Deer Country

A sabbatical of 4 months had seriously impacted my plan to complete the Wainwrights and Outlying Fells this year.  So, to feel as if I was making some progress, I chose a route with a significant number of previously unticked summits that could be completed within the slowly growing hours of daylight.  Also, due to the recent cold spell, usually boggy terrain would most likely be frozen so this opportunity should not be ignored.  Shap was the obvious choice.

Parking in a large layby at the summit of the A6 at Shap, I headed downhill towards Hause Foot Farm at the bottom of, as Wainwright described, the loneliest valley within the national park.  It was quite easy to reach the ridge of the Crookdale Horseshoe and the first summit of High House Bank.  The broad ridge led easily to Robin Hood and then to Lord’s Seat, at which point I thought that I was not going to see any other walkers during the day. But a chap had walked up from Crookdale and after a brief conversation, he headed east along the ridge I had just walked, as I set off over varied ground towards the Nuttall of Harrop Pike.  I took advantage of a quick photo stop and headed towards more isolated country and Ulthwaite Rigg.

Despite a couple of days of above zero temperatures, the ground underfoot was quite firm.  Although the top inch or two had thawed, there was a permafrost-like layer underneath, strong enough to prevent my boots sinking into the peat.  Cold spells are definitely the best conditions to journey on to the fells west of Shap.

Descending towards Ulthwaite Rigg I spotted what I first thought were a number of fell ponies.  Once I’d looked through my monocular I clearly saw that they were a herd of 16 or 17 deer.  I got to within about 400 metres before they turned tail and headed down towards Sleddale Beck.  I saw them again as I traversed towards Great Saddle Crag but my viewpoint soon changed to leave them out of sight.  I saw another three as I climbed up the final slopes and two of them headed towards the previous herd and the third ran off towards the east.  This summit was the most defined of today’s Outlying Fells and offered welcome rocks upon which to rest.

Deer on Ulthwaite Rigg

On the next traverse to Sleddale Pike  I saw another, larger, herd of deer; this time about 50 in number which the previously seen third deer had joined.  Like the previous herd, they made their way down towards Sleddale once they realised I was heading in their direction.  The isolation of the Shap moors suits deer far more than humans, as proved by the numbers seen.

From the tiny cairn on the summit of Sleddale Pike the large granite erratic of Gray Bull is easily seen.  When I reached it I was tempted to climb it but didn’t want to risk a less than straightforward downclimb in winter boots.

Grey Bull - a Shap erratic

I crossed the slopes of Wasdale Pike, disturbing another herd of 20 or so deer, before dropping down in to Wasdale to cross Wasdale Beck and then head up to the top of the plantation.  From there, the walk to the car was the final easy stage of the walk, one which had seen the ticking of one Nuttall and six Outlying Fells.

Loweswater Fells

“The lesser heights and foothills of Lakeland, especially those on the fringe, are too much neglected in favour of the greater mountains, yet many of these unsought and unfashionable little hills are completely charming.”

I have walked over and stood on many of these “lesser heights and foothills” in the past few years and Alfred Wainwright’s introduction to Low Fell describes them perfectly.  The terrain is generally quite benign but the views, stood apart from the clustered higher fells, are often superb.

Easy lanes led to the slopes of Darling Fell followed by the crossing of Crabtree Beck to the Wainwright summit of Low Fell.  The cairned viewpoint a short way to the south leads the eye past water and mere to the heart of the high western fells.

Buttermere valley from Low Fell

Low Fell is one of those fells of which Wainwright’s summit differs from the true highpoint.  He obviously picks a point that he thinks has more merit due to view or terrain, and I wonder how many walkers miss their tick because of an alternate summit.  Mellbreak and Whiteside are two more examples.

This ridge’s second Wainwright of Fellbarrow is easily reached by strolling over the Birkett tops of Sourfoot Fell and Smithy Fell.  The descent off Mosser Fell needs care to avoid a mauling by the gorse and lower down has some boggier ground to negotiate.

Knock Murton is another fell, neither a Wainwright nor an Outlying Fell, which offers an easy walk with superb views as a reward.  Such was the clarity of the air, details could be picked out on Criffel over the Solway and individual tops on the Isle of Man’s North Barrule ridge could be picked out.

Isle of Man from Knock Murton

Three Chairs

I’ve long been a fan of Andy Goldsworthy.  His sculptures are masterpieces in the use of natural materials set in natural landscapes with his use of rock being excellent.

I stumbled upon the existence of “The Three Chairs” when researching a walk up to Clougha Pike, a TRAIL 100 summit on the edge of the Forest of Bowland that overlooks the Fylde peninsula and Lancaster.  It took a bit of digging to establish exactly where the sculpture was situated, but I stumbled across a GPS track that gave me a very good idea of where to look.

The Victoria Monument on the Quernmore-Abbeystead road has a spacious car park from where I set off.  The fence follows a straight line over some boggy ground to Grit Fell and then the hunt for the chairs was on.  Walking north-west over some very populated grouse moorland, the chairs soon came into view.

The Three Chairs

There is some debate as to the true name of the work with the internet suggesting “Clougha Pike” and “Clougha Pike Chambers”.  They look like three tissue boxes stood on their ends and can easily shelter one or two (or maybe three) people each.  They offer a superb photo-opportunity and I took full advantage of this.  They were the clear highlight of the walk.

Ingleborough

Like many lower hills, Clougha Pike has some good views too.  Ingleborough is the most prominent summit seen although the view to Lakeland was obscured by low lying cloud.  Blackpool Tower was clearly in view; its dark framework structure contrasting nicely with the brighter sky below the cloud level.

a distant Blackpool Tower

The summit of Clougha Pike is adorned with three shelters and a trig point and would be a pleasant spot to relax in good weather although the changeable conditions for this visit weren’t too bad.  But I am sure that it is not one of the UK’s best 100 hills, as deemed by its inclusion in Trail magazine’s list.

But if you want some art on your travails amongst the hills, there can’t be many better places with such a notable artist’s work featured.

Loweswater Fell

Loweswater Fell is an area of high land marked on Landranger 89 to the south of Loweswater.  My interest in it was due to there being five Wainwrights near to each other that I hadn’t previously climbed.  And as I only had ten left to tick, the prospect of knocking half of them off in one walk was too good to turn down.

This particular group of hills is bounded by Loweswater in the north, Floutern Pass in the south, Crummock Water in the east and the national park boundary in the west.  None of it reaches 1900 feet, let alone 2000 feet, so it should lend itself to an easy day out but don’t let that seemingly innocuous statistic lull you into a false sense of security.

Easy tracks led to the screes of Mellbreak’s Raven Crag which petered out on the edge of an impressive precipice, dropping away into an other-worldly gully.  Further up on Dropping Crag were some super viewpoints looking up to the head of the Buttermere valley.

Fleetwith Pike and Buttermere

Two distinct cairns crowned the north top of Mellbreak but which marks was the true summit is open to debate.  Whichever it is, neither is the actual summit of the fell, that honour resting with a rather nondescript flat spot over half a mile away.  Although a little hazy, the views were good and hills as far away as Merrick could be seen across the Solway Firth.



Criffel



I dropped into Mosedale, reluctantly losing the height already gained and rested at the Mosedale Holly Tree – the only tree in the Lake District named on an OS map.  It flourishes in the midst of some very boggy terrain.  I soon gained the bridleway and crossed the footbridge leading towards Floutern Pass but it was hard to take even a single step on dry ground, with the morass being home to common lizards of which I disturbed a couple.  The next dry ground was found only on the south ridge of Hen Comb.  Dropping from the summit, again losing hard-won height, soon found me battling boggy ground again, this time on Whiteoak Moss which was the wettest ground of the day.  Another ascent, although smaller this time, led to the top of Gavel Fell.  At least the boggy ground was behind me now and only a little more ascent was needed as I traversed the tops of Blake Fell (the day’s highpoint), Carling Knott (not a Wainwright but on the FRCC 244 list) and finally Burnbank Fell.  The views were clearer in the early evening sunshine with Criffel defining the horizon.



Loweswater - Millennium Sculpture



Grasmoor



  The descent to Holme Wood and Loweswater

  gave good views of the west “face” of Grasmoor

  and the final plodding kilometre of roadwalking

  was only interrupted by a short diversion to the

  discretely impressive Millennium sculpture at

  Loweswater village hall.









Olympic Legacy

As the golden glow of the spectacular London Olympics fades and the Paralympics draws to a close, the focus turns to “legacy”.

Apart from the infrastructure legacy of the world-class sporting venues in the form of stadia, most commentators and politicians are talking about legacy in the terms of future sporting success.  The glut of gold medals combined with the feelgood factor of a home Olympics has got us in the mood for more.  It appears that the level of legacy delivered will be judged by the number of sportsmen and sportswomen who will be successful in the future, particularly in Olympic sports.

But there are other views to be considered.

During the Olympics, whilst he was working for the BBC as a swimming pundit, Australian 5-time gold medal winner Ian Thorpe visited Tooting Bec Lido to give swimming lessons to local children.  When interviewed, he said that getting people active in sport was a legacy in itself, by keeping people healthy and reducing the need for (and cost of) future healthcare.

Although sporting competition amongst children should be encouraged to enable them to cope with the day-to-day competition in adult life, winning should not necessarily be the ultimate focus.  In any Olympic event, there can only be one winner and then only every 4 years.  It should be recognised that not everybody can be a gold medal Olympian, but all children should be exposed to sport to give them a chance to reach this sporting pinnacle.  Only a few will win medals, a few more will compete at a national level for a place on the Olympic team, even more will compete at a local level but most sportspeople will simply participate for the love of their sport.

As they grow older, some children will recognise that sporting competition will not become a significant aspect of their life.  But a true legacy ought to address this circumstance.

I enjoyed the Olympics, with its spectacle and the success of Team GB (& Northen Ireland !).  Although future gold medals represent an important part of the legacy of the games, surely the true legacy ought to be judged by the number of children (and adults) who try some new sport, Olympic or otherwise, competitive or recreational, and get off the sofa and away from televisions and games consoles.

And this is where our hills and mountains can play a part.

There is a huge amount of countryside out there – cheaper than a gym membership and much more inspiring – ready to exercise and inspire a future generation.

It appears that parliament has started to do its bit following yesterday’s ascent of Snowdon by members of the All Party Parliamentary Mountaineering Group, accompanied by BMC and national mountain centre (Plas y Brenin) luminaries.  PyB is reporting an increase in the number of families booking on courses and a new campaign – “Britain on Foot” – is to be launched later in the year with the aim of promoting accessible walking for all.

That’s a small, but significant, start and now is the time for our schools, youth organisations, walking clubs, climbing clubs and national organisations such as the Ramblers and the British Mountaineering Council to grasp the opportunity that is legacy and carry it forward to light the beacon that is participation.

Yewbarrow to Steeple

The excellence of the weather was matched by the excellence of this high-level walk starting at Overbeck Bridge in Wasdale.

Height was gained quickly up the south ridge of Yewbarrow towards Bell Rib with plenty of other walkers having the same idea.  But most chose to follow the better path to the ridge, avoiding the interesting gully leading directly to Great Door.  Only the final few metres provided any sport of note, but the top-out is magnificent as it finishes on a narrow ridge with a precipitous drop on the Wasdale side.  Not a place to be recommended in high winds.

Slightly further along the ridge towards the summit, I had a conversation with a couple extolling the merits of the Wainwright guidebooks and they told me of their super week of walking so far – so much so that they were extending their stay.  I told them that today was forecast to have the last of the good weather but I suspect that it wasn’t going to put them off !

The summit ridge of Yewbarrow is an excellent vantage point for views of the surrounding fells.  Superb views of Red Pike, Pillar, Great Gable and the Scafell massif make a wonderful vista of some of the highest mountains in the country.  Add to that the scene of Wastwater and its screes, it is apparent why Wasdale is such a well-loved valley.



Wastwater and the Screes

The scramble down Stirrup Crag to Dore Head has been reported by a number of sources to be a little too challenging for a confident descent.  Those of a more timid nature drop off the ridge to wards Over Beck and then traverse to the col.  In reality the scramble is worn enough to be easy to follow and there is no significant exposure to be had.  The hardest part is probably the equivalent of descending Helvellyn’s “Bad Step” on Striding Edge – with care and sensible footwork it ought to hold no fear.

What I did notice was an older couple descending using their walking poles for aid when the use of their hands would have been much more productive.  I appreciate the need for poles for some walkers to limit wear and tear to the knees, but they appeared to not think that the poles were getting in the way an increasing the risk of a fall.

The south ridge of Red Pike is another excellent route with ever-improving views of the bigger fells.  And it has a bonus of one of the most unusual cairns I’ve ever seen in the mountains.  “The Chair” is 150 or more years old and is a wonderful example of man’s artistry; a comfortable stone armchair from which to view the highest fells in the land.  With my monocular I could easily make out walkers on Great Gable and the Scafells with all of these high summits proving popular in the good weather.



The Scafells

The summit of Red Pike is unusual as it is on the very edge of crags overlooking Mosedale.  I have read that walking around the summit cairn would be impossible – a challenge that I would have to agree with for the ordinary fell-walker.  I continued on to the Nuttall summit of Black Crag where the view down Ennerdale added to the already magnificent setting.  Scoat Fell was an easy tick from here – the summit cairn being rather more unusual than most !

For the previous hour or so, there was a steady stream of people on the summit of Steeple.  My luck was in and I had the summit to myself.  There aren’t too many summits in the Lake District that have ground in all directions falling away so quickly but this is one of those that can genuinely be regarded as a peak.  I took in the panorama before heading back to the Scoat Fell plateau (a marked difference from Steeple !) and then descending towards Scoat Fell and Nether Beck.  I had planned to walk out over the spur to Low Tarn but decided that any extra ascent wasn’t welcome.  Fuelled by jelly babies, I followed the path to Netherbeck Bridge before the final stretch of road-walking to the car.



Steeple

With only ten Wainwrights left to tick, this walk saw the last of those over 2500 feet bagged.  Only one (which will complete my round) of the ten to be ticked is over 2000 feet.

The end is in sight !

200 Wainwrights

A couple of months and about half a dozen summits ago I thought that there was a good chance of Haystacks becoming my 200^th Wainwright.  But as I continued towards completion, the likelihood of my 200^th having any specific meaning diminished.

For some people, their 200^th Wainwright is a significant milestone as it is a nice round number and also quite close to the end of their Lake District quest – they may even pick a specific fell for the occasion.  Browsing walking websites will reveal a number of articles about Wainwright baggers’ days out to tick their double-century.

I had no particular desire to tick any particular fell as my 200^th – I’ve already picked my 214^th and it will have far more significance.  As I planned my remaining walks, it looked like Wasdale’s Red Pike (on a Yewbarrow to Steeple ridge route) would mark this milestone, but a Tweet from Eric Robson (of Wainwright television fame) said that the Wasdale fell race was to take place on the day in question.  This would probably add to the traffic in the valley already boosted by 3 peaks challengers.  As I feared that parking spaces would be at a premium, I quickly changed my plans to link an ascent of Kirk Fell with Haystacks.

Starting from Honister Pass car park I soon reached Drum House before turning onto Moses’ Trod.  Is there a better path for views in the Lake District?  It traverses the slopes of Grey Knotts, Brandreth and Green Gable before reaching Beck Head and the view from the path subtly but constantly changes, having superb views of the giants of Great Gable and Pillar with the twin glacial troughs of Ennerdale and Buttermere commanding the vista to the north-west.

Ennerdale and Buttermere

One of the Beck Head tarns was almost dry, despite the recent rains, and the path up the eastern slopes of Kirk Fell led into the cloud.  Once on the summit plateau, visibility varied from 10 to 100 metres and it was easy to deviate from the track, making the twin summits just that bit more challenging to find.  The north-east top was ticked and the main (south-west) summit quickly followed.



Beckhead Tarns

As I rested at the top, a Lancaster couple with two dogs arrived.  They had taken the relentlessly direct ascent from Wasdale Head – an achievement that I couldn’t decide to envy or pity !  One of the dogs, Stanley, still had the energy to consider closer acquaintance with the sheep but was deterred by his master’s voice.

We parted company and I reversed my steps towards Beck Head but this time in much better visibility.  Napes Needle was clearly in view from Kirkfell Tarn and zooming in on a photo revealed climbers on and just below the summit.  There were a lot of fell runners descending from the plateau to the col and then starting the slog up Great Gable, obviously competitors on the Wasdale fell race, as well as a group attempting the Bob Graham round.  I was grateful for my lesser ambition and slower pace.

Napes Needle

On Haystacks – my 200^th Wainwright – I took the obligatory photos of the profile of the perched boulder and strolled amongst the tors to reach Innominate Tarn.  I was expecting an isolated idyll but was a little disappointed upon discovering that it was so near to the main footpath.  At the summit there is a small ridge alongside a tarn, with a cairn at either end.  The northernmost is the accepted Wainwright summit but the highest point is not clear.

Innominate Tarn

On the way back to Honister I spoke to a group of young men at the top of Black Beck and it became clear that they still had big plans.  Having started at Buttermere, they walked up Red Pike and then along the ridge to Haystacks, their aim was to tackle Fleetwith Pike and continue to Dale Head before making Robinson their final summit.  I wished them luck but kept quiet about my doubts about them finishing in daylight!

As the sun continued to shine I finished this excellent walk and I would recommend as a good day out with super views.  My change of plan had worked out well.