in six years). Great mountains such as these are rare and yet in this part of the Lake District they crowd in on each other. Other parts of the country, even Scotland, don’t have mountains of such quality and quantity as these, which is one of the things that makes the Lake District such a great place to walk. 

Red Pike is supposed to have something on it called the Chair, described as being the most distinguishing feature of the summit of Red Pike, but I couldn’t find it! Wainwright does say that it “often escapes attention nowadays” which does at least offer me some consolation, but I was actually looking for it! It is possible that I did find the collection of rocks that have been shaped into a chair but dismissed it as simply a cairn. If so, I’ll just have to return to Red Pike again soon so I can discover it. At the summit I had my lunch during which a cloud came over and turned everything rather cold until mid-afternoon. So now with a cagoule on I set off across the col with Scoat Fell and rounding the top of Black Comb bypassed Scoat Fell. At the top of the fabulous southern Ennerdale ridge I passed over Black Crag and across the Wind Gap up to Pillar. 

From the rather dull summit of Pillar I headed towards the Pillar Rock on the northern slopes of the fell where I gingerly I made my way down to the Pillar Rock, which looked impregnable enough to force me to stay well away from it and instead I headed across the fabulous Shamrock Traverse. With an abundance of loose rock this was a tricky path, but worth every thrilling moment until I eventually reached the Robinson Cairn. I hadn’t been able to decide in advance what I was going to do at this point because I wanted to do the High Level Traverse, but that would have involved walking to the Black Sail Pass, and from there down into Ennerdale and thence a four mile walk all the way along the valley floor to the youth hostel. Despite my desire to do the High Level Traverse (having only done it successfully once before) my fatigue forced me to take a more direct route into the valley. From the Robinson Cairn I dropped down into Pillar Cove and followed the stream, Pillarcove Beck, descending steeply down the steep fell. 

This was an interesting descent, but so steep that it was over a little too quickly to enjoy. I took this route in ascent back in 2006 and I remember it as being a lot more pathless than I found it now, plus it was a lot harder. But of course on that occasion I was climbing the steep fell in warm sunshine and now I was descending into a cooling breeze, and I always find descents easier than ascents. When I finally reach the bottom of Ennerdale I wearily walked along the valley bottom all the way to the youth hostel. This was a tiring walk over rugged terrain; I don’t know why, but I didn’t seem to have much energy on this holiday. It can’t be because I’m getting old! It did occur to me that over the winter I did a lot of walks without a rucksack so that now that I was heavily laden I was finding it very difficult. I guess I’m just not used to carrying a heavy load (I’m not even used to wearing my walking boots!). Despite the heap that I collapsed into at the end of this walk it was a good day over some truly great mountains. I have been saying that a lot this week, but that’s because it's true!

Stanley Force and Buckbarrow

Tuesday 26th April 2011 

After my exertions of the previous couple of days I was looking forward to an easier walk for this day, but even though I didn't climb very high I still had to walk a long way in boots that were giving me blisters. On leaving the Eskdale Youth Hostel I had a pleasant walk beside the lovely River Esk before climbing beside Stanley Ghyll. This was an enthralling part of the walk as I climbed through a narrow, tree-lined ravine to reach Stanley Force waterfall. The waterfall was nothing special but the path through the wooded ravine more than justified the diversion. This waterfall is a noted attraction of Eskdale, but I had never previously seen visited it. Wainwright described Stanley Force, which he called Dalegarth Force, as Lakeland’s loveliest waterfall and exquisitely charming. He was certainly right about the sylvan beauty of the surroundings, but the waterfall itself failed to move me.

After returning to the River Esk I crossed over and passed into the small village of Boot where I stopped for a rest in the tranquil surroundings beside the bridge over Whillan Beck before starting a traverse of the moorland between Eskdale and Wasdale. After an early section beside a wall, the path passes onto open moorland and lost its appeal for me. The dreary crossing was only enlivened by the presence of Burnmoor Tarn beside which I had lunch. When I came to the top of the pass I suddenly beheld the view of the great mountains that surround Wasdale Head, though unfortunately throughout my moorland crossing the sun had been obscured by cloud which gave a very grey appearance to the scene as I came down into Wasdale. After passing the National Trust camp site I started a long and monotonous walk along the road beside the entire length of Wastwater. 

I did this same walk at Easter last year and for some reason then I actually enjoyed the crossing from Boot over the moor to Wasdale Head. However, last time I was excited at the prospect of coming to the Lake District again, but now I’d already been to places that put Burnmoor Tarn in the shade, just as the weather was doing. Compared with Scafell Crag, Burnmoor Tarn hasn’t got a hope. Since this was not my first visit to these scenes I was also not as excited by the descent into Wasdale Head, though the dreary weather undoubtedly contributed to my lack of enthusiasm. I clearly remembered the tiring walk along the road beside Wastwater last year, but this time even though I was just as tired as before, now I turned right onto a road that took me away from Wastwater and under the tall crags of Buckbarrow. I had considered and rejected doing this Wainwright last year, but now I had set it as my goal for the day, so after struggling all that way along the road I struggled up the steep sides of the fell all the way to the top of the Wainwright which left me with just two more to do before I’d completed the whole list. 

On the map Buckbarrow, doesn't look like it deserved to be treated as a separate fell by Wainwright, but when I got up there I found a complex terrain of rocky outcrops that are very much unlike its bigger parent, the dreary, grass covered Seatallan. Unfortunately I wasn't in a mood to explore the fell so after visiting a cairn, high above the cliff top, and another higher cairn further back, the actual Wainwright summit, I started descending steep grassy slopes into Greendale. Back on the road I took a footpath through the thoroughly delightful, wildflower-filled Roan Wood that was sadly all too small. Crossing a field and walking along a forest track took me to the youth hostel. Overall this was another tiring walk not helped by the problems I’d been having with my feet, but there were a couple of highlights, both relating to stream-side woodlands.