Thursday/Friday 23rd/24th July 2015 - Lake District - The Howke, Back O' Skiddaw

Thurs/Friday 23rd/24th July  Lake District -Back O' Skiddaw


Thursday - The Howke


The weather was OK Thursday but after the push of the walk Weds we decided on a steadier day, visiting Carlisle garden centre and craft shop for Susan and I took a trip to The Howke waterfall near Caldbeck later that afternoon. Got a reasonable shot away form the main fall, as access to view the main fall was very poor and restricted, with tree branches obscuring any view. Quite a reasonable pic of the smaller falls close up though, and it did need a bit of scrambling down near a bridge to get anywhere close.

Used tripod, polariser and slow shutter speed to capture image below.

Friday - Back O' Skiddaw

Friday an we were back with all guns blazing for a walk, but the weather was forecast as a bit mixed so we elected upon some lower fells at the Back o Skiddaw, near Uldale, Bassenthwaite.

The starting point for Longhands fell was a bit remote and parking was a small cut in with room for about 2 vehicles near the hamlet of Longlands. Setting off at 11:15 we headed through a gate and onto the Cumbria Way path.

The route was very grassy and some paths indistinct, but the going generally very easy.

The start of the route heads along the Cumbria Way and is pretty flat and a good wide track, before heading off right along a grassy slope towards Longlands fell.

Once ascended 500ft or so the path becomes a bit more distinct and easier to follow to the small cairn marker of Longlands Fell at 1584ft.

Good view out North towards the Solway Firth and bottom end of Scotland (Gretna).

Heading across Longlands we continued to follow the grassy path, descending slightly and bypassing Lowthwaite Fell (not a Wainwright) to reach Broad Moss skirting Lowthwaite along a nice easy path.

Broad Moss Below......

We then ascended gradually to Little Sca Fell

Then onto the 2nd Wainwright of the day Great Sca Fell at 2135ft and a slightly larger Cairn.

A further easy descent and another half mile we ascended Knott 2329ft to bag the 3rd Wainwright.

Good view here all around to Skiddaw South, Solway Firth North and Blencathra East.

From Knott we retraced our steps back to Great Sca Fell, Little Sca Fell, and after descending here instead of heading down to Broad Moss, we continued north and upwards to the 4th Wainwright of Brae Fell 1922ft.

The path up to Brae Fell was a joy, with excellent views across to the Solway Firth.

The path leading from Little Sca Fell to Brae Fell, nice, grassy and easy!

Summit of Brae Fell 1922ft, then turn back and follow the a shorter grassy path back and down to Broad Moss.

Here keep right and follow close to the Gill and a grassy path leads back to the main Cumbria Way path

Back on the Cumbria Way, and stop for photos of a rather photogenic line of trees in the distance with a mountain backdrop.

We finished around 16:30, having been out for just over 5 enjoyable hours.
A good walk with good views and easy grassy paths.

Our Walk Score: 8/10

Lake District Thurs 18th September 2014

Lake District 18th September 2014

Thursday - Helvellyn via Raise

Thursday brought a forecast for good weather, and so an early start was prompted for us to tackle Helvellyn. This walk was not going to be by the usual route most take via Striding Edge, but from the Western side near to where we were staying. The approach is via Sticks pass and then traverses the Northern spine of the range by Raise and Whiteside to Helvellyn Summit.

The route would begin from Stanah, just a few miles up the road from Bram Cragg farm, and we parked at the community hall arriving a little before 9am. Parking fee was £2 in the honesty box, which we were more than delighted to pay for a full days parking. 

After getting all our gear together for a long day, we set off up a narrow lane through the small hamlet of Stanah and over a stile at the lane end onto more open ground. A small waterfall presented itself at Stanah Gill, and some pictures had to be taken. (Hand held - no tripod today)

The route climbs through bracken quite steeply and quite relentless for a mile and a half or more before reaching Sticks Pass. Here an interchange of 4 paths allows travel to all points of the compass. We rested and our destination headed us South towards the summit of Raise. 

There was still some low lying mist around, though quickly changing and moving, revealing the landscape.

After a short push uphill we were soon to the summit of Raise (2900ft) and took another well deserved rest.

The picture below shows the path we had taken to Raise Summit and by now it was getting busier.

Myself in silhouette reaching Raise summit - nice picture Susan!

From Raise we headed a similar distance again to Whiteside with a short descent and another short ascent.

Whiteside Summit (2851ft) and the mist is really beginning to clear now as we headed nearer to mid-day. Whiteside is named after a rash of Quartz stones on its Western slope.

From here the Helvellyn ridges could be seen with Swirral Edge nearest and Striding edge out of view though in the above picture. 

Looking back from Whiteside Summit the path we had travelled.

From Whiteside we could see ahead a steep and rocky ascent up to Helvellyn Lower Man, see picture below.....

Nearly up Helvellyn Lower Man (3035ft)

From Helvellyn Lower Man, the going is then easy with a wide flat plateau leading to the summit cairn and shelter of Hevellyn itself.

The view from Helvellyn Lower Man down the path we came

Helvellyn Summit shelter (3116ft), and time for a rest and eats, very busy now with people reaching the summit from all directions.

These shots show Red Tarn and both Swirral edge leading to Catstye Cam and Striding edge leading down to Glenridding.

Above: Some braver peeps tackling Swirral Edge

The broad flat summit of Helvellyn and cross-wall wind shelter. 
Helvellyn means "mountain lake of the hunting ground".

Above: Striding edge, see the dots that are people!

Above: Looking down onto Swirral Edge

After a long rest, taking in the fantastic views and more eats we set off back to Helvellyn Lower Man, then continued along this path West rather than descending the way we came.

We had seen some mountain bikes at the summit (how hard is that, carrying bikes up much of the way). The bikes appeared again, though one chap ripped his tyre and went down, luckily not too near the edge!  

Our route down headed with fair steepness and typical rockiness for about a mile.

Thirlmere reservoir was now in view. 

The picture below shows the descent route looking back , quite steep and rocky.

We then  headed off north west along a less distinct sheep track that was the white stones route.
Here, rather than continuing down, the path heads across the steep terrain taking us back towards Stanah. The path slowly descended, but then at a point we had to quickly descent to meet the final path. It was here we encountered some difficulties as the route down was steep and very far form obvious. After a few false turns we found a way through thick bracken but it was far from pleasant.

Finally we reached a decent path and near to ground level this took us back to the bottom of the Sticks Pass path we set off form that morning. The final mile was tiring but thankfully easier going.

We arrived back at the car park 18:30 having left 09:00, some 9.5 hrs earlier, a long tiring but satisfying day.

The view back up our descent route from the Swirls Car Park just further up the road.

Our Walk score: 8/10