Sale Fell in the North Western Fells

This was one of those typical Lake District days where the weather can't make up its mind - rain, sun, snow and sleet all making intermittent appearances, so we decided to go for something that offered shelter for at least part of the walk.

Sale Fell is the northernmost outpost of the North Western Fells, together with Ling Fell these are the gatekeepers to this side of the Lake District.

It is a straightforward fell to walk - no scrambling required and the paths are very straightforward to follow. We approached the summit by following the path that arcs round to the west, with views over to Ling Fell, before coming back eastwards and heading up towards the grassy summit.

As we approaches the views to the south opened up giving us fine views of the Whinlatter range, ad when we reached the summit there were also fabulous views over Bassenthwaite Lake to the Skiddaw range.

Views over to Binsey from the summit were marred by some unsightly deforestation of Wythop Wood that had left this side of the fell scarred with tree stumps and not much else.

The summit itself is a wide grassy plain that was scenic enough without having the thrill you get on reaching the final rocky outcrop of a strenuous fell climb. This is different walking altogether, and Sale Fell offers the chance to follow your nose and explore the grassy plain, taking in the views all around.

We headed back down the southern side of the fell, through woodland and past the site of Wythop Old Church, before following the road back to the car. A lovely little that is ideal of you only have an hour or two to spare.

A Newlands Valley Walk

In the Lake District you have to be prepared for unexpected weather and it always pays to have a plan B. Some days a high level walk simply aren't meant to be, if the wind and rain decides against it. more and more I am discovering that the alternative walks can be just as scenic and whilst they don't necessarily help in any list-ticking exercises, they are as rewarding as a higher level walk can be.

Earlier this year we had one such day where the windswept fells looked decidedly uninviting. We decided to head deep into Newlands valley to do a lower level walk.

Parking up at Little Town, our planned route would take us around the base of some of the Newlands Horseshoe fells - around the base of Maiden Moor and High Spy, then back around Hindscarth and Robinson before returning to the car.

Although this area is very scenic, popular fells such as Catbells are in close proximity so when the crowds head for the heights, this might be a nice quiet alternative walk. The views into the surrounding fells are incredible and there are really good views  as you look back out of the valley too.

There are plenty of options to change the flavour of the walk - from the valley footpath you can easily take one of the routes up the fells to reach High Spy or Hindscarth. Having rounded the base of Scope End (the buttress of Hinscarth) you go up into the quiet vale between Hindscarth and Robinson.

Here and indeed throughout this walk there is lots of evidence of mining activities and the valley's industrial past. You climb up a bit to reach a reservoir at the foot of Robinson, and in fact it felt like this would be a nice way of getting to the fell tops. The footpath crosses over via an old dam along the edge of the reservoir and we returned via the path along the foot of Robinson.

From here the path more or less led us straight back to the car park of Little Town. This is a great walk for when you're not sure about the weather, as the low level walk is a lot of fun, yet should the outlook brighten up you do have plenty of options for getting onto the Newlands fell tops. We'll be back!

A Whinlatter Wander

A couple of years ago, we did a circuit of the fells above and around Whinlatter, but missed out on Whinlatter Fell itself. Recently, a spare sunny afternoon in the Lake District provided us with the ideal opportunity to bag Whinlatter.

We have been to the forest often enough, having done Go Ape a couple of times, and followed some of the forest paths, so I was looking forward to tackling the fell, although from reading various walk write-ups, navigation wouldn't necessarily be straight forward.

We parked up at the visitor centre, which was rammed with trail cyclists and Go Apers, heading away from the masses up towards the fell itself. We weren't completely on our own, as the Gruffalo trail was also proving popular with the younger visitors!

AW has a good old moan about the forestation that has taken place on Whinlatter, but for me it feels like the surrounding environment has accepted the spruce trees with grace and dignity and it is an enjoyable Lakeland experience. BUT the forestry commission paths all look alike and as you are surrounded by trees with the occasional glimpse over towards Keswick, it can be quite disorienting.

However once you are out of the forest, Whinlatter takes on a character of its own. Standing somewhat in isolation, it is a quiet backwater of the Lakes, despite being a short walk away from all the action. The heather-clad slopes offer fantastic views of the surrounding North-Western fells.

As it is a fairly gentle ascent, without too much hard work you soon reach the twin peaks of Whinlatter and Brown How, which is a short distance away. The summit ridge makes for fun walking, easy on the feet but with interesting terrain and those unbeatable views.

To get back to the car we retraced our outbound path and before we knew it we were back in the heart of Whinlatter forest, headed towards the visitor centre where a hot drink and scone was waiting with our names on them!

Taking The Wainwrights Onto The Fells

Like many other walkers, I like to head out onto the fells, moors and dales well prepared. Normally I have a clear idea of the route I want to take and I have the full range of navigational aides stuffed into rucksac and pockets - maps, GPS, compass and usually a guide book. In the case of trips in the Lake District this inevitably means having a Wainwright Pictorial Guide in the pocket of my walking trousers ready to refer to at any given time.

Having done a fair amount of Lake District walks I have now embarked on visiting fells in each of the 7 regions that Wainwright divided the fells into, and every now and again I've taken a picture of the guidebook somewhere near the summit, so here I'm pleased to share with you my gallery of Wainwrights on the Fells.

Book One: The Eastern Fells - enjoying the sunny summit of Great Dodd

Book Two: The Far Eastern Fells - lounging on the High Street

Book Three: The Central Fells - guiding us up Grange Fell

Book Four: The Southern Fells - enjoying the panorama from Wetherlam

Book Five: The Northern Fells - the sights are set on Bannerdale Crags

Book Six: The North Western Fells - a wander up Wandope

Book Seven: The Western Fells - visiting Haystacks

A Newlands Round, North Western Fells

The Newlands Valley has to be one of my favourite parts of the Lake District. A stone's throw from Keswick - or a stone skim if you are going right across Derwentwater.
On a recent Summer's day Claire and I were in Keswick, but it was one of those rare days this Summer when the weather looked like being truly awful.

We were outside Moot Hall wondering if it was even worth setting off, but we soon decided that even in the pouring rain a quick hike over to Grange on the other side of the Lake would be a nice trip out.

By the time we had got to Swinside the weather had improved considerably and so we soon set our eyes on the Newlands fells ahead of us. Instead of starting with the usual Catbells, we decided on coming round the back way, starting with Hindscarth.

Walking around the lower slopes of Catbells and Maiden Moor, this all meant we had already walked six miles, in order to get to the start of the walk!

The pull up to Scope End is steep and gets the blood pumping, but it is also a quick way of gaining altitude and as always, each step upwards is rewarded with an ever increasing vista. We could see the clouds shifting and shafts of sunlight to the north of us on Causey Pike.

Once you've done the hard work the next section of the walk is a real pleasure, a ridge route that takes you all the way to the summit of Hindscarth. After the fairly narrow ridge the summit is quite vast, with clear routes in a couple of directions. It was pretty windy on the exposed top so we didn't linger, but headed straight towards the next summit of Dale Head. The wind didn't let up and we were grateful for the wide terrain, rather than having to worry about being blown away.

As we reached the main path to Dale Head we had some great views over the back of the Newlands Valley and into neighbouring Buttermere and it's collection of fells, and a good view of Fleetwith Pike.

Over the other side we had an incredible view down into Newlands, over the vale of Keswick and the Skiddaw massif in the distance. Dale Head has a fantastic cairn marking its summit, but the wind had not died down in the slightest so once again we didn't hang around.

The ridge route from Hindscarth to Dale Head had been a nice easy one along Hindscarth Edge, but the onwards path to High Spy meant a steep slope down to Dale Head tarn and a sharp climb back up, but once we lost a bit of height we found some welcome respite from the wind. We had done High Spy a few years ago from Catbells and so we were now back on familiar territory.

Walking in this direction meant we had the view of Keswick beyond Derwentwater accompanying every step. It is an easy walk from High Spy to Maiden Moor, but by now we were conscious of time - having only intended to do a short walk we had not set out especially early and by now it was late afternoon. We decided to skip Catbells, coming back down onto the path near Little Town past various disused mine shafts, workings and levels that reminded us that this used to be very much a working landscape.

By now we had missed the last boat back across Derwentwater and the last couple of miles back to Keswick meant we had done about 18 miles - not bad for a short walk!

Causey Pike, Scar Crags, Outerside & Barrow

A mad idea from Claire and her colleagues meant that we found ourselves in Keswick on a night out mid-February, followed by a night in the freezing cold camping barn at Catbells afterwards. The problem was that if no-one volunteers to stay home and stoke the coals whilst the others are out having a good time, then that fireplace and camping barn is going to be cold!

An early start and a big breakfast at Booths soon warmed us up and meant we could head back over to Newlands and park up just beyond Stair for the start of this walk. Our planned itinerary was up the front face of Rowling End and onto Causey Pike, following the ridge over Scar Crags before taking the path down at Sail Pass which would bring us back along the lower slopes of Causey Pike before crossing over to ascend Outerside and Barrow.

The pull up Rowling End was a hard slog, but it did mean that we reached higher ground pretty quickly. As always each step upwards was rewarded with a view that was opening up and behind us we had fantastic views over Keswick and Derwentwater. The flat section along Causey Pike was a welcome break before the final scramble up. This looked much trickier than it actually was and as usual, a scramble up seems easier than using the same route to come down.

Having seen very few people, it came as a surprise to find a load of people resting on the top of Causey Pike, I wonder when the bus was due?!?! It was pretty windy here so we didn't linger for long.

One of my favourite parts of fellwalking is the ridge route - it's a great reward for the hard work in getting up the fell, and the ridge from Causey Pike over Scar Crags towards Sail is a delight. Good walking conditions and really rewarding views.

Ahead we could see the hard work done by Fix The Fells to restore the path up Sail, and you could see the scars left behind by the thousands of boots that had widened the path beforehand.

On reaching Coledale Hause we turned sharp right and headed along the path that would take us down to the bottom of High Moss. The path was iced over in places meaning we had to either go off-road, or sit down and slide down on our bums - this was nothing compared to the slides down Great Whernside which I'll be telling you about in a future post!

From here it was an easy walk over to the base of Outerside and a short and pleasant climb up. At this point the wind had picked up a bit so it got really cold whenever we stopped.

A short pause on the summit of Outerside and we pushed on, over the crags of Stile End until we made the summit of Barrow and our fourth fell of the day. From here once again we had brilliant view over diminutive Swinside and onto Keswick, Derwentwater as well as over Bassenthwaite Lake over to the Skiddaw range.

In a rush to get out of the wind we retraced our steps to Stile End, before taking the steep path down the side of Barrow which brought us onto the main bridleway along Stonycroft Gill, and here it was an easy walk back to the Newlands road and the warmth of the car.