Scoat Fell and Illgill Head

Thursday 31st March 2016

After generally poor weather on my holiday in the Lake District it was a surprise and a joy to have a day of sensational weather with blue skies and gorgeous, clear views as I walked past some amazing scenery. I had so far not been able to do any of my planned walks on this holiday, but with this good weather I was finally able do the walk as originally intended. Crossing to the far side of Ennerdale I left the forest track to climb steeply through a gap in the trees that is used to bring livestock off the fells in a similar way to the route that I had taken into Ennerdale the previous afternoon on the other side of the valley. The only time that I had previously taken this route, up the drove way, was back in 2005, on my way via Steeple to the top of Scoat Fell. I didn’t enjoy that ascent and have since preferred the climb out of Ennerdale that I did the following day further west. My ultimate goal on this walk was still the same as back then, but in order to take a new route up I headed towards the ridge of Tewit How.

With stunning views behind me of Ennerdale Water I had a tiring and relentless climb through pathless heather until finally I reached the cairn that sits at the top of Tewit How. The awesome crags of Haskett Buttress below Scoat Fell urged me on with the improving weather giving me such a kick that I had a thrilling climb past rapidly diminishing Tewit Tarn and up onto the snow-covered fell. At the wall that follows the top of the south Ennerdale ridge I turned left and followed it up to the cairn that looks out over Steeple, and continuing beside the wall I eventually reached the indeterminate point where the actual summit of Scoat Fell lies, on top of the wall. It was great being at the top of these amazing fells in this weather, especially once the lingering mist had cleared and provided me with stunning views across the craggy fells and their light covering of snow thanks to the late winter. I had stunning clear views of all the neighbouring fells and I was in utter awe of my surroundings, reluctant to leave, but knowing that I couldn’t stay.

I needed to get down to Wasdale Head,but I wasn’t sure which way to take. The best way down would be over Red Pike, but hesitation about the descent from Dore Head prompted me to consider making my way to the Wind Gap and descending steeply from there into Mosedale. Eventually the good weather prompted me to head over to the gorgeous fell of Red Pike. The summit is not far from Scoat Fell, alongside perilous cliffs, but the attraction of this route is the long ridge that gradually descends all the way down to Dore Head. On the way I sat in the Chair, made of stones, which looks out over Wastwater, briefly taking in the tremendous weather before continuing the descent all the way to the bottom of the ridge at Dore Head. To my left was a steep, badly eroded, cascade of stones called the Dorehead Screes. Decades of walkers running down the screes have scoured a horrible scar down the hill prompting me to avoid it in the past and I’ll probably avoid it in the future as well.

Instead of descending on the grass to the left of the scree, which is the recommended practice, I came down inside the deepest scars to the right of the scree and paid the price in blood. After what seemed an age (I didn’t run down the scree as I didn’t want to damage it, or me) I eventually reached the bottom where I was finally able to tend to my injuries, and have my lunch. Once I had recovered I made my way through Mosedale and into Wasdale Head. The cloud that had been hanging overhead throughout the morning had now finally cleared and I was left with fabulous weather for my walk through Wasdale Head with the steep-sided, imposing giants of the surrounding fells looking down on me in the crystal clear air. My walk through this short valley was spent gazing up at these fells, most notably the striking Great Gable, and left me speechless at the spectacle. After crossing the tourist route up Scafell Pike I made my way beside the edge of Fence Wood towards Burnmoor Tarn.

As I climbed the old corpse road that goes past the tarn towards Eskdale, I wondered if I could take advantage of the good weather by visiting one of the neighbouring fells either side of the pass. While considering my options I realised that I had actually missed a turning and was now climbing Illgill Head that lies to the west of the tarn. It hadn’t taken me long to realise my mistake and I could have easily regained the correct route, but since I had been thinking of climbing Illgill Head, or Great How on the other side of the pass, I thought I might as well turn into the skid and keep going. Following a broken wall all the way up I found a tremendous route up the fell with awesome views behind me of the giants of Wasdale Head. At the highest point on the fell, I headed to a cairn that looks out east over Burnmoor Tarn and the spell-binding terrain of the southern fells of the Lake District with the notable sight of the pointed peak of Harter Fell before me.

Dropping down the pathless, grassy slopes of Illgill Head to the boggy ground south of Burnmoor Tarn, I negotiated the bogs over the corpse road to Lambford Bridge where a delightful, though boggy, path traversed the rarely visited terrain above Eskdale. On paper this route could be considered a shortcut, but after the huge amounts of rain that has fallen on the Lake District during the winter, this route was very wet and required a lot of bog-hopping. The landscape in this area is delightful and with drier conditions underfoot I’m sure it would be a fascinating place to explore, but under the circumstances I was somewhat relieved to reach the tranquil surroundings of Eel Tarn. I hope I return to this wonderful place again in weather that is as good as this when I can do justice to such a delightful area. From there a short descent led me down to the Woolpack Inn, not far from the Eskdale Youth Hostel. This was an amazing day that had me walk past some astonishing fells with perfect weather and gorgeously clear views. I always feel honoured to be in the Lake District on a day like this as it doesn’t happen very often.

Grey Knotts and the High Stile ridge

Wednesday 30th March 2016

Every day I am in the Lake District I aim to start my walks with an ascent that I have never done before, which means that I am walking up to the top of a fell that I have previously only ever visited from a neighbouring fell by a ridge route. When considering my options from the Honister Hause Youth Hostel I realised that I had already climbed all the fells that can be climbed from Honister, even though it must be at least ten years since I last stayed at that hostel. In the end I decided that I would climb Grey Knotts taking the usual route via the old tramway drum house. In 2004 I climbed Grey Knotts direct from Honister, so although I wasn’t climbing the fell for the first time I was at least taking a route that I had never taken before. At the highest point on the course of the old tramway, the site of the drum house, I turned left and followed the well-worn path that is usually taken by people on their way to Great Gable. When the path levelled I turned left and headed up the snowbound slopes of Grey Knotts.

The weather was typically terrible. It was raining when I left the hostel and by the time I came off the path it was snowing. With a significant amount of snow underfoot I made my way up the pathless rock-filled terrain through the mist up to the top of Grey Knotts. There are several outcrops of rock that could potentially be the summit and even Wainwright couldn’t decide which of two of them deserved the accolade. To be sure I visited the top of all of them before making my way along the top of the broad craggy ridge to Brandreth. It was great being at the top of these fells in poor weather when the absence of any other footprints in the snow provided me with a very real feeling of exploration, but I didn’t think it would be wise to continue along the ridge towards Great Gable. I’m not a huge fan of winter walking, and I’m not equipped for it, so from the top of Brandreth, I turned to my right and headed down the broad slopes away from the snow.

Following a fence, I made my way down the long north-eastern slopes of Brandreth and realised that I had done the same thing in 2013. On that occasion I had reached a snow-covered Green Gable before turning around and descending these same, easier slopes towards Haystacks. Rather than keeping to the ridge overlooking Ennerdale, as in 2013, I now took a route that I have previously taken many times, passing close to Great Round How and joining the wide path from Honister via Dubs Quarry. It was reassuring to find that this old route was still clear and the snow that had continued to fall all morning finally stopped when I reached the Dubs Quarry path enabling me to really enjoy the fabulous rock terrain of the path as it passes the outlet of Blackbeck Tarn. Wainwright was a big fan of Haystacks remarking that the top of Haystacks is a wonderful cure that could make one forget even a raging toothache.

It certainly is a fascinating place and I so enjoyed my walk across the fell that the exploits of the demon path builders failed to dampen my enthusiasm. A satisfyingly tricky, scrambly descent led me down to Scarth Gap where I had my lunch. My original plan for this walk had been to go along the southern ridge of Ennerdale, but in view of the snow on the high fells I had decided that the northern ridge, usually known as the High Stile ridge, would be the safer option. I traversed the whole ridge after visiting Haystacks on my first ever visit to the Lake District, but I can’t remember ever going that way since as I think all my subsequent traverses have been in the opposite direction. I particularly remember on that occasion climbing Gamlin End, the steep scree slope of High Crag, in baking hot weather, but now the demon path builders have built zigzags into the fellside alongside the scree, and actually done a good job. There was quite a lot of snow at the summit of High Crag and along the High Stile ridge, but as I slowly made my way along the ridge the weather gradually improved to provide me with some awesome views along this fabulous ridge.

My experiences of earlier in the week had taught me that when I am excited about a walk and the surrounding scenery, I rush along unable to contain my excitement, but I knew that this ridge is far too good and too short to be traversed in double-quick time. There is nothing that can compete with this ridge once the end has been reached, so I may as well make the most of the improving weather and the fabulous fells on the High Stile ridge. This traverse deserves to be lingered over, so I wandered along the top taking in the amazing views that were improving with every moment. Slowly I made my way along the ridge to the highest point and its namesake: High Stile, and while there I wandered along the summit ridge towards Buttermere in order to take in the views towards High Crag and Red Pike, and to simply enjoy being up there for as long as possible. It is lovely to be able to stop at the top of a fell and not be in a hurry to get anywhere, but eventually I left the top of High Stile and made my way across to the top of Red Pike and the end of the ridge.

With gorgeous sunshine all around me, I didn’t want to descend, but the terrain drastically changes after Red Pike. The ridge descends steeply and broadens into featureless grassy domes that lack the interest of the dramatic crag-filled fells of the High Stile ridge. There was no snow on these lower hills and I couldn’t see the point in prolonging my walk onto these dull hills after the fabulous High Stile ridge, so I turned south towards the steep, grassy slopes of Red Pike. There is a footpath that descends these tedious slopes and once I had located it I dropped quickly all the way down into Ennerdale. After my mammoth expedition of the day before, I had maybe needed this relatively more sedate walk. I’m not a huge fan of walking in snow, possibly because you have to be more careful than usual, and maybe that is why I preferred my walk over Haystacks than over any of the other fells, but this was still a great walk in changing weather conditions through snow covered fells and over awesome rock-filled mountains.