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SKIDDAW (12) - SKIDDAW LITTLE MAN (13) - LONSCALE FELL (14) - LATRIGG (15)
Scroll down to view the photographs after the report or click here We were staying at the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Keswick in our trailer tent for nine days over the Easter period so this was an ideal opportunity to "bag" a few more Wainwright’s! The snow-capped fells of the Skiddaw range had been calling me since we arrived and today was the day that I succumbed to their spell! I decided on an early start so I was up just after 7.00 a.m. The weather was dry but there was a lot of cloud over the higher fells including Skiddaw. I was hoping that the cloud would lift by the time I reached the summit so that I would have a clear view of Lakeland from England’s fourth highest mountain at 3,053 feet (931 metres). Annette was up at around 8.00 a.m. and we were leaving the trailer tent at around 8.30 a.m. The girls were still fast asleep but it would only take Annette 10 minutes to drop me off at the start of my walk so it was a shame to wake them. We were soon at Spooney Green Lane where my walk began and after collecting my gear from the car and making arrangements to be collected at the end of the day, I was at last on my way. The first part of the walk took me over the A66 before entering woodland at the foot of Latrigg. I was already starting to feel rather warm so a quick stop was needed to remove my fleece before continuing. The route I am following is, by all accounts, the most popular route up Skiddaw so the paths are quite well trodden and easy to follow, I think its known as the "Pony Path". Its roughly around five miles to the summit and climbs between 2,850 and 3,000 feet depending on which book you read! My first "goal" was the car park at Gale Road end. The climb was pretty straight forward and quite easy going, the last part skirting round the foot of Latrigg, which I hope to bag on my return. The path was very obvious to follow if a bit muddy underfoot in places. It wasn’t long before I reached the car park and could clearly see the path I had to follow snaking its way up the fell side ahead of me. It was here that I seen the first walkers of the day picking their way up the fell side ahead of me obviously heading for Skiddaw. Earlier, near the start of the walk, a couple of fell runners had passed me on their way down, not sure if they had actually been to the summit of Skiddaw. Apparently there is a competition held each year where runners make their way to the top of Skiddaw and back again in the fastest possible time. I think I will stick to walking up and down mountains! After leaving the car park I passed a memorial cross, "The Hawell Monument", which is a memorial to three men of the Hawell family who were shepherds of Lonscale. The area around here was very muddy in places but the path was still very obvious skirting its way up the fell side. I could see a group of three walkers ahead of me and a further lone walker ahead of them, all I assumed heading for Skiddaw. The path now became steeper and was made up of loose stones/slate, possibly an attempt at preventing further erosion of the path. It was a hard slog up this section, the hardest so far, and called for numerous rest stops! Looking ahead I could see I was catching up with the three walkers I had spotted earlier and eventually passed them while they were taking a breather, this giving me a psychological boost if not much else! According to Wainwright, the ruins of a former refreshment hut known as "Skiddaw Hut", lay at a point close to where the path meets a wall around a height of approximately 1,400 feet. To be honest I couldn’t see any remains of a hut, probably because I had my head down concentrating on getting up this steep section! Not long after, I reached a point that Wainwright describes as the end of the steep section and which is easy from now on with no need for any further rest stops! A little further on and the twin peaks of Skiddaw Little Man came into view although Skiddaw itself remained hidden. Plodding on, content in the knowledge that Wainwright was correct and the going was easier, I aimed for a fence in the distance where I would cross a stile. The weather was still dry but a small amount of low cloud was drifting over Jenkin Hill to my right, hopefully this wouldn’t spoil any views from the summit of Skiddaw. As I approached the fence Skiddaw showed its self, and what a splendid sight it made. Skiddaw Little Man was directly to the left of me and I was tempted to climb it before Skiddaw as most people do, but I decided to follow Wainwright’s advice and save it for the return journey. After making my way over the fence the going was quite pleasant. A nice soft and grassy path wound its way onwards towards Skiddaw. At this height there was still a scattering of snow about and I couldn’t resist making a snowball and throwing it down into a dip off to my right into an area known as Skiddaw Forrest, although I didn’t see many trees! Soon the path turned to the left heading for the south top of Skiddaw. I caught sight of the lone walker that I had spotted earlier who wasn’t as far ahead as he once was! Again this section became steeper as I passed through another fence and the final push to the summit. Soon I reached the cairn of south top, two hours after leaving Spooney Green Lane. Not bad going. There are a few "tops" on Skiddaw, south top, north top, a middle top and a main top, all in a line and connected by a slaty path. The true summit is the ordnance survey triangulation column (S 1543), which I made for after a brief stop to take in the fantastic views below. Making my way towards the summit I was surprised by the lack of wind considering I was almost at 3,053 feet. Apparently Skiddaw can be one of the windiest summits in Lakeland. It was also fairly muddy in places but the majority of the top was dry and covered in lots of broken slate. There was also very little snow left on the summit. At the true summit there was a stone pillar with a circular plate fixed to the top celebrating the Queens Silver Jubilee, which also showed the names of all the surrounding fells visible from the summit. After using the pillar as a makeshift tripod and taking a picture of myself at the summit, I made my way over to the north top. From south top to north top the ridge is almost half a mile long. It was at north top that I met up with the lone walker that I had seen earlier and joined him for a lunch stop. It turned out that he had come over from Manchester for the day just to climb Skiddaw. His name was Jeff Ward. After our bite to eat it was time to move on. The views were fabulous although at times hidden behind cloud as it drifted across the sky. The Solway Firth and the hills of Scotland should be visible to the west and north-west. I did manage to see ships over to the west through my binoculars but weren’t sure about making out the hills of Scotland! Heading back towards the triangulation point the wind was starting to pick up. Walking back across the ridge I looked down onto the fells of Carl Side, Long Side and Ullock Pike, which I had walked over on my previous outing just four days earlier. They looked fantastic and I could trace the path along their summits where I had walked. Wonderful. I could also clearly see the tarn on Carl Side that I hadn’t been able to find due to being caught in low cloud. I could now see that I hadn’t been that far from the tarn. Never mind I had a fantastic view from here. The next fell to be bagged was Skiddaw Little Man. Looking ahead I could see the twin tops of the fell were covered by low cloud but this seemed to be drifting across the tops so hopefully it would clear by the time I reached it. Jeff, the walker that I had met, decided to join me on the walk to Skiddaw Little Man so we headed down Skiddaw to a col between the two fells. There were more and more people making their way up the path towards Skiddaw as we were making our way up Skiddaw Little Man, and I was glad that I had set off early and missed the growing crowds! The route up Skiddaw Little Man was very straightforward, the good path following a fence leading up to the first of the twin peaks, Skiddaw Little Man at 2,837 feet (865 metres) . There are two cairns, one on Skiddaw Little Man and one on the second and lower peak of Skiddaw Lesser Man. The cairn on Skiddaw Little Man is your average looking cairn but the one on Skiddaw Lesser Man has bits of old, rusting metal fencing/posts protruding from it in all directions. Quite an unusual sight. Luckily the cloud had cleared and the views over Keswick and Derwentwater were magnificent. This is what its all about! Next on my Wainwright bagging hit list was Lonscale Fell at 2,344 feet (714 metres). It lay in an ESE direction and about 1½ miles distant. After making our way down from Skiddaw Lower Man we rejoined the main path at its junction with a fence. Crossing the wooden stile it was a very straightforward walk following the fence up Jenkin Hill although the ground was fairly boggy especially around the col between the two fells. The climb was also a bit misleading. It was only about 175 feet of ascent but seemed to be a fairly steep climb. Soon we passed the cairn of Jenkin Hill on the opposite side of the fence to our right. We didn’t bag it, but I did take a photo of it for my album! Pushing on we eventually reached the summit of Lonscale Fell. The most striking fell to be seen from here was Blencathra also known as Saddleback, over to the east. Very impressive. Jeff, who had decided to keep me company on the rest of my walk, had run out of film in his camera, so I took his picture at the cairn using my camera and after obtaining his home address, promised to forward on the pictures. Wainwright recommends that the walker should continue on passed the cairn to take in the views over East Peak. We didn’t, although if I had been on my own I probably would have. From here my next objective was Latrigg at 1,203 feet (367 metres). This smaller fell is popular with the locals of Keswick and it’s on my way back towards the start of my walk so I might as well claim it. From the summit of Lonscale Fell we retraced our steps to the path where it meets the main tourist path leading up to Skiddaw. On descending Lonscale Fell we noticed a very dark cloud drifting over towards us and prepared ourselves for a soaking. Its a strange situation to be in when you can actually see a storm cloud rolling towards you knowing there is not a lot you can do to get out of its way! Luckily, after having joined the main path leading down from Skiddaw, the main part of the cloud must have missed us because we only received a slight splattering of rain. We really had been very fortunate as far as the weather was concerned. We continued to follow the main path leading back towards the car park at Gale Road end. It was a steep descent in places and was hard going on my knees, which I eased with regular rest stops along the way! The crowds heading up towards Skiddaw were growing and I was glad that I had decided on an early start. Soon we reached the car park where Jeff had left his car. Again he decided to join me for the climb up Latrigg. He left his rucksack in his car and we made our way around the base of the fell before joining a zigzag path leading up to the summit. The path was very muddy and obviously well trod which made it quite slippery in places. It was a fairly easy route to follow and it wasn’t long before we were looking for the highest point. There isn’t a cairn to mark the summit so after deciding on the most likely high point we again took a couple of photos of each other before we said our goodbyes. Jeff made his way back towards his car while I had decided to stay a while and take in the superb views over Keswick, Derwentwater and the surrounding fells, including the distant Scafell Pike. For a relatively small fell the views offered are really quite impressive. Easy to see why its popular with the locals. After a pleasant rest, a refreshing cup of coffee and a couple of biscuits, I rang Annette and the girls to let them know that I would soon be back at Spooney Green Lane and would require picking up. I could actually see our campsite from Latrigg, nestled amongst trees and close to the banks of Derwentwater. Very picturesque. I didn’t retrace my route off Latrigg, which would have taken me away from where I wanted to be, but instead headed down a steeper side of the fell to join the path heading off through dense woodland and back to the start of my walk. The descent was very hard on my knees and quite painful. It was a well-worn route so obviously a popular way down. Before I actually left Latrigg I had my one and only mishap of the day. I actually slipped and lost my footing on the smallest fell visited on this outing! Nothing serious, more embarrassing than anything else trying to explain to a couple who witnessed my fall that I’d just been up Skiddaw, Lonscale Fell etc. with no problems! A nice stroll down through the woods was a perfect way to end a great days fell walking. At one point though I passed a group of youths who didn’t look dressed for a days hiking and who, after passing them, started walking behind me as I made my way down through the woods. I began to think they might be locals who lay in wait for lone walkers on their return from the fells before using the cover of the woods to mug their victims. I had intended to ring Annette on the mobile phone so she could be waiting for me when I reached Spooney Green Lane but I didn’t want to use it in case it gave them the idea of stealing it. Instead, on reaching the lane, I stopped and pretended to adjust my boots allowing them to walk on past me so that they didn’t realise that I didn’t have a car parked at the bottom. It turned out that they may well have been tourists after all, as I heard them ask a couple of ladies who were stood chatting, where the nearest pub was! A bit more at ease, I rang Annette to come and collect me. Whilst waiting I sat on the kerbside and through my binoculars, could still see people on the fells. I could retrace my day’s walk up to Skiddaw, which was a lot easier to do through my binoculars but not as much fun! Annette and the girls arrived and I was soon heading back to the campsite after enjoying a fine day’s fellwalking and another four Wainwright’s bagged!
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