Fisher’s Wife Rake

Saturday 7th April 2012

After the tremendous time I spent in the Lake District last Easter it was an easy decision to return this Easter. The weather last year was stunning with virtually no rain all week; unfortunately I was not so lucky this year. After travelling to the Lakes Saturday morning I got off the bus in the village of Threlkeld and headed across the River Glenderamackin onto the open fells over Threlkeld Knotts. Following the fell wall I passed the remains of an ancient settlement (and there’s not much of that left, if the map hadn’t said there used to be a settlement there I wouldn’t have known that the stones and mounds dotted around had once been where people lived). I followed an old quarry track around Threlkeld Knotts while enjoying glorious views of the various Lakeland Fells before me, and actually ended up higher than I wanted to go. When I crossed a path that climbs Wanthwaite Bank (which looked like a good path that would have been tempting if I didn’t have my sights elsewhere) I realised my mistake and dropped steeply below Wanthwaite Crags to the foot of Fisher’s Wife Rake.

Coming to the foot of the rake I climbed the very steeply up the centre of the rake on Wainwright’s original route. Chris Jesty’s revision suggests turning left after passing a rowan tree which would have taken me up a much nicer slanting route along the foot of the crags. As it was I struggled up the crumbly rake to the start of clearly defined zigzags that took me onto the broad grassy slopes of Clough Head. Fisher’s Wife Rake is a climb I’ve wanted to do for years but never been able to fit it in, and even on this walk it was a stretch. This was a fabulous climb, but all I was left feeling at the top of it was that now I wanted to do it again, but along Jesty’s revised route. Once I reached the top of the zigzags I was exhausted but still a long way from the top of Clough Head. I had expended all my energy getting to the top of the rake so I had nothing left for the remainder of the fell. Lunch helped only slightly as I wearily dragging myself up the dreary, grassy slopes to the trig point at the top of Clough Head. Is it possible that I had lost my hill-walking fitness, that my winter fat that was slowing me down?

After all the heat that had poured off me following my climb up Fisher’s Wife Rake it was a surprise as I set off from Clough Head to find a cold breeze that prompted me to wrap up. Putting my gloves on I set a steady pace along the ridge-top by-passing Calfhow Pike, Great Dodd, Watson’s Dodd and Stybarrow Dodd along the way. I had no inclination to visit the tops of these grass-covered Dodds and in fact I found that by not visiting them I gained good views of the valleys that radiate west from the ridge. Beyond Stick’s Pass the terrain improves considerably with rock becoming much more prevalent so the fine cairn at the top of Raise was not bypassed even though clouds had now descended onto the highest peaks. Beyond Whiteside I dropped down ridiculously steep slopes into Brown Cove. This is not an orthodox route but I wanted to come down somewhere new so I thought I’d explore the disused mines in Brown and Keppel Coves. Actually there’s not much left except the remains of the dams and leats that used to drive waterwheels to provide power for the mines. After looking at the dam in Brown Cove I wandered along old miner’s tracks to Keppel Cove and passed the concrete dam that burst in 1931 and is still there with a breach in the wall more than eighty years later. You used to be able to walk over the dam, but the National Park Authorities have now fenced off the top of the dam.

This was a bit of a mixed day. I was very tired before the walk due to lack of sleep and my agony while climbing Clough Head from the top of the rake is best not remembered. But Fisher’s Wife Rake was a fun climb even if it was steep, and it was good to be walking in Brown Cove where few people tread. Apart from the dreary walk along the top of the Dodds this was really not a bad walk, and after all it’s always nice to be back in the Lake District. It was good to be climbing mountains again.

The Lakes, day 2 – Wetherlam

Tuesday 16th July 2002

Before setting off for a week long holiday in the Lake District I have just time to write an account of the second day I ever spent in the Lakes. On the first day I had arrived with no money and before too long no glasses. Despite this poor start I was eager for my first full day in the Lakes and my first big climb up a big Lakeland Fell, that of Wetherlam. Although this was a better day it was still not without incident as I forgot to collect my lunch from the Youth Hostel in Grasmere before I left. This is something that I’d done before when in the Brecon Beacons, but on this occasion it would have significant consequences. Following my omission I decided not to get a packed lunch during the rest of the holiday. I had a box of kendal mint cake that I’d just bought and I thought it would be sufficient for me to nibble on that at lunchtime. With hindsight this was not such a good idea as I lost quite a bit of weight during this holiday. When you are hillwalking lunch is a vitally important meal. The best time to replace the energy expended in walking is while you’re still walking. I never miss out on lunch now.

I left Grasmere before 9 am and headed up towards Silver How, but I didn't go to the top and simply climbed over the ridge, passing below the eastern crags of Silver How, before dropping steeply down into Great Langdale at Walthwaite. I quickly crossed the valley and passed over the eastern foothills of Lingmoor Fell through a green slate quarry to the more secluded and picturesque Little Langdale where the scenery was now both stunning and fascinating. There is a large disused quarry near Slater Bridge with a vast cathedral-like chamber inside. After gazing in awe at the surroundings I took a track past more quarries, both disused and active, to reach Tilberthwaite Gill at the foot of Wetherlam. It was now about lunch time so after a rest and a nibble of mint cake I was ready to start the long slog up Wetherlam.

The weather was blisteringly hot and this was probably the toughest climb I’d ever done before especially on the last scramble to the top up Wetherlam Edge. I thought I would never reach the top but somehow eventually did manage to get to the summit, my first big Lakeland peak (Loughrigg is tiny at only 335m). I remember being awed by the far reaching views from the top of Wetherlam that stretch over Windermere, Coniston, Ambleside, and towards Helvellyn. For the first time in the Lake District I was above two thousand feet and thanks to the good weather I was being afforded with what I still believe is one of the best views in the Lake District. I have not seen this view again since this second day as I have been up Wetherlam only once since (at the time of writing) and the weather on that occasion was poor affording me no view. I am surprised the view from Wetherlam is not more greatly extolled since as far as I can remember it has few competitors.

From the top of Wetherlam I walked along the western ridge down to Swirl Hawse and up another scramble along Prison Band to Swirl How. By the time I reached the top of Swirl How the temperature had dropped with mist covering the summit. After walking across to Great Carrs in the clouds simply to ‘bag it’, I turned around and came back round, crossing the western slopes of Swirl How and down Swirl Band to Levers Hawse. From there I took a steep, tricky path down loose scree to Levers Water and from there into the Coppermines Valley and the Youth Hostel at Coniston Coppermines.

This is a nice, small hostel with a pleasant, lively crowd, which was a welcome relief after the large hostel in Grasmere that was dominated by school parties. I spent some of the evening reading the Bibles on the hostel bookshelf and getting some interesting comments from the other people in the room. Some of them seemed to consider Christianity all but dead in Britain with a mere handful of people these days going to church. This is most definitely not the case as a lot of churches are full with people with all sorts of ages and colours attending. It is sad that there are people in Britain who don’t see a future in the church; how things have changed.

This was a great walk with two widely varying stages. The first stage, walking from Grasmere to the Coniston Fells, was low-key but promised much with some memorable points like standing on the Langdale edge of the Silver How ridge at the top of Megs Gill and looking steeply down into Langdale and across to the Coniston Fells. The second half of the walk, though, would change my life. The climb up Wetherlam showed off the very best that the Lake District has to offer: great paths, stunning scenery, and rugged terrain. I was smitten. Wainwright described the terrain between Tilberthwaite Gill and the Brathay as one of the loveliest square miles in Lakeland (he considered the Jaws of Borrowdale the loveliest). Since this walk I have never been back to the area and I didn’t stray from the path on this walk, but next week I plan to return to the eastern slopes of Wetherlam and relive my second day in the Lakes.