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.

Great End and Esk Pike

Only 3 weeks since the last walk but we wanted to get out this weekend as it may be a while before the next one with Easter coming up and holidays etc. Steve couldn't make it so only Peter and myself on this walk. We probably picked the worst weekend to walk as the clocks went forward so we lost an hours sleep! To compensate for this Peter picked me up at 6.30 am (BST!) and we were on our way to Borrowdale. On the way we decided to park at Seathwaite and walk up to Esk Hause and then decide which tops to do, we had a choice of Glaramara, Great End, Esk Pike or indeed the Scafells. The Australian Grand Prix was on the radio for the journey and we arrived at Seathwaite about 8.30 am, got ready, tucked into the Angus Steak pies and set off walking about 8.45. The car park was already starting to fill up. It was cloudy on the tops at this stage but even this early we could tell it was going to clear later. We considered going up Taylorgill Force but thought we were going out of the way a little so went over Stockley Bridge and straight up Grains Gill. We had our first bait stop at the foot of Sprinkling Crags.

After a cuppa we set off and walked a little further until we were at the foot of Great End. A great slab of rock right in front of us with a large gully in the middle (Central Gully) covered in snow and a smaller gully (Custs Gully) to the right as we looked at it.

From this point we could see where the path joined us had we taken the route up Taylorgill Force. There was also a great view of

Great Gable from this point.

The path took us round to the left and up to Esk Hause where we would turn right up to the summit. Esk Hause seemed to be a very busy junction where lots of walks criss crossed. There was one guy stood there who said he was not going to the top as he couldn't see anything, seemed a shame as he was so close to several great tops from this point. We carried on our way to the summit reaching it just after 11.30.

We were still in cloud at this stage but it was clearing from time to time. We dropped down off the top and found ourselves looking down Central Gully which we had been looking up not long ago.

We walked round the top of Great End and stopped for another cuppa and it was now starting to clear.

The shot on the left is looking back towards Glaramara and the one on the right is looking across Esk Hause to Esk Pike with Bowfell behind it. We decided at this stage that we would head towards Esk Pike meaning we would get 2 top 10 mountains chalked off today.

We stopped a while, had some more bait and a good look around at the clearing summits, it was a great view from here. We then set off down to the Hause and up the short, rocky climb to Esk Pike.

We reached the 2nd summit of the day just after 1pm. Both mountains are in excess of 2900 feet so a satisfying morning! This was a really good walk with lots to see. The picture below is from the summit of Esk Pike looking towards the Scafells

We descended Esk Pike on exactly the same path as the ascent, back down to Esk Hause. By now it was like Piccadilly Circus here, with lots of fell runners out today and a very busy walking day! We walked around Great End and down Grains Gill. We stopped at the foot of Great End again for a final bait stop in very warm sunshine. We set off for the car and with very tired legs made it back just after 3.30.

A very good day on the fells although it will probably be May before we can get the next walk in. I am now half way through my challenge of 71 tops.

See you on the next walk.