Nab Scar and Fairfield

Wednesday 21st December 2016

At the start of this day the weather was terrible with rain that didn’t look like it was ever going to stop, low clouds and strong winds. There seemed to be no chance of an improvement throughout the day so I resigned myself to a short walk along the Coffin Route that lies between Ambleside and Grasmere. After a stroll along the main road out of the village, I turned onto the wide track that passes pleasantly through Rydal Park to Rydal Hall. Since it was still raining I wandered around the grounds exploring a place that I would usually rush past. Rydal Hall and the surrounding estate is owned by the Diocese of Carlisle and maintained as a conference, retreat and holiday centre. I had a look around the gardens and stopped off at the Grotto, which is an Eighteenth Century viewing station, a simple slate hut with a picturesque view through the window of a waterfall with a bridge in the background. For some reason people in those days preferred to view the outdoors from indoors, which is not my thing as I always prefer to be outdoors even if it’s raining.

Leaving the hall behind, I headed towards Nab Scar and as I started to climb the zigzag path it finally stopped raining. The views behind me stretching towards Windermere were better than I’d had all week, as I slowly made my way up the steep, prolonged climb to the top of Nab Scar. I was unsure whether I had reached the top as likely candidates lacked a cairn while the only cairn that I saw, just after crossing a wall, seemed woefully inadequate with higher ground only a short distance away. However this cairn is actually the recognized summit, though even Wainwright acknowledges about the summit that “hereabouts the immediate surroundings are uninteresting, the redeeming feature being the fine view”. I was not in a mood to linger at the summit as I was being battered by severe winds and the conditions only became worse as I slowly made my way up the ridge towards Heron Crag. I had climbed Heron Pike the year before only to find strong winds so I was not keen on repeating the experience, therefore just before reaching Lord Crag I took the faint path that branches off the ridge and down to Alcock Tarn on a wet and slippery path.

Alcock Tarn is a small reservoir that Wainwright dismissively referred to as a “dreary sheet of water” and I can’t really say that I disagree with him, but the dam made a good place for me to sit while gazing at the scenery to the south. I was unsure what my next move should be as it was still only about noon and all my options, except for back the way I had come, were to descend to Grasmere. While I sat there eating my lunch, gaps started to appear in the clouds that revealed blue sky and before too long the sun finally made an appearance this week. After a short shower the clouds cleared once more and now the sun looked like it was going to stay. Since the weather was now looking really good, I decided that my only option was to risk heading back up to the top of the ridge and see if the wind had eased. Quickly I made my way back along the path that I had just descended onto the ridge between Nab Scar and Heron Pike. It was still very windy, but as I made my way up the ridge towards Heron Pike the wind didn’t seem as bad as it had been earlier and so I began a fabulous walk along the ridge in glorious sunshine.

It was great to be walking over high fells in the Lakes with the sun beaming down on me and with great views of the awesome ridge ahead of me that leads all the way up to Fairfield at the top of the horseshoe ridge. I was astounded at how fortunate I was to have such great weather in the Lake District, especially after the terrible weather that I had endured at the start of the day. On several occasions I actually laughed uncontrollably as I was just so overjoyed at the experience of walking in the Lake District in such fabulous weather. After passing over Heron Pike I had a glorious view of the ridge ahead of me basking in the sunshine and while on a level stretch I realised that the weather was so good was going to be able to keep going all the way up to the top of Fairfield, which I would never have dreamed of doing when I started the walk. Although the sun was shining, it was still bitterly cold and I had to wrap up snugly, but it wasn’t too windy, so I had a joyously lovely walk along the level ridge before the terrain finally steepened for the climb up to the top of Great Rigg.

The last time I was at Great Rigg was three years ago in poor weather, but now the sun was shining on me even though other parts of the Lake District were still shrouded in cloud and I realised that I’ve not walked the ridge between Great Rigg and Heron Pike since 2002 on my first ever visit to the Lake District. After pausing for a while at the top of Great Rigg to take some pictures of the snow-speckled top of  Fairfield with the Helvellyn range behind looking gorgeous in the sunshine, I set off along the ridge. The icy plateau of Fairfield was very wintry with a strong, terribly cold wind blowing across its exposed top, so with the views now becoming duller I decided to quickly make my way down. I had considered copying my route of three years ago over Cofa Pike and down the path from Deepdale Hause to Grisedale Tarn, but in the end I decided to brave the screes to Grisedale Hause. A bitterly cold, harsh wind blew at me as I made my way down the awful screes that I have usually avoided ever since my first experience of them back in 2002. It was with enormous relief that I finally reached Grisedale Hause.

By now the sun was beginning to set and the bright sunshine that I had briefly enjoyed was fading, so it was definitely time for me to be making my way down. It was with great satisfaction that I slowly descended the path beside Tongue Gill all the way down to Grasmere. This was an awesome walk that I never thought, when I left Ambleside, would take me all the way up to Fairfield. I am so glad that I climbed back onto the ridge from Alcock Tarn when the sun came out. This was an amazing day that must rank as one of the most astonishing that I have ever had in the Lake District. Even though it was sunny on that ridge it was very cold, but I was nice and warm under my layers of clothing, which made the experience of walking along that ridge even more delicious. A poor start was transformed into an amazing walk in astonishing weather on a great ridge to the icy summit of Fairfield.

Silver How and Loughrigg

Tuesday 20th December 2016

If I had to be honest I would admit that I hadn’t prepared for this holiday as well as I normally do, where every last detail is planned from start to finish. I will usually spend months pouring over maps and studying timetables until I know precisely where I’m going to be walking on any one day in my holiday, even though weather often intervenes and forces me to abandon my plans. This time I was so sure of bad weather that every time I thought of somewhere to walk I would immediately think I’ll probably not be able to do that because of the weather. Consequently the previous evening I was desperately pouring over my map trying to decide what to do and eventually I decided that I would catch a bus to Dungeon Ghyll, in Great Langdale, and walk back along the ridge over Blea Rigg and Silver How. However, I was still so unprepared that, after going back to my room in the hostel several times for things that I’d forgotten, by the time I got to the bus stop the bus had already gone, so once again I was without a plan. The weather for this walk was worse than it had been the day before with grey, murky skies and also a bitterly cold wind that should have deterred anyone from going up onto the fells.

Dejectedly, I started wandering down the road towards Langdale, which was fine until I reached Clappersgate where the path beside the road disappeared and I had to risk death by walking on the busy road until I finally reached safety at Skelwith Bridge. There I had a path, away from the road, beside the River Brathay and so I felt that only now the walk had actually started, and it was immediately very pleasant. I soon reached the lovely, little waterfall of Skelwith Force, which I have visited many times before, but it was nice to visit it again before continuing along the easy path to Elterwater. It was a pleasure to walk along this path, despite the miserable weather, and eventually I reached the small community of Chapel Stile in Great Langdale. From there I had several points from which I could climb onto the Silver How ridge, but I chose to continue along the road beyond Chapel Stile until just before I reached Harry Place Farm where I took a path that climbs steeply up the hillside. Wainwright mentions this path in his Blea Rigg chapter saying that it is a “beautiful and exciting route, hardly more strenuous than the road and infinitely preferable.”

After an initial steep, strenuous climb that had me questioning Wainwright, the path levels to become a wonderful terrace route with views through the mist up Langdale over the top of Copt How. Better weather would have given me better views, but I was still enjoying the walk along this great path through the dead bracken over Thrang Crag until I eventually joined up with the paths that come up from Chapel Stile. That includes a familiar path that I remember taking four years ago on my way to Grasmere, but this time I was not going all the way over the ridge, just to Silver How at the top. When I reached the top of the spectacular ravine of Megs Gill, I came off the path, initially by mistake though I soon realised that I had missed the turning, and decided to follow a faint path that climbs beside Megs Gill in order to explore the area. There is a cairn in the vicinity marked on the map that overlooks Langdale and is labelled on Wainwright’s original edition as Stone Man but is absent from the later editions. Not surprisingly, I couldn’t find it any more than Chris Jesty or Clive Hutchby could. The views from that point should be spectacular looking towards Elterwater, but they just looked into the same mist that I had been seeing all day.

The best views were behind me looking onto the fabulous Silver How ridge with its complex undulating skyline that is a joy to explore so long as the clouds are not too low. I have spent many a wonderful afternoon slowly descending this gently undulating ridge from Blea Rigg exploring the many tops along the way, visiting Great Castle How and Lang How among others before reaching Silver How. That had been my plan for this walk, but since I had missed the bus I was now left to climb up from Megs Gill on faint paths heading towards the top of Silver How. Ducking behind the summit crag of Silver How, I had my lunch while trying to hide from the bitterly cold wind that made being at the top of this relatively small fell feel mountainous. After eating I descended the steep, scree gully that is immediately below the summit and after crossing the Grasmere path I followed the edge of Wyke Plantation before taking a turning back up towards the top of the ridge. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time making my way along this undulating ridge on the many glorious paths that make this such a fascinating place and a joy to walk.

Eventually I reached the road near the Langdale Youth Hostel and a short walk along the road brought me to the top of Red Bank and the start of the popular tourist route up Loughrigg. This was my first fell in the Lake District, back in 2002, and I have had a lot of affection for the fell since then, even though I lost a pair of glasses on Loughrigg that day. Soon after I started climbing it started to rain, which eventually prompted me to put my waterproof trousers on, which prompted the rain to stop. That happens so many times to me! I kept going until I reached the wind-swept summit of Loughrigg, but I didn’t stay there long as the weather was deteriorating fast, so I continued over the fell following the clear path that gradually descends all the way down to the bridlepath that crosses the southern corner of the fell. Maintaining my traverse of Loughrigg, I headed across the path and onto the undulating ridge that passes Lily Tarn before ending at the top of Todd Crag where I could see stunning views in the diminishing light over the northern end of Windermere.

I had only once before been to the top of Todd Crag and it had been an exceptionally windy day, and now the weather was not much better with poor visibility. I would love to spend a lot of time exploring Todd Crag, but this was not the occasion so I dropped onto an excellent path that I had never been on before that took me steeply down to Clappersgate, and I was overawed by the genius of its construction as it zigzags down the hillside. Despite the failing light, it was a pleasure to walk on this brilliant path that has since often come to my mind. I must come back in better weather as I cannot believe this little path could have been so good. The weather was not great on this walk with a bitingly cold wind and the walk didn’t really start until I got to Skelwith Bridge and it really took off at the start of the the path from Harry Place. I enjoyed most of this walk simply because it was in the Lake District, and I loved being back, but the ridge around Silver How was immensely entertaining and a joy no matter what the weather. Loughrigg is almost a separate fell and was a welcome bonus despite the deteriorating weather. After all my uncertainty before this walk, and after spending the morning dodging cars, it is great to be able to say that I ended up really enjoying this walk.