This note is just a memoir of those days with a few photos taken when it wasn’t raining.

Friday 24 September

• Nab Scar, Heron Pike, Great Rigg

Rydal Water

Saturday 25 September

• Calf Crag, Gibson Knott

Stepping stones near Travellers Rest

Sunday 26 September

• Raven Crag, High Seat, High Tove, Armboth Fell

View from High Seat

Monday 27 September

• Fellbarrow, Low Fell

Tuesday 28 September

• Sallows

Wednesday 29 September

• Loft Crag, Harrison Stickle, Pavey Ark, Thunakar Knott, High Raise, Sergeant Man

Stickle Ghyll, Langdale

Stickle Tarn, Harrison Stickle and Pavey Ark

Staying at The Shepherd’s Arms, Ennerdale Bridge.

Day 3 – 27 May

Mellbreak

Route: From NT car park NW of Buttermere village; Crummock Water path to Scale Beck crossing; W up Black Beck until path on R (not on all OS maps) leaves for Mellbreak at NY148173. Return by similar (but better) route crossing to Scale Force and following path across lower slopes to join lakeside path at 2nd(?) footbridge (NY153170).

Weather: Fine and clear.

The classic view of Mellbreak across Crummock Water

Unlike many Lake District fells Mellbreak stands alone, not linked by a ridge to any other hill. It’s a fine objective, and this day was a good day. Of the two tops the southern one (on the left in the photo) is the higher by three metres, which is fortunate because a) it was the one I reached first, b) I wanted to go into Keswick later and c) someone I met at the top said walking to the other top wasn’t worth it and the dip was very boggy. It was a good enough excuse. But it was a good short day and i shall definitely go back.

Grasmoor across Crummock Water; Rannerdale Knotts in the middle ground.

Crummock Water & Buttermere from Mellbreak

Day 4 – 28 May

Haycock, Caw Fell

Route: From car park at Bowness (Ennerdale) to first bridge over River Liza (Char Dub); up tongue between Deep Gill and Silvercove Beck. E to Haycock, back and W to Caw Fell; retrace route to return.

Weather: Murky.

The walk along the lakeside track in Ennerdale is always a pleasure. Yellow Welsh poppies featured prominently along the way. The path up the tongue is clear and easily found by continuing straight ahead after crossing the bridge over the Liza, turning right uphill after crossing a footbridge over Silvercove Beck and before crossing another over Deep Gill.

This path doesn’t seem to quite make it to the summit ridge; it veers off to the west about 100m short. Destination (if any) unknown.

There is a substantial wall along the summit at the depression between Haycock and Caw Fell. The two summits I visited are on different sides but there are enough fenced gaps or stiles to make climbing it unnecessary.

It stayed dry, the summits were clear and visibility was reasonably good but the air was grey and murky, draining the colour out of the landscape to a dull palette of browns and greys – so no photos except for the two summits.

The cairn by the wall at Haycock summit

Caw Fell summit

Thanks to my hosts at The Shepherd’s Arms for a friendly welcome, a comfortable bed and good meals. And thanks too to The Gather, Ennerdale @GatherEnnerdale for tea, hot chocolate, cake and scone.

Staying at The Shepherd’s Arms, Ennerdale Bridge.

Day 1 – 25 May

(am) Lank Rigg, Crag Fell, Grike; (pm) Hen Comb

Route (am): From bend on Cold Fell Road S of Ennerdale Bridge (NY066130), track then path to col between Whoap & Lank Rigg; Lank Rigg; fence corner at NY102135; track & path to Crag Fell; path to Grike; old mine track to Cold Fell Road; road to start point.

Weather(am): Cloud/mist on hills above about 450m. Strong north-westerly wind on tops and exposed ground. Drizzle.

An easy walk on tracks and paths. Paths are clear on the ground even if not shown on OS maps.

Lank Rigg summit comes into view.

Route (pm): From Bowness (Ennerdale) road S of Whins (NY100165); Floutern Pass track past Floutern Cop then path to Hen Comb. Return same route.

Weather (pm): Mostly bright and clear.

There’s a small space for parking at the roadside S of Whins. DO NOT try to park at Whins itself – local information says the farmer doesn’t like it. For the same reason, keep to the public bridleway until you reach open access land.

Floutern Pass has a reputation for being boggy, but from this side is wasn’t particularly bad – just a bit squelchy in places.

Hen Comb summit; Buttermere in the distance

Ennerdale Water from the Floutern Pass track

Day 2 – 26 May

Burnbank Fell, Blake Fell, Gavel Fell

Route: From Bridleway end N of Lamplugh (NY105225); path on right before high point of track leads to “pile of stones” and Burnbank Fell summit. Path along ridge to Blake and Gavel Fells. Retrace route to return.

Weather: Fine and clear.

The day didn’t start well. I had planned to walk these three south to north starting from the parking at Felldyke and using the only path through the forestry plantation at the far end of Cogra Moss reservoir that gives access to the open fells. Twenty minutes in I found the path – and this sign.

Not a good start.

I thought of ignoring it, but further thought about the consequences of turning an ankle on a tree root and needing help, or being accosted by a forestry worker on a quad bike led me to turn round and walk back to the car.

The second attempt was to start from Lamplugh, where a bridleway leaves the road and then a farm track heads to the open fellside. At least, that’s how things were in Wainwright’s day. Landowners seem to be less tolerant of hill-goers these days: this was at the junction with the farm track. There was also a big sign on a gate – “NO ACCESS TO OPEN FELL” daubed in paint on a board.

AW wouldn’t approve.

Driving still further north and Plan C came good. There were more than twenty cars parked on the roadside at the start of the bridleway that leads over to Loweswater and the Kirkstile Inn. I guessed others had the same issues as me.

Once properly on my way the walk and climb up to Burnbank Fell was straightforward. The summit itself is set back from the steeper ground; the best views of Loweswater are from the “Pile of Stones” as the summit plateau is reached.

Loweswater from Burnbank Fell

The summit itself is unremarkable, dominated by the summit ridge fence berated by Wainwright. Following the ridge and the fence to Blake Fell and Gavel Fell was a simple high-level stroll.

Burnbank Fell summit cairn and fence.

A set of Steve’s photos from this trip has been archived on Flickr.

Wainwright doesn’t mention midges in his Lake District guides, so I guess the general view that they’re a fairly recent addition to the Lakeland scene is right. But if it’s also true that they don’t fly if the wind speed is more than 5 mph then they were outdone 12 times over on Friday. Yes, it was the Lake District in June – 60 mile an hour winds, horizontal driving rain, and about 6 degrees C.

I think there were ten of us who met up in Keswick that morning. Most of us had heard the wind howling and rain lashing down on our various windows overnight, and were probably a bit relieved when Leader Steve announced a change of plan. We wouldn’t go too high today, he said, as he thought walking directly into the wind and rain on top of Causey Pike wouldn’t be as enjoyable as walking with the wind and rain blowing in from the side on top of Ard Crags.

I have to say it wasn’t a great morning. Some people were better equipped and perhaps more accustomed to the conditions than others. The smallest and lightest person in the group was blown over once (no, it wasn’t me), and some others got extremely wet and rather cold. But we made it over Ard Crags and Knott Rigg and down to the relative safety of Newlands Hause for a decision about the afternoon. The rain was showing signs of stopping and the wind seemed to have eased a bit, but no-one was keen to go high again so it was back to Newlands church for lunch and then to the cars. Here some decided to call it a day and a smaller group set off to conquer Catbells, which objective was duly accomplished in the dry and even with occasional sunshine.

Saturday was better. The forecast was mostly cloudy with showers and lighter winds and this turned out to be about right. Steve’s decision: Helvellyn and The Dodds. The group had grown overnight with Paul and Jim joining us to make twelve. (I might not have got these numbers exactly right, but you get the general idea.) It was an easy route up Helvellyn from the southern end of St Johns-in-the-Vale. Although we were in mist and occasional drizzle by the time we reached the summit, the lighter winds were a welcome change from the day before.

It drizzled and rained on and off during the day but we had plenty of dry periods too, and even some times when the mist lifted and we had views. The heaviest rain and wind was while we on the summit of Raise, where the Global Positioning Sub-Committee decided to hold a meeting to compare their equipment. I confess I didn’t stay around to hear the outcome.

Three Dodds later we ended the day with an interesting descent christened Steve’s Triple-D. The triple D stands for Direct Doddle Down. It should have had a Health & Safety warning sign “Slippery When Wet”, as I demonstrated more than adequately – one for each D, in fact. A few midges found us while we waited at the bottom for everyone to catch up.

And then it was Sunday. Where would we go, we wondered? Steve spoke. It was to be Friday’s abandoned route of the Coledale Round, starting with Causey Pike and ending with Grisedale Pike. Only Nicole joined Steve for the steep ascent of Rowling End: the rest of us opted for the gradual uphill path to the foot of the climb up Causey Pike. A couple of scrambly bits tested the determination of one or two of the group, but we all made it in the end. After that it was a series of ups and downs, sometimes in mist, sometimes not. The air was humid and the Midge Met Office had declared that the wind was less than 5mph so even though we kept moving we couldn’t completely escape their attentions.

After lunch the group split, with Steve and three others opting for the extra bonus Wainwright of Grasmoor. The other six of us took the easier option of heading straight for Hopegill Head and Grisedale Pike, which were duly reached and left behind, ending the day with the long descent to Braithwaite village.

Although I didn’t stay for the shorter walk on Monday it had been a good weekend. We’d done some good walks and visited a good number of Wainwrights. The cuts and bruises are healing nicely and the midge bites have almost stopped itching. If Steve can be persuaded to do it again next year I’ll be booking my place.

Walkers:

Andy, Bobbie, Deborah, Ian, Jackie, Jeff, Nicole, Paul, Rebecca, Steve, Tony G, Tony T

A set of Steve’s photos from this trip has been archived on Flickr.

This article is also archived on the Thames Valley LDWA website.