The Mosedale Round - The Last Day of Summer?

I rolled up at Wasdale Head a little before sunrise. When I exited the car the temperature was about 8 degrees and there was hardly a breath of wind! It felt positively summer like.  The skies were clear and my relief at having finally reached my destination after a brutal drive turned to excitement and awe at being in such a magnificent place.

I quietly kitted up, it felt like every man and beast in the valley was still asleep and I was conscious I may wake them.

setting off; Pillar beckons ahead

I made my way past the delightful looking Inn and on up to Mosedale.  The warm-up is a gentle mosey up into Mosedale and along the valley before hooking right and steadily ascending to Black Sail Pass, the incline is merciful and gaining height is relatively painless by this means.

Mosedale is delightful

the early sun starting to catch the tops

'on the up', looking back across to Red Pike

As I made my way along Mosedale and up to the pass I was overjoyed at the magnificent weather. Days like this are so rare and I had been saving the Mosedale Round for a good while waiting for the right day. When I reached the pass the views across to and beyond the Buttermere fells opened up. I revelled at Haystacks, High Stile, Red Pike (B), Fleetwith Pike, Crag Hill and Grasmoor, Hindscarth, Robinson, Dalehead. Some of which are old friends and some are friends I have yet to meet.

nice

On reaching the pass it's a brief trundle up to the first Nuttall of the day: Looking Stead. Oddly enough the views from Looking Stead are excellent.

left to right - The flanks of Pillar, Ennerdale, High Stile

Pillar from Looking Stead

Looking Stead summit cairn

I couldn't stop marvelling at the magnificent day I had been bestowed with. I have two days off per week and in November the chances of both those days being a bit drab are high.  The skies were blue and clear, and the wind was gentle. All I needed was my base layer and wind-shell and it stayed that way all day!

Having tagged Looking Stead I bimbled down to the col and a little way up the ridgeline ascent of Pillar. My ideal objective was to hit the High Level Route, and today felt ideal. The cairn marking the fork is rather understated though, in fact I overshot and had to back-track.  The High Level Route starts by dropping down and across a gully and constitutes a marked change of pace!  The path is narrow and even faint in places, and undulates whilst traversing the steep slopes with a quasi-scrambly moments. In fact I became quite worried as to whether I was even on the right path as I saw another trod coming and going a short distance further down, which seemed to traverse slightly less steep terrain. I reassured myself that I was on a well enough trodden route from the slight wear on the rocky sections and intermittent path, and proceeded with caution.

looking back to Looking Stead from whence I had come

Scarth Gap

The High-Level Route

Still on the High-Level Route (I think)

Soaring over Ennerdale

the marble / quartz formation on these rocks was fascinating

the top end of Ennerdale

When I reached Robinson's Cairn any doubts about me being on the right path were erased.

funny story, I tried to position this photo to show Robinson's Cairn with Robinson in the distance. On reflection it would appear that Hindscarth is the peak directly to the right (I had them mixed up)

these clouds were ace

Looking across Pillar Cove to Pillar Rock

I followed the path up Pillar cove, but when it branched right I decided 'that must be the climbers return route from Pillar Rock' and that I should keep going up on intermittent scree. It's always when I think I know better than to check the map that I go wrong! I have the BMC map with the super-large-scale inlay of this intricate area in my backpack but do I bother to consult it?

Eventually I did check the map and figured out I should have taken the right, which was now way below me. I figured I might try and traverse over to where the path should be, across the shoulder to my right. I found a metal marker and vague path, maybe forged by others who had made the same error?

too religious?

The photo doesn't show it so clearly, but the back path was blocked by this chock-stone which I scrambled around. Fun.

I joined the proper path with awesome views of Pillar Rock from above

A clear view to Skiddaw and Blencathra now

Pillar Summit has cairns and shelters coming out the wazoo

Great Gable and the Scafell range

I stopped briefly for a sandwich on Pillar summit, this was the highest peak of the day at 892m. Next up was the ridge walk to Black Crag, Scoat Fell then Steeple.

Looking back to Pillar from Black Crag

across Mosedale with the Sca Fells ahead

Black Crag, Scoat Fell ahead and Steeple on the right

herdwick

Steeple

the ridgeline approach to Steeple

Ennerdale Water

Looking back from Steeple, Pillar on the left, Black Crag centre and Great Gable looming in the distance

Scoat Fell summit is quite understated, it is a small cairn on the wall, which sits obviously higher than the alternative cairn which is found a little further on. I pressed on to Steeple which is reached readily from Scoat Fell, before retracing my steps over Scoat Fell and down trackless toward Red Pike (W).  Wasdale's mountains have awesome names, Great Gable, Pillar, Steeple, some of the best names around I think.

Red Pike

Kirk Fell

The green fields of Wasdale nestle between some of England's greatest fells

I stopped for a rest and further sandwiches on Red Pike before heading down to the col. I decided on hitting Yewbarrow and completing the round as per the Nuttall's suggested route proper.  Their guide affirmed that the Stirrup Crag scramble up to Yewbarrow North Top was not one to be missed. The path down to Dore Head (the col) is not too steep and ideal for a swift descent.  Yewbarrow starts to loom all the more as one reaches Dore Head.

Yewbarrow

going up

the scramble is a treat

fun

Not kidding, I ran into more people whilst ascending the Stirrup Crag scramble than I did all day. They just kept on coming! There was one party with a dog and I exclaimed 'it's steep down there'!  I won't claim I know everything about dogs but I'm quite sure it would be something between stressful and impossible getting one down this.  I heard distant whimpering as I ascended.  I'd say it qualifies for a grade 1 scramble, it's not the longest but if Tryfan's South Ridge is a Grade 1 then this most certainly is and I'm sure it's steeper in places.

North Yewbarrow

Shortly after tagging Yewbarrow north top a nice man congratulated me on getting as far as I had with the round and said there's not much more climbing left now. We stopped and chatted a while.

Yewbarrow

After a final rest stop and final sandwich, I tried the Nuttall's suggested descent of the bilberry runnel instead of following the path which is apparently badly eroded. I reckon I got this terribly wrong as I wound up picking my way down a ridiculously steep slope of heather and bilberry. What a palaver!

the steep slope I wound up on!

The final section of descent alongside the wall here

looking over Wast Water to Lingmell, Scafell Pike and Sca Fell

Lingmell

The day concludes with a couple of kilometers' stroll along the road back to Wasdale Head. I felt tired but not completely done in, and was pleased that the days endeavours had felt well within my grasp.

After taking off my boots I visited the teaming Inn for a pint of full-fat Pepsi which I sunk at speed before heading back. I think I really needed the sugar! I stopped on the drive out to get a couple of photos as the light was just incredible at sunset.

What a magnificent day!

The Kentmere Round - 1st November 2018

The Kentmere Horseshoe is a well-known and well-documented round, but one I had previously overlooked (again these aren't the very highest mountains in The Lakes and as such, I had assumed they wouldn't be any fun). Again I found that I had left this fine bunch of fells too long, this is a classic round with just enough miles and vert to make it a satisfying day out.

On arrival at Kentmere I was glad to be there early, as there are minimal parking opportunities, literally space for about 7 cars at the village hall when not in use. I hoped it wasn't going to be used later in the day and contributed the suggested donation (or the best part of it based on what I had available)

I took the less obvious path up to the gap on the right, on the Nuttalls' recommendation

looking back

Yoke ahead

the path merges with a good track up Yoke. The clouds were slowly clearing off to the East.

Windermere

the summit of Yoke

On reflection, the climb up to Yoke really isn't bad, there's enough to sustain interest and apart from the aforementioned short-cut it's not so steep. There are a couple of boggy bits on that route, but the Nuttall's account suggests there are worse boggy bits on the longer route anyway. Nothing to get overly frustrated with. I started near sunrise and it was a damp chilly morning, but the wind was low.  The cloud cover slowly shifted away but I remained in it's shadow for a good while.  It was just about OK in the fleece and windshell, but had to keep moving. Winter's certainly on the way.

peering over the gate to Ill Bell, my next objective

there are a good number of old fence posts kicking about

Magnificent Cairns compete for the highest point on Ill Bell

Once the sun cleared the clouds I was most pleased. I feel like every walk for the last 3 months has been drab and overcast. Given the temperature, it was nice to garner a little heat from the sun.

Looking South

I think this is Froswick summit cairn. Looking North to the next objective, Thornthwaite Crag

Herdwick being adorable as always

Looking back along the ridge, Froswick with Ill Bell looming behind

This post marks the turn for High Street. I chose to visit Thornthwaite Crag also.

The cairn is mental. And a bit rude looking!

The stupendously large cairn on Thornthwaite Crag posed a bit of an issue for me as I like to touch the very top point of each cairn in order to successfully bag a peak. Standing on the 'balls shaped' bit to the right, I managed to reach up and pretty much touch the top with one of my walking poles. I decided this would have to do.

Shortly after I encountered the first other human life of the day in the form of a sighting of a couple behind me (who remained behind me for the rest of the round) and a fell runner coming back from High Street.  It was magnificent to visit High Street on a clear day but the tops of some of the Eastern Fells were obscured by cloud and Cross Fell and friends even more-so.

High Street summit (Racecourse Hill)

Racecourse Hill has some fantastic history, a Roman road, festivals, and horse races

I stopped for well earned sandwiches, using the wall to shelter from the breeze on High Street. I heard voices passing on the path just below and I thought it sacrilidge to come within metres of a summit and not tag the damn thing, not least as this is the tallest of the Far Eastern Fells.

The threesome of Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick on the left there

looking ahead along the ridgeline to my next objective, Harter Fell. Mardale Ill Bell is in the foreground, it's not got the prominence to be a Nuttall but it looks ideal for a wild camp.

Kentmere Reservoir

The crossroads at Nan Bield Pass. It's important to look both ways for oncoming traffic.

Looking back from whence I had come

Clouds looming in the West

The cairn on Harter Fell is sadly deflated in comparison to when the Nuttalls sketched it. It's still interesting though.

It's a steady and fairly flat grassy stroll over to the last summit of the day: Kentmere Pike

On the way down now, looking back up at an inordinately tall stile

Looking across the valley

It was gorgeous in the valley and the temperature was delightfully mild compared to the tops

The route down from Kentmere Pike to Hallow Bank is a bit eroded and slow going in places but not bad.  I took off a layer as I arrived in the warmer climes of the valley, and found it to be a delightful place. It wasn't much further back to the car which is good because the first smattering of rain of the day came in. A rainbow heralded the removal of my boots.