Region 34C The Lake District - Eastern Fells
Helvellyn, although not the highest of the Lakeland fells, is perhaps the most popular. Its accessibility and its exciting ridges make it a prime target for hillwalker and scrambler alike. It was one of my earliest mountain ascents, using one of the longest but most attractive approaches from Grasmere where I was staying with my parents. Subsequently I used the same approach with a group of college friends but on this occasion we added the extra excitement of going down Swirral Edge and back up Striding Edge in the middle of the walk. These edges give the most dramatic approach to the mountain, quite easy in summer conditions but dangerously treacherous for the inexperienced and ill equipped walker in ice and snow.
On 6th May 1997 I went up the path from Swirls onto Browncove Crags in fresh untrodden snow. A single set of footprints beside the trig point was the only sign of life at the deserted summit. Not until I reached Dollywaggon Pike did I meet anybody and then just two other solo walkers. It was most unusual to find the mountain so empty especially on such a superb day. This was my first ascent of Helvellyn with the digital camera and it produced some exceptional pictures.
On 7th February 1999 I went up by the same route on a voluntary warden patrol with my friend Gillian. Being a fine Sunday we were not surprised to find the hill very crowded. It was an exceptionally clear day and I stood at the top and took pictures all round with the digital camera. My son Martin later stitched them up using Paintshop Pro 5 to produce this splendid 360 degree panorama. Click on the image to see a larger version (216KB).
The Fairfield Horseshoe is one of the classic Lakeland walks. Starting from Rydal the route comes up Nab Scar over Heron Pike and Great Rigg and descends by way of Hart Crag, Dove Crag, High Pike and Low Pike. The pictures of Fairield below were both taken on the western leg of the horseshoe. An equally rewarding approach is by way of St Sunday Crag, itself a Marilyn and up the steep and rocky ridge of Cofa Pike. This route can also be turned into a horseshoe by descending over Hart Crag and Hartsop above How.
On 5th March 1999 I walked the horseshoe anticlockwise in beautiful snowy conditions. Only a very strong cold north wind made this a less than perfect day but it produced some splendid pictures.
St Sunday Crag is really an outlier of Fairfield but is sufficiently separated to find a place in the Marilyn list. The east ridge over Gavel Pike makes a pleasant alternative to the direct path from Patterdale and the two can be combined to give a short circuit if the hill is being climbed on its own. A more exciting alternative is the well known Pinnacle Ridge above Grisedale but this is classified as a grade 3 scramble requiring more climbing expertise than mine and I have never attempted it. The first picture of St Sunday Crag below was taken from Seat Sandal and the second from Fairfield with Cofa Pike in the foreground.
Seat Sandal is a fell which is very much overshadowed by its higher and more interesting neighbours, Fairfield and Helvellyn. It is not even a good viewpoint since these neighbours, especially Helvellyn, show their least impressive aspect on this side. My first ascent was done in snow which made the hill a bit more exciting. A recent reascent took advantage of the opportunity to be dropped at Dunmail Raise. Wainwright advises against going up directly from here but there is no problem in struggling up the steep north-west corner to the gentler and rather dreary ridge above and the top can be reached in less than an hour. Scroll up to see a picture of St Sunday Crag taken from just east of the summit where Grisedale Tarn comes into sight. The descent to Grisedale Hause was a bit of a shock, my impression of a rarely visited hill being rapidly dispelled as I slithered down a very treacherously eroded path. Much pleasanter was the old packhorse road which contours around the slopes of Seat Sandal into the valley of Little Tongue Gill and leads down to Grasmere.
The name High Street is less inappropriate for this mountain than might be supposed since it is the highest top of a long ridge along which runs an important Roman road. The roads ran along the ridges in those days because the valleys were boggy and choked with trees so I have been told. Nowadays this high level route gives an exhilarating traverse for mountain bikers and for the most energetic walkers. I must confess that despite a longstanding intention to do so I have never attempted this long walk.
The less ambitious walker may easily attain the summit from Patterdale or Hartsop, from Kentmere via Nan Bield Pass or the Ill Bell ridge or, most easily, from Haweswater. The ascent over Rough Crag is probably the easiest and certainly one of the most enjoyable routes to the flat summit plateau. The first picture is a retrospective view down the Rough Crag ridge and the second a view southwards taken close to the summit.
According to Wainwright, Stony Cove Pike is only the summit name of this hill. He calls the fell Caudale Moor and offers an alternative unexplained name of John Bells Banner. I had climbed it several times by the steep ridge over Hartsop Dodd so selected the alternative ridge which starts above the Brothers Water Inn for my most recent ascent. The track ends at an old mine but the ridge above is well defined and impossible to lose even in the thick mist which had come down after a perfect clear dawn. Although the summit plateau is vast this is also an easy place to navigate assuming that one is in possession of the 1 to 25000 map or Wainwright's Eastern Fells which show the layout of the walls. The way down to the Kirkstone Pass follows one of these walls. Just above the inn the mist suddenly cleared and revealed my next hill Red Screes in sunshine.
The ascent of Red Screes from the Kirkstone Pass is rough and arduous and calls for such concentration that I didn't notice that I had climbed into the mist until I emerged on the summit plateau. A few feet above my head I could see blue sky and for a few moments the mist whirled away to reveal a lower layer of cloud and a Brocken spectre. Before I had clicked the camera the mist swirled in again and obstinately refused to clear until I was down below the Scandale Pass. When I arrived back at Brothers Water it was a perfect clear still evening with just a pink cap of cloud on the mountain. The pictures show Red Screes reflected in Brothers Water at 10am as I started the walk and at 4pm as I finished.
Tarn Crag lies on the eastern fringe of the Lake District and its structure befits this situation with its western slopes above Longsleddale being steep and rocky while to the east it falls away gently in undulating moorland towards the Shap fells. The single-minded Marilyn bagger will probably approach from Longsleddale, walking up the quarry road past the conspicuous crag of Buckbarrow and then heading straight up the hill. The collector of 2000 foot summits and/or 'Wainwrights' will prefer to combine it with nearby Grey Crag. This can be done either as a very long horseshoe from the Shap road or as a short one from Longsleddale. The bog between the two summits is named Greycrag Tarn on the map, although the water therein may not be obvious till it ends up in your boots, and perhaps explains the apparently inappropriate name of the higher hill.
Place Fell is a popular hill which is easily traversed from Patterdale with a low level return along the lakeside path which Wainwright rates the most beautiful and rewarding walk in Lakeland. Those who are not inclined to climb mountains can do this walk by travelling to Howtown by boat so don't expect solitude. We did this circuit in January after a week of snow which was soft and easy on the hill but horribly slippery on the path where hoards of people had trampled. The picture was taken on the ascent looking back onto Boardale Hause which separates this hill sufficiently from the High Street massif for it to qualify as a Marilyn.
This picture of Hallin Fell taken from the northern slopes of Place Fell makes it look a very bleak grey hill but on a sunny summer day it is perhaps the greenest and brightest of them all so come back for a more typical picture later in the year. The picture does clearly show its isolation which makes it a hill more often climbed by strolling motorists than by dedicated hillwalkers. The climb from Martindale church is a mere half mile on a grassy green track. The summit is crowned by a mammoth cairn visible for miles around and of course it affords a magnificent panorama of Ullswater. Once again come back later when I hope to provide an appropriate picture.
Wainwright suggests access problems on this hill due to the attentions of the MOD. Although the firing range is still there it appears disused. The hill is now owned by the National Trust and is walker-friendly although not walker-popular. Indeed it could do with a few more visitors to trample down the bracken which is rampant on its lower slopes. It seems unlikely however that this isolated pudding shaped lump will ever draw the crowds away from the far more attractive mountains on offer so close at hand. Nevertheless, once the bracken is left below, the slopes, dotted with windswept trees, are pleasant enough and the views excellent as my picture illustrates. The rainbow appearing just as I reached the summit was a bonus. The simplest access is from the east and from here the ascent will take little more than half an hour. The descent of course should be even faster, if you don't get lost. Here is a real confession from a committed peak bagger who considers herself an experienced walker. I got lost on this hill on a clear sunny day, came down in the wrong direction, turned left, thinking I was somewhere else, and only realised my mistake when I emerged from the trees and saw the Pennines on the horizon. Moral: always use a compass, or at least look at the sun's direction, however simple the route seems to be!
This insignificant outlier of Lakeland is entirely agricultural and until recently was hostile to walkers. The new owner has removed the 'no access to fell' signs however and it can now be climbed openly from the col with Gowbarrow Fell, the whole return trip being easily completed in half an hour. Here is a classic example of the situation where the higher Marilyn is dramatically outshone by a slightly lower neighbour. If you have not got time for both then forget ticks in tables and climb Gowbarrow instead. The beautiful footpath along the south-east side of this hill is one which just must not be missed. My pictures are taken on Little Mell Fell however, Ullswater from its slopes and sunset from the summit, my first shots with the digital camera.
High Rigg is high only in relation to Low Rigg, the pair lying in an unusual position surrounded by higher hills yet not connected by ridge to any other fell. On the col between them lies the church of St Johns in the Vale. The climb from here to the highest cairn is steep and grassy. The first picture is taken on this short ascent looking down on the church, hidden in trees, with Low Rigg beyond. The ridge southwards is rough and knobbly though a clear path runs along it once the confusing summit area is left behind. The southern end is very attractive with the path winding amongst ancient oaks and pines as shown in the second picture.
Beyond the eastern fringes of the Lake District and west of the Howgill Fells lies a little cluster of hills rarely visited by walkers. Another Borrowdale is bounded on the south by a long ridge which Wainwright describes in his book Walks in the Howgill Fells, calling it the Whinfell Ridge. The highest top on the ridge is not Whinfell Beacon but Grayrigg Forest at the eastern end. I left the Lake District on a beautiful morning to ferry a passenger to Penrith railway station. I then drove south on the M6 into dense fog but on Shap summit climbed briefly into sunshine. Hence, although the eastern foot of the ridge was in dark dank mist, I felt quite confident that I would climb through it. And so I did, after a steep sharp climb up a grassy sheep pasture. Unfortunately the sunshine was short lived as the mist swirled in again and I got only a brief glimpse of the Howgills, as shown in the first picture. I hung around for sometime on the eastern outlier Great Coum hoping in vain for them to reappear. At the summit the sun tried hard to break through but it was obviously one of those days when the cloud was lying along the ridge as a thin blanket.
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