Sunny St Sunday Crag on a Tuesday
Date: 18-Nov-2008
Map: Landranger 89, 90, OL5
Weather: Sunshine, with a little mist at the top, all accompanied by a biting wind.
From Patterdale walk around to Thornhow End, then climb steeply up towards Birks. Then gently along the ridge and up to St Sunday Crag. Drop down to Deepdale Hause and continue up steeply to Cofa Pike and on to Fairfield. Walk around the summit to Link Hause and onto Hart Crag. Drop down along Hartsop above How, cross the valley and return to Patterdale: 10 miles as measured on memory map. My new talking pedometer broke!
On Sunday 16th November I checked out the weather forecast for the week and decided that today would be the best day of the week. As it turned out the forecast was correct again for me, but not for those walking up to Helvellyn. My sometime walking compatriot couldn’t make it today due to work commitments, which almost guaranteed sunshine as he wasn’t there. At the start of the day (06:30 – driving) I felt a distinct lack of get up and go, but assumed that I would be ok when I reached the lakes and breathed in some fresh air – wrong. I arrived at Patterdale by 08:30 and parked the car at the Patterdale Hotel - £3.50 for the pleasure of all day parking, but at least I had the correct change for once. The hotel was fairly busy, but I was the first one setting out along the path to St Sunday Crag. I met some lovely people later on in the day, but the morning was all mine.
The path gently follows the contours around
My first glimpse back to Ullswater
A promising outlook ahead
I had a reasonably gentle start contouring around the hill, and the only noise I could hear was the howling coming from the kennels across the valley. Further along and higher up Grisedale I could anticipate the views to come later in the morning, and I could see the cloud billowing around the tops. The views today were dominated by looking down and back to Ullswater and Place Fell, and across Grisedale towards Helvellyn and Striding Edge – although they were covered in cloud all day. I was sheltered by the hillside initially, but as I gained height (I was bent over at the start of the day) it became windier and with it came the chill. So it was outer shell on, hood up, gloves on, and a liberal smattering of lip salve – and no it wasn’t for the benefit of the sheep. I was feeling a bit dry so reached around my pack for a bit of juice, only to discover that it wasn’t there – a£$e. Luckily for me I had a small flask of tea which kept me going until I could replenish it from elsewhere later on.
Another view of Ullswater – one of many on the way up
Looking up Grisedale – cloudy on the higher fells
Thornhow End ahead where the path climbs steeply
..and there’s more…of Ullswater
The path climbed steeply out of the valley, which forced me to pause for breath and admire the views – I was suffering from lack of energy. I noticed a train of hikers across the valley walking up towards the hole in the wall on the sunny side, sheltered from the northerly wind. No doubt they all were thinking what a marvellous day it is, and I don’t think they would have been able to see all the cloud swirling around the higher ground. Striding Edge was constantly under cloud, and I only got an occasional glimpse of Catstye Cam. That was a frustration to me as well as I wanted to look at the exposure of Striding Edge from a different perspective, rather than looking down from it as I had earlier in the year. It was almost like there was an invisible barrier running along Grisedale as the clouds were refusing to cross the valley and spoil my day up on St Sunday Crag – it must have been Mars influence on Uranus, and that the moon was still out! One advantage of walking later on in the year is that because of the low angle of the sun the whole aspect of the landscape changes, and you can pick up a lot more geomorphologic features, most of them glacial around here. The views back to Ullswater improved as I got higher up the slopes, and it was clear all day with blue skies to the north. The paths up to St Sunday Crag were generally good, but you could see there had been a lot of water flowing down this fell recently, the grasses flattened down in one direction. An occasional bout of bog hopping was required, but I didn’t get wet feet, and I suppose I walked a good few extra yards around the edges of the bogs.
Looking down on Birks, where I found I had no juice – berk.
Across the valley the clouds were persisting over Striding
Edge
While up ahead St Sunday Crag was clear
And the view to the east was splendid…,on with the Raybans
And down below was none other than Ullswater
The gradient up to the summit wasn’t too bad and it became increasingly stony once past the north cairn. Up on the summit itself there is nothing much to mark the area save a couple of rough cairns, but that is of little consequence as all around are views to impress. To the west even though Helvellyn and its surrounds were choked in cloud, the hills still looked impressive enough. To the south west I could see over Grisedale Tarn, but Seat Sandal was hidden from view. Fairfield and Hart Crag to the south were in and out of thin wispy clouds, and to the east I could see the High Street range and on the horizon far away was Pen-y-Ghent. Some of the cloud rushing over from Helvellyn dipped over Dollywagon Pike before soaring up over Fairfield. My luck was holding as most of the cloud was blowing over to the South and down the Fairfield horseshoe towards Ambleside – the northerly wind was chill but it was my friend today. My return route was clear and down in Deepdale there was not a cloud in sight, just lumpy bumpy moraines. You can see the different levels that the moraines were deposited, initially high up the valley side when the valley was full of glacier, and then in steps down the valley sides as the ice retreated.
A little misty at the top of St Sunday, but not too bad
Cloud tumbling over Dollywagon Pike
Grisedale Tarn with Seat Sandal behind
Cloud stubbornly persisting across the valley
The view back to St Sunday Crag from Deepdale Hause
After feasting my eyes all around I wandered down an easy descent to Deepdale Hause and here I met a man with a big white stick poking out of his pack. At first I thought he’d mugged a blind man and left him wandering around the summit of Fairfield, but it turned out he was a ‘radio ham’. He proceeded to tell me all about his hobby - http://www.sota.org.uk/ and I suppose it’s a bit like train spotting - each to their own, but he was happy enough combining the two hobbies of walking and broadcasting to fellow enthusiasts. He walked off to St Sunday Crag and I started up steeply towards Cofa Pike. The path was straightforward enough, although there are steep drops to either side of the ridge up to Fairfield, but not much exposure. Once I was over Cofa Pike there was a choice of a gentle path to the right or a steeper path running up the scree, so as I was feeling hungry I took the short route to the top. It was a little misty as I approached the summit, and the wind was still chilly – enough to freeze the fingers a bit as I ate my sarnies. I finished off my measly flask of tea, but didn’t feel too bad liquid wise, and resisted the temptation to fill up from the nearest sheep infested stream. I donned a fifth layer while I was sat still and that kept me warm enough, and as I finished lunch the mist lifted to reveal my path ahead, with views down towards Ambleside and Windermere.
Looking down from the scree path – Cofa Pike below
You can see two figures lurking in the summit shelter
The mist lifting to reveal views to the east
The view back up to the summit of Fairfield
Pen-y-Ghent on the horizon
Hart Crag with Windermere glinting in the distance
There were plenty of cairns along the top to guide me around towards Hart Crag and I really couldn’t have gone far wrong unless I walked in completely the opposite direction to my intended route. I had another little descent down to Link Hause before a gentle climb up to Hart Crag, another stony summit. From here I thought that I had an easy descent down Hartsop above How, but it was quite scrambly down from the top and I had to be careful of the slippery rock surfaces. The views now were back across the valley to St Sunday Crag and from here I could really appreciate how steep the drop off from the summit is – it wouldn’t take long to get to the valley floor on a tea tray on snow.
Looking over to Fairfield from Hart Crag
Spread out below me was Hartsop above How
The steep slopes of St Sunday Crag
The descent down Hartsop above How was similar to the descent of the Fairfield horseshoe, with a little bit of everything – scrambles down, bits of scree and boulders, boggy patches and grassy runs. It was pleasant walking though and I had the sun lighting up the fells in front of me. One disadvantage of the low sunlight was that it was difficult to keep my shadow out of shot – I had to zoom beyond my head which tended to loose some of the wider shots. I met another older gent coming up the fell who was taking a weeks holiday in Patterdale for the tenth year running (should be tenth year walking). We had a good chat and he told me he was headed for Hart Crag, which surprised me a bit as it was already getting on and he only had an hour and half daylight left. But he assured me he had a good head torch and all the gear – I guess I’m a bit paranoid now after my summer escapades.
A little further down Hartsop above How
And looking back up to Hart Crag
The moraines stacked up the valley side – the foreground is
very bright as the valley floor was in deep shadow
Now I could see all of the head of the Deepdale valley
And a glorious autumnal view of Place Fell
Back up Deepdale with St Sunday Crag standing proud
The route dropped down the left side of the crest so I didn’t look down on Brothers Water as my line of sight was now towards Place Fell which looked superb in the afternoon sunshine. At the end of the ridge down in the valley I dropped down through some woods and out of the wind, crossing the main road at Deepdale Bridge. In front of me now was floodplain grazing, flat and green, and full of sheep. My eye was drawn up towards Angle Tarn Pikes and set me wondering about the coast to coast path – I’m in the planning stage for my 2010 walk – you can never plan too much, and I’m enjoying it so far. I was left with a gentle stroll along the base of the hills through Beckstones, Crookabeck, and Rooking where I once more crossed the valley to return to the car park at the Patterdale Hotel.
Place Fell towering over Patterdale
Dubhow Crag – the coast to coast beckons to the right…
And gently around to Patterdale village
The end of the day for me…
I popped into the local Post Office and topped up with juice and some chocolate and then passed by a bright red ram that had been fighting with his mates before he got out into the fields to service the sheep. I didn’t see much wildlife today – probably too windy for the smaller birds. When I was back at the car I looked at my pedometer, which showed precisely 89 steps – bugger. So I didn’t know how far I’d actually covered up and down dale, and as I unpacked at home the pedometer fell out of the bag onto the floor – and wouldn’t you know it, it started working again – as it’s a talking pedometer I pressed the button and I thought it said ar$e! Walking – it’s brilliant.