Kirk Fell

It was my turn to drive and we were planning one of the walks I had been dreading since we did Yewbarrow back in August 2013.  I remember sitting at a great bait stop on Yewbarrow overlooking Kirk Fell thinking that is going to be a tough walk.  As I set off for Peter before 6 am it was pouring with rain although the forecast was for showers and clear spells with heavy rain late in the day.

We arrived at Honister Slate Mine on the Honister Pass just before 8.30 again in heavy rain.  The rain seemed to stop for a minute and then start up again so we sat in the car for maybe half an hour.  It seemed to clear enough for us to start walking although we had waterproofs on from the start.

The start of the walk is one we have done many times up the old tramway towards Drum House.

On the track up to Drum House

When we reached Drum House we turned left, heading in the direction of Brandreth to join Moses Trod.

Looking back down the track from Drum House

Our path from Drum House

We were beginning to climb slowly again and whilst it was still cloudy there were signs of some clearer spells too.

Looking back to Haystacks (the dark mountain on the left) and Buttermere and Crummock Water beyond.

The path levelled out and we had a long spell of walking on the flat and even slightly descending.

Long, steady path took us to our first bait stop

The path took us to our first bait stop almost 2.5 hours into the walk.

Our first sight of Kirk Fell

Our bait stop gave us our first sight of Kirk Fell although if it had been clearer we would have been able to see if for the past hour. Also immediately behind us was Great Gable.  We stopped for 20 minutes, fuelled up ready for the big push to the summit.

View of Wasdale

As we set off from the bait stop we descended rapidly towards Beck Head Tarn with Kirk Fell right behind it.

Kirk Fell in all its glory with Beck Head Tarn in front

From this point it looked a very steep climb to the summit and I said I hope it is easier than it looks.  As it turned out it was easier than it looked.  It was a steep climb and loose under foot in places but an hour after the photo above we were at the summit.

The summit getting closer

and closer

and closer

We arrived at the summit at 12.30 with some great views.

Great Gable from Kirk Fell summit

Panorama of the north western fells including Grasmoor, Skiddaw and Blencathra

As usual it was windy at the top so we headed back down on the same path.  The hardest part of the descent was right ahead with the drop back down to Beck Head Tarn and back up to our bait stop.  We stopped at the same bait stop again with a slightly different view.  Now that the cloud had cleared, we could see the path we were going to take from right to left.

Our high level path back to the car

We set off on the path and could now see the might of Kirk Fell.  To be honest if we had seen this view earlier in the morning it may have been more daunting.

Kirk Fell

Panorama showing Haystacks, High Crag behind, Buttermere, Crummock Water and Fleetwith Pike

We got back to the car at 3.50 pm so a long walk, 30,000 steps according to my Fitbit and just under 7.5 miles as the stats below show.

Stats from Viewranger

Graph from Viewranger showing Speed, distance and altitude

Kirk Fell was a great top to bag out of the final eight and strangely in spite of the long distance, I felt the best I have felt after a walk in a long time.  Only the "magnificent" seven left to do now.  We are hoping to get Catstycam done this year and that leaves Scafell, Lingmell, Pillar, Scoat Fell, Haycock and Iron Crag.

See you on the next one.

Glaramara

We were due a walk and had narrowed it down to the Buttermere Fells or Glaramara.  Peter said if it was clear then Glaramara would be the best bet.  In mist it can be difficult to find your way off the top.  That statement proved to be completely true as we were to find out!

Return of the Scotch Eggs

After no walks in most of August and September it was time to get back out again.  It was my turn to drive and I agreed to pick Peter up at 6.30 and head over towards Keswick and decide what top to do.  As we crossed over Bowes Moor it began to clear so we decided Glaramara would be our destination today.  We arrived at Seathwaite just after 8.30 am, got the boots on and then headed off through the farm and up towards Grains Gill.  

Looking back down Grains Gill

We also saw the return of an old favourite - the Scotch Eggs for breakfast!  With a hearty breakfast under our belts we headed up Grains Gill towards Great End with Glaramara to our left all the way up.  

It was a steady climb, whilst it was cooler than it had been the past few weeks, it was still relatively warm for October.  We stopped about two thirds of the way up Grains Gill for some bait.  The cloud was low straight ahead at Great End but the summit of Glaramara was always in view.  

Glaramara on the right of this picture

Looking up Grains Gill towards Great End

We set off again after a brief break towards Great End and our turning point Esk Hause.  I had been to Esk Hause before when we climbed Great End and Esk Pike.  It's a very busy crossroads with many popular walks in the area.  At this point we turned left towards Allen Crags and could see the summit of Glaramara in the distance.  As we approached the following picture it was nice and clear and literally as I stopped to take the camera out of my bag the mist rolled in.  I still managed to get a reasonable shot of the Langdales though.

Harrison Stickle and Pavey Ark from near Esk Hause

As we walked over Allen Crags, I was feeling quite good, the climb had not been too strenuous and I knew I had plenty left for the descent.  However the climb from here was one of those frustrating climbs.  First of all it was one of my least favourite surfaces, a very rocky path where you had to pick your steps between the rocks very carefully. It was also one of those walks where you felt the next summit was the last, only to find when you reached the summit it was not.  The last two of these false summits were particularly frustrating as I rounded the summit and noticed a reasonable descent and then another summit!

Lincomb Tarns with the Langdales behind

We ploughed on towards the top although by now the cloud was rolling in on the summit which made finding it quite difficult.  We eventually reached the top around 12.40.  There was a shelter at the top although someone had beaten us to it.  We sat behind some rocks and had lunch, waiting for it to clear a little so we could find the way down.  We sat for about 15 or 20 minutes with the cloud only lifting very slightly.  A short while later it cleared enough to see a path down which we took.  

At the summit of Glaramara

Very quickly we were at the top of a very rocky scramble, about 20 or 30 feet high.  We slid our way down the scramble to a path and headed off down in the general direction of the car.  As we dropped down further it started to clear more and more.  Peter was marching off into the distance and I quickly realised he was concerned that we had maybe missed the path back down to the car, which would have been on the left somewhere.

Fleetwith Pike in the centre and in sun

Peter was well ahead at this stage when I stopped for these 2 photos of a sunny Fleetwith Pike and Borrowdale.  Looking over to my left I could see Peter waving me over.  We had missed the path down and could see behind us the path back down to the car.

Borrowdale

However the only problem was between us and the path was a huge gully.  The only way to cross it was to go back up!  It was now approaching 3 pm and we were going to start climbing again.  Not the best news I had received!  The option was to continue down the edge we were on but end up 4 or 5 miles down the road and then face a long walk back to the car.  Going back up to come down seemed the lesser of two evils!  So we started to climb until we got to a point where we could cross the gully and then try to find the path.  The path was not obvious but eventually we found it and began to descend at last.  By now however my legs were finished and we were still around 800 to 1000 feet high and on a very steep descent!  Every step was painful and had to be carefully picked as it was very rocky.  This was the worst descent I have had since St Sunday Crag.  Eventually however we reached a wall and were then on the home straight back down to the farm and the car.  We reached the car around 4.45 pm, 8 hours since we left it!  A very long day but satisfying that another one was under my belt, that's 6 this year with hopefully another one or maybe even two before 2013 is out.

See you on the next one, probably early November.