Eskdale

Saturday 27th July 2013

For this walk I thought it would be a good idea to go from the sea all the way up to the top of a mountain. During the morning I travelled up to Cumbria on the train and got off at the unspoilt seaside village of Ravenglass where a little train affectionately known as “La’al Ratty” begins its trundle up into Eskdale, undoubtedly the most beautiful valley in the Lake District. I have travelled on this train a couple of times over the years, most recently in 2010, but not on this occasion as I was now going to walk all the way up the valley, and I was going to start with my feet in the sea. While walking through the tiny village I was struck by how small and unspoilt it was having escaped the Victorian craze for seaside resorts, which has left us with a village that has hardly changed in hundreds of years. Beyond the village I reached the sea where the River Esk from Eskdale and the River Irt from Wasdale meet and enter the sea, and there I dipped my toes into the water (or more accurately I got my boots a little wet in the River Esk near the sea).

From there I set off along a footpath where the first thing of note that I discovered was Walls Castle, actually a Roman bath house that is astonishingly well preserved, for a Roman building in Britain, especially when compared with the three foot high Hadrian’s Wall. Soon after continuing along the path, the warm humid weather that had hung around Britain throughout July started to make me feel uncomfortable and made the walk quite difficult and tiring. I usually have my main holiday, in Scotland, at the beginning of June simply because it’s cooler, while this walk was being done at the peak of the summer, which does not make for easy backpacking. After passing Muncaster Castle I climbed to the top of Muncaster Fell, a small fell on the outskirts of the Lake District that Wainwright had included in his Pictorial Guide to the Outlying Fells of Lakeland. I had already done a couple of these fells before, notably last Christmas, and I had found them all to be enjoyable, especially when only an easy walk is required.

There were tremendous views from the top of Muncaster Fell, back towards the coast as well as towards the fells, which were obscured by mist as is typical at this time of the year due to humidity. While walking along the entire length of the bilberry, heather and bracken covered fell, two much bigger fells dominated my view: up Miterdale the huge bulk of mighty Sca Fell, while up Eskdale the distinctive, pointed peak of Harter Fell drew my steps. These are two very differently shaped mountains, but both dominated the view ahead of me as I negotiated the complex terrain while slowly descending into Eskdale. Eventually I came down into the valley at Muncaster Head Farm where I joined a path beside the River Esk and followed it all the way up the valley. This was a relaxing part of the day as I strolled along a track through the tranquil, unspoilt valley, and even paid a visit to the waterfall, Stanley Ghyll Force, simply because I couldn’t bring myself to walk past without seeing again the sixty foot high waterfall in its dramatic, deep and narrow gorge.

Resuming my walk along Eskdale, just after passing Penny Hill Farm, I took an old peat road that climbs steeply up the fellside to the peaty heights above, where peat used to be cut and then brought down into the valley so it could be burned for heat. At an old sign marked Harter Fell I came off the peat road and climbed an excellent, craggy path across a delightful, deeply-cut stream and through a broad stony rake onto the open moor. This was a fantastic route that I don’t think I’ve taken before as previously, in 2005, I  climbed from Wha House Bridge and followed Spothow Gill up, but the route I’d just taken is far superior. After crossing Spothow Gill I gradually made my way through heather up the slopes of Harter Fell, but since it was now getting late I was beginning to tire. It was the end of a long day and yet I was climbing a mountain, which is not something that I would normally do this late in the day. With the gradient getter steeper and steeper I started to stop more and more times and for longer and longer periods with the gaps between them getting shorter and shorter.

I had hardly any energy left so every step was becoming an agony, but eventually, somehow, I managed to reach the top of Harter Fell where I found a spot on the northern side of the fell, just below the summit, where I could break out my tent and make camp. Just two months previously, while holidaying in Scotland, I had stayed in a tent for the first time, and that went so well I thought I would try it in the Lake District. I hadn’t camped at the top of a mountain while in Scotland so this was more thrilling: I loved it. Despite my difficulty in reaching the top, once I got there it was a great feeling to able to gaze across Eskdale towards the great mountains that circle the head of the valley as twilight slowly began to fall. This was a tiring walk in humid weather, but nevertheless it was an enjoyable challenge, and it felt good to be climbing rock again up that stony rake.

The Monsal Trail

Monday 6th May 2013 (and Saturday 31st March 2012)

I have always been especially interested in the Monsal Trail in the Peak District because it passes through the dramatic scenery of Monsal Dale and Miller’s Dale, however, ever since the old railway line was opened to walkers the many tunnels on the route remained closed, which necessitated several long diversions around them. In 2011 the Peak District National Park Authority reopened the tunnels, repairing, resurfacing and lighting them to form an extension to the existing Monsal Trail. Since I hadn’t previously been able to, I was eager to do a walk through these tunnels, so just before Easter last year I did a walk along the Monsal Trail. It was a thrilling walk, but I wasn’t able to do my fully intended walk due to a lack of time, so this year I did it again and managed to do a great walk in stunning weather through stunning scenery. I also deliberately went a month later so I was able to enjoy more of the spring wild flowers that I enjoy (although the late spring this year lessened the benefit).

Both this year and last year I started the walk in the town of Bakewell, the largest in the Peak District, and set off alongside the busy A6 road north out of the town. After passing Lumford Mill I briefly took a path past Mill Pond and Ashford Lake (and the attractive weirs between them), all constructed for the benefit of the mill, but soon returned to the main road. Beyond the turning for the picturesque village of Ashford in the Water, I took a left turning off the A6 onto a lane signposted to Sheldon, but took a footpath on the right before the road begins to rise out of the valley of the River Wye. Last year at this point I thought I’d lost my camera and even went back as far as the point where I’d rejoined the main road to look for it, only to find I’d had it on me all the time. This year I had no such problem and marched on beside the river into the wonderful Shacklow Wood that I’d enjoyed enormously last year and drew me back this year. I had hoped that the garlic scented plants that cover the floor of the wood would be in bloom by the time I went this year, but the late spring robbed me of that.

I still had a great walk across the steep slopes of the wood perched on a high ledge above the valley below. The lack of wild garlic was made up for, as I descended back down to the road, through a wondrous abundance of wood anemones and lesser celandines. After crossing the A6 I walked through Monsal Dale, a valley that I have walked through many, many times since I was a child, to the awesome Monsal Head Viaduct that towers above the valley. The green lawns of this beautiful dale was adorned with so many wild flowers I was enraptured, but this was also my first sight of the railway on this walk. Last year, I climbed up to the top of the viaduct and joined the Monsal Trail, heading towards Buxton and through Cressbrook Tunnel. I hadn’t planned on going through a tunnel this early in the walk, but the sight of the open tunnel ahead of me was irresistible. This year I passed underneath the viaduct and joined the road coming down from Monsal Head. My plan for this walk was to stay at the bottom of the valley all the way to the end of the Monsal Trail before finally returning to Bakewell along the old railway line.

I had failed to do that last year, but this year I persevered along the road, avoiding the temptation of the tunnels and at Cressbrook Mill I returned to the water’s edge to walk through the stunning Water-cum-Jolly Dale where a fabulous walk took me through the narrow valley as far as Litton Mill. From this point I was back on roads, but the valley I was walking through was still quite picturesque, which made me wish I hadn’t avoided it in the past, just because there was a seldom used road along the bottom. Gorgeous wild flowers flanked the road and stunning crags towered above me while I walked along the road all the way to the village of Miller’s Dale where two huge girder bridges tower above the village as the railway crosses the valley into Miller’s Dale Station. After passing below the bridges I left the road and started to walk along the gorgeous Chee Dale, a tranquil narrow valley that got narrower and more delightful the further I progressed. After passing below the railway line (again) the path became deliciously rugged as the walls of the valley closed in around me. I thoroughly enjoyed my walk through Chee Dale as I excitedly negotiated small scrambly sections and crossed the stepping stones where the valley is so narrow there’s no room even for a path.

Last year, once I’d reached the end of the Monsal Trail, I’d returned along Chee Dale, but since I was already in a hurry I was unable to linger, so this year I relished being able to take my time in this wonderful, spell-binding valley. When the valley started to open out I had my lunch (at the same point where I’d had my lunch last year), before finally climbing up to the start of the Monsal Trail. The walk was completed by returning to Bakewell along the entire eight and a half mile length of the Monsal Trail through Chee Tor tunnels, Litton tunnel and Cressbrook tunnel. It was great to be able to walk through these monuments to Victorian engineering and imagine what it would have been like when express trains used to roar through these tunnels. The Monsal Trail was very popular with both cyclists and walkers, which made it a bit of an anti-climax for me after the excitement of Chee Dale. I eventually reached the Monsal Head Viaduct again and passed through Headstone tunnel, the longest tunnel on the trail, and emerged into a very different landscape. I had left the dramatic scenery of Monsal Dale and was now in rather tame, even dull, farming country as the line took a course away from the River Wye for the final section to Bakewell.

Last year, at this point, I had been almost running in order to catch my bus in time, but I had no such problem this year as I strolled along the trail all the way to the end of the line at Coombe Road bridge. As I walked along the road back into Bakewell I couldn’t help thinking that I could have picked a better day as I was walking not only on a Bank Holiday Monday, but on the day of the Bakewell Show. The town was packed, but fortunately I wasn’t in the long queue of cars waiting to get out of the town as I had caught a bus to Bakewell. This was a great walk through stunning scenery from Shacklow Wood at the start of the walk to the narrow confines of Chee Dale and back along the Monsal Trail through all those railway tunnels. I had fabulous weather for the walk and the wild flowers kept me enthralled all day. From the soot still stuck to the sides of the tunnels, to the wild garlic in Shacklow Wood, there were delights for all the senses.