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HIGH STREET - MARDALE ILL BELL (48) - HARTER FELL (49)
Scroll down to view the photographs after the report or click here Today's walk is my first in the Lakes for 12 months! In fact, I think it is 12 months to the day when I climbed Hartsop Above How on the 12th September 2002! I cannot believe it is that long but I am still having problems with my right hip. I have been active nearer to home doing walks of around 6 miles so I have not been totally inactive. My alarm was set for 6.00 a.m. so that I could pick Dave up from Norton and then his work colleague, Ian, from Stillington. We were heading over to Haweswater to tackle High Street. I had "bagged" High Street in May of 2000 but this route from Haweswater would be new to me. I would also be adding a further two Wainwright’s to my tally by visiting Mardale Ill Bell and Harter Fell. We arrived at Mardale Head at the southern end of Haweswater where the road terminates, and parked the car in the small car park. Once booted-up we were on our way by 9.00 a.m., crossing over the little foot bridge spanning Mardale Beck and joining the lake shore path making our way towards The Rigg, a small tree covered spur jutting out into the southern end of Haweswater. As we followed the grassy path alongside the lakeshore, the low water level revealed its secret. The secret being the remains of the village of Mardale Green, which once stood at the head of the valley before it was submerged beneath the waters of the man-made reservoir of Haweswater, constructed in 1935. Old dry stonewalls (if you can get ‘dry stone’ walls which are normally submerged beneath water!) could clearly be seen. One or two people were actually walking along what would probably have been road or track ways once frequented by the villagers themselves. It was quite a thought provoking moment. In no time at all we were standing above The Rigg absorbing the fantastic views of the surrounding fells and marvelling at the deep blue waters of Haweswater, which contrasted beautifully with the paler blue of the sky. This is what I had been missing for the past year. It really gives ones spirit a lift and can turn an ordinary day into one that makes you glad to be alive. Fantastic! The climb up to High Street now presented itself before us. We were going to follow the ridge of Rough Crag and Long Stile, something that Ian, Dave’s work colleague, found quite daunting! He was a southerner (not that I have anything against southerners!) who had only visited the Lake District once before but had not climbed any of its fells. AW describes the combined ridge of Rough Crag and the rocky stairway of Long Stile as ‘the connoisseur’s route up High Street’ and I for one was looking forward to it! Following the ridge would involve, according to AW, a 3-mile walk from the head of Haweswater and a climb of 2050 feet before reaching the summit of High Street. The ridge passes over Swine Crag, Heron Crag and Eagle Crag before reaching Rough Crag itself at approximately 2,060 feet. It was about here that we caught our first glimpse of Blea Water (Dark blue lake) but it was, unfortunately, only a glimpse. Blea Water, one of the deepest of the Lakeland tarns and which lies in a steep sided hollow on the eastern slopes of High Street, was partially hidden beneath low cloud, which also enveloped the final section of the ridge and High Street also. In fact, the visibility seemed to be worsening and looking back towards Haweswater confirmed this as it was totally obscured by low cloud. Undeterred we clambered over Rough Crag and passed the shallow Caspel Gate Tarn set in a grassy depression and which, apparently, seems to resist all but prolonged droughts. We also managed to catch sight of Small Water, which Wainwright describes as ‘the finest of Lakeland’s tarns’. The section between Riggindale Crag and Long Stile became the most difficult part of the climb that we encountered that day. The wind had now become very strong in deed, and was causing Ian in particular huge problems. He was finding the going hard having to battle against the strong headwind and climbing the final section of Long Stile up to High Street. We managed to find a relatively sheltered spot for a rest and something to eat (not the first stop we had made whilst negotiating the ridge). The views were non-existent which was a shame because Wainwright claims this ridge route offers excellent views throughout. After a brief rest stop we pushed on and soon reached the cairn marking where the ridge finally joins the grassy top of High Street much to Ian’s relief! Visibility was poor and we took this opportunity to practice our map and compass work, pacing out the distance along the way. We came across a solo walker who asked me if we were capable of navigating to the summit of High Street! I said we were and duly escorted him to the trig point at 2,718 feet (828 metres), where he then teamed up with a couple of other walkers and headed off into the mist. High Street (High Road) is said to be an old Roman Road, which was used by the Roman soldiers to link their garrisons at Ambleside and Brougham and by locals who, centuries ago, used the flat summit to hold annual gatherings including horse races, which is why the summit is also known as Racecourse Hill. There were wrestling matches, trials of strength and various games and sports, which lasted for several days. The last of these celebrations being in 1835. Our next goal was Mardale Ill Bell just under a mile away and included approximately 150 feet of accent. Occasional views of Blea Water were captured between the low cloud but generally the views were poor. We reached Mardale Ill Bell summit cairn (I think!) at 2,496 feet (761 metres) but did not stop for long because of the poor visibility. I did not even take a photo of the summit! There is nothing else for it; I will have to re-visit it again in the future! From the summit of Mardale Ill Bell we now headed for Harter Fell. Again this involved a walk of about a mile but this time included approximately 500 feet of ascent. Our route would be via Nan Bield Pass, which AW claims is visible from the summit, but not today! As we lost height, Small Water emerged out of the cloud and we even caught a glimpse of Kentmere Reservoir in the distance. Visibility had improved greatly as we descended to the wall shelter at Nan Bield Pass. This pass was in regular use as early as 1533, linking Kendal with Penrith. The shelter offered a good excuse for another rest stop in preparation for the pull up to Harter Fell. Harter Fell top, at 2,539 feet (774 metres) was reached without too much ado but we were confronted with worsening visibility although the summit cairn could be seen a few hundred yards away. Wainwright warns that ‘a mild shock awaits anyone reaching the top of the fell on a first visit, especially in mist, for there is a spectral weirdness about the two highest cairns’. This is because the two cairns are not just constructed of stones but also of iron fence posts and railings from a redundant fence along the summit and gives the cairns a somewhat unusual appearance. I was glad to see that the cairns were much as Wainwright described. Reading AW’s Pictorial Guide (Book 2 The Far Eastern Fells) and in particular Harter Fell 10 which shows AW sitting at the third cairn relaxing with pipe in mouth, looking down onto Haweswater, I was intrigued to see whether that cairn still existed. We followed the fence line north easterly along the summit until we reached a cairn overlooking Haweswater just as the fence turned sharply south easterly. There were one or two false alarms before I noticed a cairn with an arrow scraped into the stone surface. This matched the picture in the Pictorial Guide and this, I thought, must be the very place AW sat and looked down on Haweswater. I could not resist sitting against the boulder, which turned out to be very comfortable indeed! A soft grassy seat and the boulder acting as a fine back support. I could have sat there all day but I don’t think Dave or Ian were quite as impressed as I was that I was probably sat where the great man himself may have sat years before me! Dave did do me the honour though of taking a picture of me in a similar pose as AW but it has to be said, without the pipe! I will definitely re-visit this spot, probably on my own, to spend a more relaxing hour or two just taking in the views, which could have been better due to the low cloud but were still well worth the visit. The route now followed the fence line in a south easterly direction heading towards the boundary stone on Adam Seat. We left the fence short of Adam Seat and followed the well worn path down to Gatescarth Pass where we were going to make a decision on whether to carry on to Branstree, as I had planned to do, or to head back to Mardale Head. I think the prospect of climbing almost another 500 feet of ascent was not an option Ian was willing to consider! Upon reaching the pass we sat and relaxed in the afternoon sun and just enjoyed the peace and quiet for a while, reflecting on the days walk so far. Ian was quite interested in learning about other parts of the Lake District and whether it was all as wild and remote as the route we had taken today! To be fair, when we reached the pass the thought of carrying on up to Branstree was losing its appeal for me too. I had not done as much walking as I would have liked so was not feeling as strong as I would have hoped. In addition, I could feel my right hip starting to ache so taking a couple of pain killers, we decided to take the same route as the Gatescarth Beck which snaked its way down to Haweswater. It turned out to be a very pleasant route to follow with the steep fell of Branstree to our right for company. Eventually the Rough Crag ridge came into view ahead of us showing the route of our ascent to High Street earlier that morning. Then Haweswater appeared and it was not long thereafter that we passed through the gate leading back to the car park at Mardale Head, a leisurely 5¾ hours after starting our walk. All in all a very enjoyable day. We had one more journey to make before heading home and that was to call into the Haweswater Hotel just up the road, which offers superb views over Haweswater and not a bad pint of beer shandy!
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