Lonewalker on Walking Places

Bonny Bonscale Pike

Date: 05-Aug-2010

Map: Landranger 90

Weather: Pleasant but overcast.

From the Howtown pier, steeply up to White Knotts and on to Bonscale Pike. Around to Arthurs Pike, then follow Barton Fell and down Aik Beck and into the caravan site. Cross the road and follow the lakeside path to Pooley Bridge car park: a gentle 5.3 miles as measured on Satmap GPS

A I had a few days in the lakes staying at a friends house again, so had the chance to tick off a couple of Wainwrights close by. I thought it would make a nice change to leave the car and travel by an Ullswater steamer from Pooley Bridge to Howtown and walk back. After checking the timetable, I walked around to the ferry jetty, paid my one way fare and joined the jolly queue for the Lady Wakefield. The journey over to Howtown only took 30 minutes and gave me time to study the route back. Having walked around here previously I knew it would be a steep ascent up to the top without any sort of a warm up for the legs. But it was less than a month since my long walk and my legs were in reasonable shape for the climb ahead. The ferry glided in to the wooden jetty at Howtown, and judging by the rails present on the dock it must get very busy at holiday time. I was the only one getting off, with a few passengers getting on to steam off to Glenridding.

my water taxi to Howtown

walking along above Howtown to find my route up to Bonscale Pike

the view up Fusedale

the outward bound centre below - Hallin Fell opposite

higher up the slope now - Steel Knotts is prominent in the middle

it was steep up these slopes

There were plenty of shrieks coming from the outward bound centre, and plenty of them down in the water in canoes. I walked up through the hamlet and south along the base of the steep slope until I found a path that cut up the hillside - there was no hiding place, up it went through knee high bracken that thankfully was dry. I paused for breath quite often and as usual from one of Alf's hills the views were tremendous. My immediate view was the adjacent Hallin Fell - a hill he reckoned could be done in your bare feet - there's some lovely grass paths up there. This time of year many of the fell sides are covered with bracken, but so far for me I have been lucky and not been a victim of the ticks - maybe it's the hairy arms and legs that do it? There are a lot of valleys and fells to look at from here and further away stands the Helvellyn range. It's like bigger and better as the hills go away from you. I seemed to be on the edge of a weather front that was dumping quantities of the wet stuff down on the higher fells to tyhe south west of me, but a glance to the north east - my direction of travel - showed the sun breaking through. So it was 50/50 if I got a shower or two. Higher up on the slopes the path veered around under Swarth Fell to ease the gradient, and then it was a steady plod up to White Knotts and the top of the hill. It took about an hour to get up there from the ferry - less if you don't take so many pictures, but the views are worth stopping for.

but the climb was worth it - Gowbarrow and Little Mell Fell opposite. Blencathra in the distance

ouch for my calves up this bit

and rain falls over the Helvellyn range - Hallin Fell is the small one by the lake

behind me the rain was stuck over the head of the valleys - Rest Knott

a short walk around to Bonscale Tower - Arthur's Pike is beyond

Behind me the rain was high over the watershed of The Knott and Kidsty Pike, and further around Catsty Cam could be seen poking out of the mist. Bonscale Pike itself is an unremarkable hill, more like being on the Pennines than the lakes, but as usual the views more than make up for that. It was dry enough underfoot and very easy walking along the tussocky grass,as I followed what was little more than a sheep trod around to Bonscale Towers. Here a grassy knoll atop a little outcrop gives great views over the valley below, and of course all of the hills to my left. It almost feels like the dge of the Lake District, a kind of gentle descent to the flatland between the Lakes and the Pennines. After admiring the views I cut across more bobbly grass that took me down to Swarth Beck and some marshy reed beds - thankfully there were some strategically placed fence posts and stone to help me across the worse of the wet. I find that walking on the reed clumps generally keeps your feet dry, and once past the old sheep fold it was dry again. A well trodden path led me up a shallow ascent to Arthurs Pike, and from here I could see the long slope down towards Pooley Bridge. I had a choice of paths from here, to my left was along the left edge of the wide plateau, ahead of me were sheep tracks and to my right somewhere was High Street. So I just stuck to the middle for a while, which took me down to an old grass track.

Bonscale Tower is the knobbly bit

the shep trod around to Arthur's Pike

looking back to Bonscale Pike from Arthur's Pike

Arthur's Pike

looking back up High Street

my route down towards Pooley Bridge

the grassy old farm track - getting wet down in the valley

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lower down the slopes towards Aik Beck

Ahead of me now was a distant view of the Pennines and hills I am more closely acquainted with since my Wobbly Coast to Coast walk in June. Down to my left was Ullswater getting ever closer as I got lower down the slopes of Barton Fell. I decided to stick to the old farm track for a while rather than cutting across to High Street - a decision I regretted in a little while. It was very easy walking down here though, and every so often I had a peek over my shoulder to look back up High Street before it disappeared from view. Lower down the slopes bracken started to dominate but again it was only knee high and this path is used so much it was clear. As I approached Aik Beck I made the decision to take a short cut back to Pooley Bridge along the lakeside path - oops - I'd taken brain out and not realised there was a humongous camp site in my way. But the walk down beside the beck was pleasant, quiet and again a very easy walk. It led me down, nay, it drew me down towards the camp site - first up was a five bar gate, and on the other side a block of holiday rentals. These gave way to a vast swathe of static caravans, replete with decking, very nice if you like living cheek by jowl. Beyond the caravans was a massive tented field, and I was amazed at the size and variety of tents, nay marquees on show. But through all of this I could sense that everyone was having a goodtime - a great place for kids to enjoy, including a big playground, camp shop, clubhouse etc - a mini village really. Needless to say I sped through all of this, cut across the road through another field of tents and down to the shore. Being so close to the tented village this was quite busy as well, but there was plenty to look at. The view back along the lake to where I had walked was clear and despite the grey skies it had turned out to be a really good little walk. I was back at the car park soon enough, and unsurprisingly as soon as I was in the car it started to rain - Ha - you can never have too much luck.