Eskdale and Black Combe

Saturday 11th April 2015

A few years ago I came up with an idea of walking from Eskdale across the sprawling upland expanse of Birker Fell that stretches from Harter Fell and Eskdale all the way out to Black Combe, a two thousand foot high hill on the south-western corner of the Lake District overlooking the sea. At the time I thought it was a good idea to do this walk, so a couple of years ago I went to Eskdale and camped at the top of Harter Fell with the idea of walking along this ridge the following day, until bad weather forced me to change my plans. My plan for this holiday of walking along the watersheds in the Lake District originated from a desire to do that walk to Black Combe. After leaving the Derwent watershed my route was dictated by a desire to end up on the watershed between the River Esk and the River Duddon on the ridge that ends on Black Combe, however the weather had intervened again, but not in the same way. Instead, it was unusually warm and sunny for the time of year and I wasn’t prepared. I had a lot of blisters on my feet that plasters were finally soothing and I bought some sun cream in Keswick to help against sunburn.

The sun cream, however, had made things considerably worse. I have now realised that I was having an allergic reaction to the sun cream and I can only wonder how the week would have ended if I had not bought that brand of sun cream. My face and neck were very sore and as a result I was having trouble sleeping, so the day before this walk I had stayed out of the sun by spending the day on the local narrow-gauge railway. I still had hopes that my walk for this day could go ahead as planned, but it had rained overnight and because of a considerable drop in temperature there was now a light covering of snow on the high fells. But, ultimately it was my skin problems rather than the change in weather that eventually prompted me to once again abandon my planned walk across to Black Combe. I am not sure whether this walk was ever a good idea as it sounds like it would be really tiring over hills with little to interest me. Wainwright didn’t consider fellwalking territory to extend beyond Green Crag, near Harter Fell, and I should take that as a hint.

Instead I walked out of Eskdale, almost reversing a walk that I did two years ago when I walked into Eskdale from Ravenglass. I set off beside the River Esk, but I could not resist the temptation, just as I did two years ago, to visit Stanley Gill Force. This is the loveliest waterfall in the Lake District, buried at the end of a deep, moss-covered ravine that is a delight to visit even though I found the ravine itself more interesting. After visiting the bottom of the waterfall, I climbed a steep path to the top of the falls and made my way out onto the open fell behind, which it occurred to me was similar to the sort of terrain that I’d originally planned to walk along this day. The views from this bracken-covered hillside extending over the trees and across Eskdale to the snow-speckled high fells in the distance were quite spell-binding. The sun had come out which made for yet another sunny day in the Lake District, although it was now significantly colder with a brisk, cold wind coming off the sea.

Back down at the bottom of the valley, beside the River Esk, I took the bridlepath that I had taken two years ago and followed it to the road at Forge Bridge. Previously I had walked over Muncaster Fell, but now, for a variation, I took the bridlepath that skirts the southern slopes and found it to be a dreary track through commercial woodland. On reaching a golf course the path turned tiringly uphill to join the fell-top path at Muncaster Tarn where a gradual descent brought me to the gates of Muncaster Castle and the path that I had taken only the day before and led me all the way back through delightful woodland to Ravenglass. Since it was only lunchtime, and sunny, I thought that despite abandoning the walk along the watershed I could still climb the fell at the end: Black Combe. This was an irresistible temptation for me, so I jumped onto the train to take me to Silecroft and climbed to the top of this outlying fell so I could at least accomplish something on the last day of my holiday.

An excellent track starts from the scattered hamlet of Whicham at the foot of the fell and winds its way up the hillside gorgeously easing the gradients all the way up. The strong, cold wind did not help the climb and got worse the higher I climbed forcing me to keep my hood up despite the sunny weather. When I finally reached the trig point at the summit I headed north for a bit, down the other side, until I got a glimpse of Blackcombe Screes, possibly the fell's most striking feature, though not one that is visible from the summit. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get a very good view of the screes, partly because of the strong winds, so I turned back to the summit and suddenly realised that if I had done my original plan of walking along the broad ridge to Black Combe then I would have had a strong, cold headwind all the way. After visiting the magnificent cairn that sits on the south top, I rejoined the clear track that led me down the hill with clear views out to sea and a cold wind in my face.

Before reaching the bottom I turned off the main track and made my way to a small cairn at the top of Seaness near the most southerly point on the fell and with one last look back at the top of Black Combe I made my way back down to Whicham and to the railway station at Silecroft. This was an astonishing holiday with blue skies and sunshine every day in the Lake District, which is not something that happens very often, if ever. I could easily focus on my problems and how this holiday ended with two days that were completely different to how I’d planned, but I shouldn’t forgot how good the weather had been. I accomplished on this holiday climbs and walks that I have wanted to do for a long time, like climbing Skiddaw and Blencathra on the same day, or walking all the way from Patterdale to Borrowdale in one day. I set myself a very challenging schedule on this holiday and despite not completing that schedule this was an awesome, astonishing week.

The La’al Ratty

Friday 10th April 2015

By the time I was nearing the end of the gruelling schedule that I had set for myself on this holiday I was a wreck. After six tiring day's walking I should have found sleep easy, but the night before this walk I had a lot of difficulty getting to sleep and I was astonished that I got any sleep. This was because my face and neck were very sore as a result of an allergic reaction to the sun cream that I had been using since Monday evening. However at the time I thought my problems were caused by sunburn acquired before buying the sun cream, so when Friday astonishingly dawned with sunny weather in the Lake District again, I chose to rest my blistered feet and keep my throbbing face out of the sun. My original plan for this walk had been to return to Eskdale and the col at the top of Moasdale where the previous evening I had left the watershed I had been following. Throughout this holiday I had been slowly following the watershed between two rivers from the northern edge of the Lake District all the way down to the sea on the southern edge.

My plan for this day had been for a relatively easy walk from the col between Hard Knott and the steep, grassy, western slopes of Crinkle Crags, over Hard Knott and down to the top of Hard Knott Pass, whereupon I would have climbed Harter Fell and eventually I would have come back down into Eskdale from the crags near Birker Fell. That plan went in the bin as I did something completely different. With hindsight, I think that walk would have been better done in the other direction as this would have put the longer, more dreary ascents into long, relaxing descents, but that is not the direction that I was doing the watershed on this holiday, though it does strike me as a walk that would be interesting to do and one that I may try to do at some point in the future.

Instead of walking over the fells I spent the day on the La’al Ratty, the small, narrow-gauge railway that runs from Ravenglass, on the coast, into Eskdale terminating near the village of Boot, not much more than a mile from the Eskdale Youth Hostel. I have been on the little railway before; the first time was in 1997, which was actually the first time that I ever set foot in the Lake District. I also used the La’al Ratty in 2010 to get into Eskdale at the start of a holiday when I was too tired to walk there, and once again I have gone on the railway because I was tired. But first I had to get to the station which was more than a mile from the youth hostel I was staying in, and this involved a lovely walk beside the River Esk that I have done many times in the past. After walking along the road past the Woolpack Inn I reached the gorgeous River Esk at the Doctor Bridge and then followed the wonderful path that led me to the fourteenth century Church of St Catherine’s.

At the church I followed a track that took me onto the road near the railway station where I bought a day ticket that would allow me to take multiple journeys along the line, but to start I just caught the first train of the day, a diesel, that took me to the coast. That first journey was a delight as I always enjoy being on a train and the smallness of this one brought the experience much closer and made it feel more immediate. I have been on many preserved lines in the past and I really enjoyed this one as the small train trundled past daffodils and primroses that lined the track. In Ravenglass I nipped onto the big train and got off at the first town outside of the Lake District to buy some After Sun for my sunburn before catching the train back to Ravenglass. By the time I was back in Ravenglass the weather was once again just as sunny as it had been all week and I was left pondering my next step.

I saw a sign to Walls Castle, the Roman Bath House, and I decided to walk there following my steps of two years ago when I’d walked from the sea to a mountain top, from the Esk Estuary to the top of Harter Fell. I wrapped up against the sunny weather (!) and set off through the woods, past the bath house and towards Muncaster Castle having a lovely walk through fabulous woodland filled with all sorts of wild flowers. I thought about walking all the way past Muncaster Fell below the southern wooded slopes to catch the train at the far end, but then I started to be concerned that I was out in the sun that I was supposed to be sheltering from. When I reached the gates of Muncaster Castle I changed my mind and headed over the hill and down to the railway line at Muncaster Mill station. A large part of my thinking here was also that I’d paid for a ticket that gave me unlimited travel on the railway so I wanted to get my money’s worth, and shelter from the sun.

I caught the train to Eskdale and when the train had turned around I got back on the train and stayed on it all the way back to Ravenglass. When another steam train was put in front of the carriages in Ravenglass I got back onto the train and headed back into Eskdale. The La’al Ratty (meaning “little railway” in old Cumbrian dialect) is a delightful railway and I could have spent many a day going up and down this wonderful line that passes through great Lakeland scenery. Eskdale is my favourite valley in the Lake District and this railway is a great way of seeing it without venturing onto the fells, but why would you not want to do that? I was thoroughly wrapped up in waterproofs and must have looked a funny sight compared with the tourists on the station in shorts and t-shirts, but my skin was in a terrible state so I needed to do something to let it recover. Ultimately this was not the right solution as my problems were caused by an allergic reaction to the sun cream and it wasn’t until I stopped putting that on my skin that I was able to recover.