TR: warm work in Eskdale
Mark Manning
Eskdale horseshoe I'd got about half-way round last time. Left home near
Cambridge about 0315, so was hoping to get to Wha House a little earlier
than last time; but it was not to be. There was a Pickfords lorry on the
A595 ahead of me; it then astonished me by taking the fell road over to
Ulpha! I suppose even people in Ulpha have to move house from time to
time. A very fine piece of lorry driving, but it did mean I arrived a
little late!
I believe Saturday was a scorcher in Cambridge. It was pretty warm
in Eskdale, too, but I would have thought it was more like 24 than 29
degrees. It seemed much too hot for boots, so I headed off past Taw House
farm wearing Tevas. There was Eskdale tops were rather hazy, and there
was the usual cloud of the Scafells; but this lifted to give a clear day,
with a little mist still playing on the tops; and later on still more
haze.
I went down for the first time to the west bank of the Esk. I think
the river actually looks even better here than from the east. A couple of
people about, no more. I was interested to see where the path would lead.
AW says that the "sketchy" path (it was better than that now) "leads to a
gorge from which escape is difficult". Sounded like an interesting
challenge! Stopped for a dip and lunch a little above Lingcove Bridge;
put on my boots (because my Tevas were now giving me a "hot spot", and I
feared the usual blister), and headed up the gorge.
It wasn't as bad as I had feared (and I'm not one of the Hard Men of
URW who can cope with just about any degree of exposure). Remarkably, it
reminded me of the Climber's Traverse on Bowfell; the view was different,
of course, but it was mostly a path with a steep drop on one side. There
were a few awkward points where I had to climb down; bizarre, given that I
was generally heading *up*! A large pack for wild camping meant that
bum-sliding was out of the question. A bit of scrambling of about grade
one-half, I suppose. I would have actually enjoyed it with a lighter
pack.
There were about eight people at Scar Lathing, but they all
disappeared while I was collecting water from one of the Esk's tributaries
(I got through at least 3 litres that day). Then up the south ridge of
Esk Pike. This is a very enjoyable ascent; there are crags for those who
want to scramble, or even climb, but they all have easy grassy routes
round from walkers like me. The latter stages were hard work; there had
been a cooling breeze blowing lower down, but I was sheltered from it
higher up, and progress was slow. I saw three other people; normally I
see no-one at all. Stopped for a snack at Pike de Bield, and then headed
for the summit. I seriously wondered about just going straight down,
because I felt so knackered; but fortunately I didn't.
Bowfell past Ore Gap proved an easy climb; I suppose I forgot that
this was only 400 feet of ascent, compared to the earlier two thousand!
The top was busy, so I just touched the cairn and headed down to Three
Tarns. There was no distant view; the heat haze had built up during the
day, so you could see the nearby hills, and the shapes of the slightly
more remote ones, but that was about it.
And once again it happened; I got to Three Tarns at about 1700, and
everyone had vanished (apart from parties coming down from Bowfell and
heading down the Band). So I headed for Crinkle Crags, meeting just two
people on the way. I was rather worried to see three lads on the slope
leading down to Oxendale, well off the path; I got closer to see they were
okay. They had vanished, but it became clear that they had been heading
for a feasible descent, albeit a rather stony and steep one.
And now I had the top of this wonderful hill all to myself! Really
quite a shock. Again, the haze had spoiled what would have been
magnificent views over Langdale and Eskdale; and Eskdale itself was full
of mist, almost as if there was an inversion. I was feeling pretty tired
by now, and didn't want to tackle the Bad Step; so I tried to find AW's
"grassy rake" which led down towards Adam-a-Cove (which I wanted to
descend). It is a "grassy rake" in the sense that there is grass in it;
but it's still a pretty rough ride. Hardly surprising for a hill as
serious-minded as the Crinkles.
AW now says that the descent in Adam-a-Cove is safe provided you keep
to the left bank of the stream. I was now walking through the mist above
Eskdale, and I took the left bank of the stream, which was then met by a
stream coming in from the left (so I was now on the right bank). Uh-oh.
And it was misty. Fortunately, there seemed a stony path down, so I took
it, the path getting steeper all the time. And I could have come a
cropper, because it suddenly ended over crags; even a Hard Man of URW
would have been worried by this. So I slithered slowly back up; there was
a path I had missed which would have been on my the left in descent, which
led steeply and stonily to the safe left bank. But I would have been
better to have kept well to the left of the left bank throughout; there
are steep but pleasant grass slopes down. In fact, the new electric fence
is an excellent guide in Adam-a-Cove (as I discovered the next day); it
keeps to easy ground, and gives a safe route on steep grass. Descending
in mist without its guidance, I ended up heading for Mosedale, but this
was easy to put right when visibility cleared.
Had a swim in Lingcove Beck, and then went over to Scar Lathing for
the night. There was a new moon, but I was naive in hoping to see stars;
there was just too much light in the sky near to midsummer. (I woke at
three and had a look out; there was some mist over the Scafells, and high
cloud. And no stars.) It stayed comfortably warm overnight.
A slightly clearer day dawned on Sunday; greeted the first walker as
I packed up the tent at about 0945. Wasn't quite sure what to do, but
thought a good end to the day would be to climb the slopes of Crinkle
Crags, looking for Gunstone Knott (recommended by Trail as a wild camping
site). Going up Adam-a-Cove was easy now I knew what I was doing, though
it was still steep! Didn't quite make Gunstone Knott (time was running
out for me to get back home), but I had lunch on the slopes above it, and
took in the views over Pike O'Blisco, the Langdales, and Eskdale.
Fabulous.
Then down Adam-a-Cove again, it's much easier going down! No sooner
had the slope eased than I had a shooting pain in my right knee. Sh*t!
Am I now going to be needing walking poles? And why has this happened on
easy ground, with the car about three miles away? Fortunately the twinge
eased, and I got back to the car with no problem. Again, I walked the
road from Brotherilkeld to Wha House; quieter than last time, and just as
lovely. The road's really narrow in places, with hedges either side;
the hedges had buttercups and wild flowers woven into them, and birds
flitted around them. Just lovely.
And so another weekend finished, and I got back at about 2130,
missing nearly all the heavy rain that everyone else had. A great
weekend.
Mark
--
Mark Manning mr...@msm.cam.ac.uk
Paul Richardson
> Headed up to the Lakes again this weekend,
<megasnip>
Great report Mark - Eskdale is superb!
Paul
Leigh
Lancs
Andy
>
> Again, the haze had spoiled what would have been
> magnificent views over Langdale and Eskdale; and Eskdale itself was full
> of mist, almost as if there was an inversion.
I walked up from Seathwaite towards Scafell Pike at about 6 pm on the same
day.
It was windy and misty from Taylor Gill Force to Styhead Tarn and I was
starting to think I should have stayed with my girlfriend to spend the night
in her camper van rather than taking my tent up into the hills but by the
time I reached the height of Sprinkling Tarn I popped out into calm sunshine
and the view back down onto thick cloud blowing over the col from Wasdale to
Borrowdale with the top of Great Gable poking up above it was fantastic.
(Wonder if the campers at Styhead were aware of this).
All in all it was pretty busy around that area with at least 15 tents
clustered around Styhead, Sprinkling and Angle Tarns. I managed to find a
more select pitch on a little hummock with a fine view down Langstrath and
walked out to be picked up at Grasmere the next morning. I didn't realise
how close to midsummer we are until I was woken by a dawn chorus of some
twittering little birds to find the sky just starting to get light at 2.55
am.
I must say this is becoming my favourite way of seeing the hills. For a
single overnight camp I can fit all the necessary gear in a 25l rucksack,
you get the better light conditions of late evenings and early mornings,
avoid the heat of the day and also avoid a lot of people.
Andy
Bootlaces
news:bbl6qj$ebr$1...@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk
A grand TR to the Lake District
which deserves
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pa
--
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Downsizing saves money like computers reduce paperwork.
Fran
> Headed up to the Lakes again this weekend,
Just as we were heading back after a week lazing around doing
absolutely nothing (and no walking) in Eskdale and Hawkshead.
> There was a Pickfords lorry on the
> A595 ahead of me; it then astonished me by taking the fell road over to
> Ulpha!
Good gracious! We have a 9-seater Sherpa lookalike minibus
which didn't altogether approve of the Ulpha Fell road. Mind,
it approved of Hardknott and Wrynose Passes even less. We got
some very strange glances from other motorists as discretion won
over valour and we retraced our 'steps' - in reverse! Just as
well we hadn't gone very far, really...
--
Fran
The email address in the headers is now a spamtrap; however
ynyschwith at lineone dot net (no spaces) will reach me.
rifleman
Fran <u...@ynys.fslife.co.uk> cogitated deeply and wrote
> Mark Manning said...
>> Headed up to the Lakes again this weekend,
> [snip]
>
> Just as we were heading back after a week lazing around doing
> absolutely nothing (and no walking) in Eskdale and Hawkshead.
>
>> There was a Pickfords lorry on the
>> A595 ahead of me; it then astonished me by taking the fell road over
>> to Ulpha!
>
> Good gracious! We have a 9-seater Sherpa lookalike minibus
> which didn't altogether approve of the Ulpha Fell road. Mind,
> it approved of Hardknott and Wrynose Passes even less. We got
> some very strange glances from other motorists as discretion won
> over valour and we retraced our 'steps' - in reverse! Just as
> well we hadn't gone very far, really...
Bloody hell, are you still up?
--
Lat N53:02:23 Long W1:56:30
Email address deliberately false to avoid spam:
Reply to group only
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Phil Cook
>In news:MPG.1948a4629...@news.cis.dfn.de,
>Fran <u...@ynys.fslife.co.uk> cogitated deeply and wrote
>> Mark Manning said...
>>> Headed up to the Lakes again this weekend,
>> [snip]
>>
>> Just as we were heading back after a week lazing around doing
>> absolutely nothing (and no walking) in Eskdale and Hawkshead.
>>
>>> There was a Pickfords lorry on the
>>> A595 ahead of me; it then astonished me by taking the fell road over
>>> to Ulpha!
>>
>> Good gracious! We have a 9-seater Sherpa lookalike minibus
>> which didn't altogether approve of the Ulpha Fell road. Mind,
>> it approved of Hardknott and Wrynose Passes even less. We got
>> some very strange glances from other motorists as discretion won
>> over valour and we retraced our 'steps' - in reverse! Just as
>> well we hadn't gone very far, really...
>
>Bloody hell, are you still up?
Is somebody going to post the URL of the pic of the HGV+trailer?
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"
Dave Newton
That'd be me, Phil!
I've put the picture back on my website for a short while. From the url in
the sig look just under the Penguin link a little way down from the top for
the obvious link. The file is 360k so it'll take a minute to load.
If I remember correctly the driver had gone into premises in Eskdale to ask
for 'the quickest way to Ambleside'. He didn't mention the type of vehicle
he was in but you'd think the bloody great signs at the George would have
been a bit of a clue for a professional driver!
--
Dave Newton
Lake District Walk&Photo web site
http://www.daves-lakeland-mountains.co.uk
Fran
> > Is somebody going to post the URL of the pic of the HGV+trailer?
>
>
> That'd be me, Phil!
>
> I've put the picture back on my website for a short while. From the url in
> the sig look just under the Penguin link a little way down from the top for
> the obvious link. The file is 360k so it'll take a minute to load.
Gracious! And I thought that I had problems with my minibus!
Oh my.