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

Pike O' Blisco and Cold Pike

If it's been a while since we had a couple of days in Ambleside, it's been even longer since we visited Great Langdale. Taking advantage of a day pass on the buses for the Central Lakes area meant travelling at leisure, not having to worry about finding a parking space and best of all on this occasion it meant being able to sample a pint at the Hiker's Bar at the The Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, which is definitely one of the "must do's" in the Lakes.

This route takes in Pike O' Blisco and Cold Pike, exploring the southern fells of Great Langdale and offering fantastic views of the Langdale Pikes across Mickleden as we made our way up.

We took the route up Pike O' Blisco, via Wall End farm. This is an excellent route, a steady climb, along the Blea Tarn road and then a good path.

The scenery is varied meaning it stays interesting all the way. Not far from the summit are a couple of small scrambles which are fairly simple and fun to go up. Once we were on the summit, the wind picked up as usual.

There is a decent sized summit shelter, but a few people had settled in there and were looking very cosy and they didn't look like they were about to budge up and let us in, so after enjoying the views for a short time, we moved off the picturesque summit.

I sometimes wonder about fell etiquette - people who faff on taking endless pictures of the summit cairn or trig point, oblivious to any others patiently waiting to take a quick snap, or shelter hogs such as the crew we had just encountered.

Oh well, it was too windy for a picnic on high ground anyway, so we soon set off on the steep descent towards Red Tarn. The summit of Cold Pike had been shrouded in cloud for much of the walk so far but this was constantly shifting so we were hoping to to time the walk up to Cold Pike with a break in the cloud. From here we had some good views southwards towards the Coniston Fells.

Following the map and pictorial guide we somehow found ourselves on a path that was clearly non-existent, and headed across the marshy ground at the head of the tarn. We followed the wet ground straight up the side of Cold Pike and I am might suggest that on the forthcoming revision of the Pictorial Guides, that this fictional path be omitted!

We hit the high ground of Cold Pike and the cloud closed in again which made navigating this rocky summit fairly tricky. With three high points to choose from, I scrambled up a rock which I thought would be a summit, but soon realised there was plenty of higher ground around, so  - although fun - and we soon made our way onto the "real" summits.

The cloud and cold meant once again this wasn't a summit to linger on, but fortunately the path heading over to Crinkle Crags is unmissable.

We followed this good path to an obvious junction and headed back down to Red Tarn with good views back across to Pike O' Blisco, and rejoined the route down from Pike O' Blisco which passes Stool End farm. We stopped at a lovely spot for a bite to eat alongside the gushing waters of Browney Gill before continuing the steep descent.

The descent was enjoyable, as the views of Great Langdale are stunning, and each step offered a new reward.

Even on the valley bottom there were rivers, bridges, stone walls and even a couple of deer grazing in a field for us to enjoy. Our timing was perfect with the bus due in an hour, so we headed into the legendary Hiker's Bar for a pint and a reflection on a wonderful Winter walk.

Scafell Pike from Seathwaite farm

This started off with a big up and down before the walk had even begun. We were due to make this trek to the summit of England together with Dave, and had arranged to meet at Seathwaite. So when Dave pulls up in the village of Seathwaite and asks a nearby publican if this was the right Seathwaite for Scafell Pike the landlord replied "You're the first to ask today, but you won't be the last, and no it isn't!"...

the view from Seathwaite

The upside of this is that we had made great time and had reached Keswick early, so Claire and I managed to grab a big breakfast in Booths. The downside was of course, not having Dave with us!

The first mile or so of the walk is amazing, following the river Derwent along the valley until you reach Stockley Bridge. Here you could choose which way to go around Seathwaite Fell, we chose the path that would take us up to Sprinkling Tarn. Our chosen route followed up the side of the spectacular Taylorgill Force.

This was a steady climb up to Styhead Tarn, with the low cloud obscuring the views we should have had up Aaron Slack to Windy Gap between Green and Great Gable. It also meant we could barely see our next target, the huge buttress of Great End.

the view to Great End had cleared by the time we returned

We followed AW's directions and veered off from the path, heading straight up the steep grassy slops of Great End, between the crags. Poor visibility meant I think we veered off the proposed route, but the GPS showed we were firmly on track. In fact the GPS proved to be a real winner on this route with visibility right down.

Sprinkling Tarn through the mist

There was a fair bit of scrambling to be done before we made it to the rocky plateau of the summit of Great End, but we rewarded ourselves with a tasty picnic in the summit shelter.

looking over to the Langdale Pikes

From there it was a short but tough trek over to Scafell Pike. The boulders strewn across the path together with the lack of visibility did mean that it felt like we were walking on the moon - albeit a busy moon. As we couldn't see a great deal we didn't bother with the other "Pikes" but headed straight over to the big one. The steep ravine just before the summit was a bit of a blow even though I was expecting it. But a short pull up the other side and there we were, on the highest point in England!

Scafell Pike summit!

The crowds and winds meant it was a short but happy moment, before heading back down towards Lingmell Col. Here I had my first ever good views of Wastwater and some of the more remote scenery in the Lake District.

Wastwater

From the col we headed straight up the slopes opposite and made the short climb up to the summit of our third and final Wainwright of the day, Lingmell. Sadly again the clouds were not on our side, having opened up briefly they closed in on us when we reached the top, so those views of Great Gable and the Scafell range have been saved for another day.

Lingmell

Of course once we got back off the higher ground the skies cleared, and we had some really incredible views all around us. We then hit the celebrated Corridor Route which proved trickier than expected. There were a few places where the path was less than obvious and a tough little scramble up a scree bank too. But the views around Piers Gill were just sensational and I would go back in a flash.

The route was a lot longer than anticipated too, meaning the sun was setting fast by the time we got back to Sprinkling Tarn, and it was more or less dusk when we were back at Stockley Bridge.

But soon enough we were back at the car, and in a 12 mile (or thereabouts) round trip we had taken in the highest point in England, three Wainwrights, some fantastic scenery, a lake, waterfall and some tarns, and a great day out!