Date: 21-Oct-2010
Map: Landranger 90
Weather: Overcast, but dry.
From the old church at Martindale up the
slopes to Steel Knotts, along the top to Brownthwaite Crag.
Return along the ridge to Pikeawassa, continue to Steel End
and drop down to a good path that took us back to the
church:
4 miles as measured on memory map.
This walk
was another lone Wainwright to tick off as I've walked most
of the fells around here, apart from the Nab and Place Fell.
This was the last walk of a series of 4, over 3 pubs and 2
days - the walks were all single Wainwrights, so it was
quite gentle really. I was staying in Stainton and this was
the nearest one, before driving home. It's only a short one
so I tried to extend it as much as I could. The skies were a
bit gloomy today, in stark contrast to our walk up High Rigg
yesterday, and Walla Crag the day before. I parked by the
old church of Martindale, which is just beyond Howtown, up
the wiggly road and around the corner a bit. A farmers
trailer did it's best to block any places to park, but we
managed ok. The path sets off behind the church and cuts up
gently along the slope towards the south east - I was
looking for a path to take me a little higher away from the
valley. It wasn't too distinct and the one marked on the map
was overgrown with high bracken. We eventually found one
that took us up a little steeper than than we wanted - just
a beaten down trod through the bracken really, but ok to
walk on. We paused often up the steep flank of Steel Knotts
to look down and over to Beda Fell, Hallin Fell and
Ullswater. I was very familiar with the views up Martindale
and Fusedale and could see The Nab further up the valley -
one of my last Far Eastern Fells to tick off. But it wasn't
the sites / sights that caught my attention today, it was
more the noise echoing around the valleys.
the old church of Martindale
the initial gentle ascent along the valley
Looking steeply down to the old church
the view along the ridge to Pikeawassa - the water
left and right is Ullswater
There's always something on every walk and today was
the sound of the stags bellowing loudly during the rutting
season. I thought at first it was cattle, but it is a very
distinctive sound, and along the way there is a deer fence
in several places above the wall to keep them off the
pasture. There are one or two small patches of woodland to
keep them happy as well. It didn't take very long to get up
the slope and intercept a decent path with a bit less
incline, and this took us up to the col below Pikeawassa,
the summit of Steel Knotts. We wandered a bit further over
to Brownthwaite Crags to see if the view up Fusedale
improved much, but it didn't so we about turned and walked
back up towards Pikeawassa. There weren't many views to thye
bigger hills around due to low cloud, but we stayed dry once
more, and only St Sunday Crag peaked up through the clouds,
briefly lit by sunshine. From the summit we could admire
Beda Fell next door and Place Fell beyond, with further
afield beyond Ullswater - Gowbarrow and the Mell Fells, but
not much more except Blencathras toes. We had a short break
on top of Pikeawassa, a nice grassy summit for a picnic and
big boulders for shelter. Pressing on to Steel Ends, the
ground drops away steeply over the crags so a bit of care
has to be taken here - the pier at Howtown down below looked
tiny from where we were. The weather looked a little
clearer, and no doubt it would be later, but you can't win
them all. The views from here were down the length of
Ullswater to Pooley Bridge - this bit always seams to be
clear everytime I've been up this way.
on the way over to Pikeawassa
looking over to The Nab, with Fusedale
on the left. St Sunday Crag lit up beyond
the summit rocks of Pikeawassa
looking back along the ridge we had just walked
The descent down the crags is steep and winds it's way
down beneath rocky outcrops. We met the biggest fell runner
I've ever seen for ages, but he was going strong - better
than his little dog who was wearing a carrying harness. Down
at the bottom of Steel Ends we joined a grassy path that
took us up to the hause above the new church`. As expected
the sun came out and lit up the autumnal trees, and put a
different complexion on the landscape. The colours were
superb, and the path easy as we passed Cote How. Down below
us was a bungalow with a big red telephone box outside -
it's bigger than the porch of the house - I'll take a
picture when I finish doing The Nab - so have a look on that
walk for a picture. The walk ended with a gentle drop down
towards the old church. It was nice to have a simple small
walk - but you still have to get up there and back down
again - a holiday for the brain is walking.
the view at Steel End over to Hallin Fell
looking down on the new church at Martindale
Hallin Fell
almost at Steel End, looking along Ullswater
towards Pooley Bridge
it was steep down off the end
Howtown is nestled down in the trees
the path took us up to Martindale hause
it's fine sunshine now back down in the valley
that red telephone box is as big as the house
and back down to the start where the buildings are
Where now:
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