Lake District September/October 2003

There are other recognised walks I want to do and which I am looking forward to, notably one or two in the Buttermere area, but at the moment I am most interested in Eskdale. I had done most of the main attractions over there but I really enjoy staying in the area. High level romping is the principle but not the only Lakeland pleasure. It’s nice simply being in the Eskdale valley: waking up there, driving up and down the little road to eat and get to walking destinations etc. There are other areas equally beautiful or even better (Borrowdale?), but none are as tranquil or remote. It took time for me to warm to Eskdale, and initially it felt wild and just a little bleak. It doesn’t have the sylvan prettiness of Borrowdale with lovely Derwentwater nearby, or the more expansive splendour of the Ullswater valley. But it is wonderfully quiet, I’ve got to know a few people, and I know days there are calming and restorative. So another trip? Where to go? Eskdale, of course.

This time I managed to depart and arrive at a good hour; I was up there ready to set off at 11.30 I think. I wanted to repeat the Cockley Beck – Bowfell – Crinkle Crags trek like I’d done only a week previously, and this time in good light. Cockley Beck up to Bowfell is really delightful; after ten minutes along the Moasdale Valley you begin to see the Scafells, giving you probably the best viewpoint. I enjoyed revisiting photogenic locations and didn’t object to repeat shots because the weather and greenery was slightly different – the green, in fact, turning into pleasant hues of autumnal red and brown. I enjoyed knowing about a few good viewpoints, and discovered a few more.

I didn’t bother to revisit Esk Pike but went straight for Bowfell and then across the Crinkle Crags. A waiter at the Burnmoor Inn in Eskdale told me (I asked) his favourite walk was Crinkle Crags from Langdale. It’s nice seeing down to the Langdale valley from the Crags but really, the views the other way over Upper Eskdale are far more interesting and dramatic, and I’m beginning to think the trek across the Crags is a little tiresome. It’s interminably rough: rocky, bouldery and hard underfoot, and after coming up from Cockley Beck and Bowfell it’s quite arduous. But I enjoyed the scenery in daylight and felt optimistic that the end of this walk would be a more pleasant affair than last time which was in the dark. It was more pleasant because it was light, but I got lost and had to wander cross-country downhill again, and realised that the supposed path is fairly arbitrary: it’s one of those places where you have to find your own way across wild and boulder strewn slopes. I don’t like that because it’s more of a rough scrabble than a walk, but that’s the way the end of this walk is.

Day 2

One of the many small pleasures of my Lakeland trips is the healthy and natural rhythm of early to bed, early to rise. It’s not my usual pattern but I fall into it very naturally when I’m up there, and it feels soothing and restorative. So I woke the next day to the sound of sheep and out my window, to distant and mountainous views. My principle concern was to walk Pillar which I’d done quite recently but in disappointingly hazy conditions, and using the High Level traverse along Ennerdale which I suspected was not the best plan. It was a blustery day with alternating cloud and sunshine, clear and exhilarating. The ridge route along the top is far superior to the High Level traverse because you enjoy not only similar views down to Ennerdale (and with a higher elevation so you also see beyond it to distant Buttermere fells), but also immense views down to Wasdale and beyond, across to the Irish sea. This is probably my favourite trek in the Wasdale area.

Day 3

I’d planned to go over to Wasdale again and get up to Great Gable. As with Eskdale, my initial feelings about Wasdale were lukewarm. Many people say it’s their favourite area and although I acknowledged that the end of the valley is a tremendous place, I was unduly influenced by Wastwater and the screes. I evaluated the valley according to the lake, as I have with the Ullswater area for example, and the surrounding fells. I still don’t particularly like Wastwater and definitely not the bleak and ugly screes (not a word I would normally use about Lakeland), but I now regard this as a passing distraction rather than the main interest. Wasdale Head is indeed a marvellous and exciting area with direct access to some of the best walking there is. At the end of the valley beyond the lake and the screes, you enjoy the mountains and can forget about the latter. And Wasdale, like Eskdale, is a wild and quiet location.

I wanted to go up Lingmell; I’d been down it and enjoyed it and thought the reverse would be interesting. It was, although I’d under-estimated the changeability and potential severity of the weather. Cloudy and windy, but changing to relatively sunny like the day before….or so I thought. In fact over the two hours to get to the top of Lingmell it became very windy with a very nasty chill factor.

Once there I changed my mind and decided to go up to Scafell Pike, and from there I continued on to Great End and then retreated slightly down the chimney path and hence to the lovely Corridor Route. I enjoyed the ridge along to Great End; I’d done it in reverse many months ago and it was both sufficiently novel and sufficiently large-scale to have a sense of exploration. I enjoyed the views down to High Gait Crags and Upper Eskdale where I have spent a lot of time recently; when I first saw this I felt it was not especially scenic – and it isn’t – but it was fun to see it from above, now I am familiar with it from below. When I got to Great End I couldn’t see anything and was assailed, in fact, by nasty horizontal hail stones. I could have descended to Esk Hause and then along to Styhead Tarn and back down to Wasdale, but decided to investigate the track below Great End. It’s not on the map but one or two books describe it, I found it easily, and the weather below was much better than Great End and over to the Borrowdale area – that’s where the cloud and rain was coming from. It also meant I could enjoy a section of the Corridor Route, which I like.

Scafell Pike, incidentally, was a good choice – I could see the Isle of Man and across to Scotland – but there was a substantial number of people there which detracted from its attractions.

Day 4

I’d foregone Gable and decided to make up for it: by going straight up Gavel Neese from Wasdale, and then clambering up across the scree. It was a cloudy day and I felt disinclined for any great effort; I lingered over a little valley photography and took it very easy climbing up the steep path. The famous Wainwright describes this path in very discouraging terms, but I wanted to see for myself and it was a good day to do this: overcast, so I didn’t feel I was wasting an opportunity for more pleasurable delights. In other words, it was partly an investigative day. As I reached the scree section below Gable the weather was looking troublesome and I considered turning back. However I didn’t have a long trek planned, I was taking things very easily, and after lingering a little, having some food, and adopting and then retreating from a line of ascent that turned out to be precarious and unpleasant, the weather was better. You could see it coming in from the sea – heavy grey rain clouds, and the valley was sometimes completely obscured by thick cloud, as was Gable above. No point in continuing if you can’t see anything. But then in a matter of minutes it blows away, and I cold see it was fairly clear and I continued up to Gable. I found my way to the Hell Gate scree easily enough; there’s no real path but the trajectory is obvious, and it was reasonably fun scrabbling up the stones to the top. Well the latter was fun anyway; I don’t often have a sense of getting-to-the-top achievement because I’m not really interested in that kind of peak-bagging attitude. But going up via Hell Gate is a small but fun achievement – mostly because it’s quite a rough ascent.

It’s always nice to be on Gable although the views were not terrific, i.e. obscured and dulled by lots of cloud. From there down to Beck Head and make a decision: back down to Wasdale or extend the day by going up to Kirkfell. The weather was not inspiring at all but I decided to take the latter option for investigation and reconnaissance purposes. Kirkfell is not especially interesting, but I enjoyed walking it’s flat top after all the climbing I’d been doing, and seeing what the views were like down to Ennerdale – not enormously exciting, but I wanted to see it.

And the final decision: down to Black Sail Pass, or descend more directly down the Kirkfell ridge. Unremitting rain was coming in so I decided on the latter, which was also an entirely new path for me, which I wanted to see. Generally, I definitely avoid rainy walking or potentially rainy walking; my expectations are high and I know I really enjoy sunshine filled days. So I didn’t expect this: yes it was raining an di was getting wet, and although this was not exactly great, as I looked around I thought to myself ‘yes, but I still like being here’.

Day 5

Bad weather was forecast the previous day, so I wasn’t disappointed when I saw it was cloudy and rainy; it was merely the obvious time to return home. I went back via the Langdale valley and stopped at Blea Tarn because there was some momentary sunshine. I strolled around it for about an hour, waiting for a little sun for one or two photographs and quite enjoyed this, and was treated to the following rainbow before the rain came in again, and I continued down through Lakeland and home without stopping: