Date: 06-Nov-2010
Map: Landranger 90
Weather: Big blousy clouds, some sunshine and a little
inclement weather
From Brotherikeld along Eskdale and up to
the Great Moss. Up steeply to Foxes Gully and Tarn, then up
to Scafell. Down to Long Green and Slight Side, and onwards
to Cat Crag. Then continued around the hillside reaching the
road at Wha House Farm and returning up to Brotherikeld :
9.8 miles as measured on memory map.
I awoke
to a thumping headache this morning, courtesy of a fine
nights entertainment at the Wainwright Inn at Chapel Stile -
quiz night and a grand total of 8 pints of fine ales. Not
really the best preparation for a walk up the high fells. We
decided early in the evening to walk up to Slight Side from Eskdale - a very beautiful, peaceful route and quite steady
until the last haul up to Scafell or Scafell Pike. We stayed
at the Britannia Inn in Elterwater and had a good breakfast
- I kept it light as I wanted to keep it down. Our
compatriots Ian and Micky were camping over at Chapel Stile,
and they were still packing away when we arrived, so we had
a late start. This later start meant that Paul ended up
having to leg it at the end of the day so he didn't get in
trouble for being late home. The drive along the Wrynose
Pass and Hardknott Pass was not good for hangovers and we
were worse for wear by the time we parked up just below the
Hard Knott Roman Fort. Ian sat on a boulder looking a little
delicate, and I knew I would be slow for this one - 8 pints
and sore knees from our walk up to Blencathra and
Mungrisdale from yesterday. As for Paul - he was fresh as a
daisy - grrr. At least the start of the walk was downhill,
passing the red phone box at Brotherikeld and passing
through the farmyard. Up before us a grand vista opened up, and because of the height of the Scafells they always generate some cloud cover when the weather is coming in from the west - so the valley walk up Eskdale always looks dramatic.
the start of the walk at Brotherikeld
one of the nicest walks you could wish for
plenty of water in the Esk today
a moody view up the valley to Throstlehow Crag
Tongue Pot just before Lingcove Bridge
some good falls below the old bridge
the view back down the valley - you can see the
steady ascent
the lovely Lingcove Bridge
There were good autumnal colours on the hillside and the River Esk was running strong today - it would have been good for canoes, apart from the boulders.
I was feeling very sluggish from the off, but managed to
keep up due to the gradual ascent, but as the day progressed
I got slower and further back - isn't age a great thing. The
walk along the valley is a delight with high ground on either side, and a good path to follow up the pasture and bracken. It's a lot quieter in summertime, as the river was quite noisy today, so we stopped at Tongue Pot and Lingcove Bridge to admire the rushing water. The old bridge is picturesque as well, and I tried to capture the feeling as it's one of my favourite spots in the Lake District and a superb site for a picnic. Beyond Lingcove Bridge the ground steepens and I began to feel the effects of 8 pints - that's just an excuse as the others had 8 as well. The walk turned into a procession and talk stopped as a bit of effort was required to ascend Throstle Garth, leading up to the Great Moss. The river was to our left and it's cut a deep valley gorge, with the roar of the water amplified as it drops over numerous falls. It didn't take long to get up above Throstle How Crag and the bigger hills came into view. We turned left across boggy grass by the river to skirt around under Scar Lathing, where the river was wider and less angry, and winds around gravel banks. Eventually we turned the corner into the magnificent amphitheatre of Great Moss, surrounded by some of England's finest hills. I could never get tired of this view, and we headed off to some drier ground on a rocky hump to have some lunch. We took in the surrounds, and sat in a sunny patch, but there were dark brooding clouds up on the summit. We talked about the route ahead and all of a sudden Scafell was included - I thought it was just going to be Slight Side! From this point on it became a 'Sound of Music' type walk - climb every mountain, ford every stream...
Scafell looms large on the horizon
the walk up beside Throstlehow Crag
up above the falls, the Great Moss is around the
corner
the spectacular view that greets you when you
arrive at the Great Moss
the sun lights up Cam Spout
Pearsy tiptoes through the Esk
while Cogstar tries for a drier crossing
looking back down to the Great Moss on
the way up to Scafell
Suitably refreshed we walked on trying to find somewhere to ford the stream. We had to leap several smaller streams, and on one of these I landed straight legged - ouch on already sore legs. Micky and Ian managed to ford the stream, but got wet feet. Paul and I ended up a lot further on in our attempt to keep dry, and we still got wet. It's OK in the summertime when the water is low, but this time of year it's definitely a challenge to find a dry crossing. We cut across towards Cam Spout and made the mistake of going up the next valley - the main path is up above Cam Spout. I was feeling knackered and fell further back, as the Duracell Bunnies in front pressed on. It was nice scenery and I stopped often to peer back down to the Great Moss, but the final pull up to Foxes Gully was a never ending slog for me. On the way up here while crossing a side stream my left leg
disappeared up to my thigh in gloopy bog. It was a bit worrying at the time as I was out of the line of sight to the next man above me, although I knew they would have come back and got me eventually. By the time I extricated myself and plodded on, I could see Paul up ahead walking ever onwards towards Broad Stand. Ian knew that was the wrong way and hung on for me to catch up. By then Micky had carried on to the top with Paul. We waited a while to see if they appeared up ahead - they didn't so we decided to ascend up Foxes Gully, the easiest route up to Scafell from here. It's a deep cleft which requires some hands on work, but it's easier to get up than it looks, even in the wet. A little scramble or two later soon saw us up at Foxes Tarn (puddle), and I took a quick breather before plodding on up the loose scree slope that would bring us up to the summit of Scafell. There were good views back to the Great Moss, but as we got higher we walked up into the cloud base and the camera went away into the bag. Up on the summit we wandered up to the shelter and cairn, as we got there two gents were celebrating completing the 214 Wainwrights in two years. Out came the beer and cigar and there were handshakes all around
- unlike later when 2 lost walkers hurled some verbal abuse
at them - Paul and Micky thinking they were us.
Foxes Tarn.....eer puddle really
up the scree slope from Foxes Tarn
the Great Moss now far below as we enter the cloud
base on top of Scafell
the ground reappears as we walked down to Long
Green, with Slight Side along at the end
about to be hit by a hailstorm - Stony Tarn down
below
Burnmoor Tarn and Wast Water to the right
Hard Knott across the valley
the view back up to Slight Side
We waited around for the other two, figuring that they would have come up via Lord's Rake, but we didn't wait long enough as it was a bit nippy hanging around. We descended in misty cloud on a compass bearing (my Satmap wasn't charged enough and died - what a muppet), and made our way down along Long Green towards Slight Side. We were up in the cloud with no views for most of the way, but as we dropped down, we eventually came below the clouds and could see Eskdale far below lit up with sunlight. We could also see a big black cloud coming to get us and it threw it down with stinging hailstones, so the camera went away again. As we
topped Slight Side we didn't hang about due to the inclement weather, just studied the route ahead a bit more, spotting a path across boggy land below. We could see various people ahead of us and thought we spotted Micky and Paul, but the sneaky b's were sneaking up behind us. We crossed over the boggy valley
making headway back towards Catcove Beck, but I was very tired and my knees were pretty painful, and I didn't pay enough attention to the route. I was walking along following like sheep, and we should have dropped down to the valley at Cat Crag, before we got to Dawsonground Crags. The other two powered on and Pearsy and I thought about scrambling over the wall and downhill to save some legwork. But we followed on the long route down to the road at Wha House Farm. I fell further and further back, absolutely goosed from the walk, beer and yesterdays exertions. Kindly Ian waited for me at the bottom of the hill and we walked together back along the road, taking in the sunlit Eskdale once more. We thought it would be nice if one of the others had driven down to pick us up, but it was not to be. Another fabulous walk in great company - for some of the way - for the rest of the way it was agony at times, and since then I found I can blame the pain on Arthur Ritis - he's a right bar steward, but even he couldn't spoil a brilliant days walking.
the sun lights up the Hard Knott fort site across
the valley
looking down on Eskdale where we walked earlier
we parked up to the right
still moody
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