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.

Harrison Stickle

We were supposed to have a walk at the end of May but I got an unexpected trip to Marbella to play golf for the weekend so I had to let Peter down!  So this was the postponed walk from May.  Peter picked me up at 6.30 am and we headed west.  The discussion on the journey was should we do Wetherlam or Harrison Stickle.  Both generally in the same direction but Harrison Stickle would be slightly easier to navigate in poor weather.  The forecast was for cloud and rain so we were leaning towards Harrison Stickle but we would decide when we got there.

We drove through the odd shower but also bright skies and as we got to Ambleside we decided that it was too misty to navigate Wetherlam today so decision made to head into the Langdales and to Dungeon Ghyll.  We arrived at the New Dungeon Ghyll hotel around 8.45 am and got the boots on and tucked into the Angus Steak pie (it's been a while).  As we were getting ready however, the rain came down heavy.  With the memory of a wet Hellvelyn still very clear we did not want to start off wet so we waited, and waited!  Around 9.30 the rain stopped coming down so heavy and we decided to set off.  We walked past the New Dungeon Ghyll hotel and straight away began to climb.  It was still raining, not too heavy but enough for water proofs. 

View from New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. Harrison Stickle top left

The path was very well laid and led us directly up Stickle Gill.  There were paths both sides of the gill, the one on the right was much newer.  We followed this path for some way and then crossed over to the left path.  As we neared the top we took a left up a very steep climb through ferns to Stickle Tarn.  As we reached the tarn with Pavey Ark an imposing sight behind, I could see why Peter had made the detour from the path.  This area around Stickle Tarn is one of those places you remember on these walks, a little like Innominate Tarn in the shadow of Haystacks, a really nice resting spot, particularly on a sunny day.   However as you can see from the next picture, today was not one of those days!

Stickle Tarn with Pavey Ark behind

 We had a bait stop and a cuppa, fed the duck who swam over to see us and fought off the gull that was trying to take the ducks bread, then set off on the last part of the climb.  The next two pictures show Harrison Stickle from the tarn.

Looking up to Harrison Stickle

A closer view of the summit

As we began this short climb we had a very good view of Pavey Ark and as we got higher could see the infamous Jack's Rake, a very narrow path up the mountain.  Both Peter and Steve had told me how difficult it was and I was quite pleased that Pavey Ark does not feature on the list of tops I have to conquer!  The weather was improving slightly now with a little sunshine appearing although as we got higher the wind increased.

Looking back down to Stickle Tarn

By the time we reached the summit the wind was very strong.  There were 2 summit cairns, 20 yards apart, one appeared slightly higher than the other but I touched both just to be on the safe side!  It was too windy to get a photo so we turned around and started back down to a more sheltered spot to decide on our descent.  There was a scree run about half an hour away or we could go down the same way we ascended.  I decided my knees were not suited to the stresses of a scree run so we opted for the latter.

Pavey Ark

We walked back to the tarn and then set off back down Stickle Gill.  We still had the water proofs on mainly because it was a little chilly although as we descended it started to warm up a little more.  As we got back down to around 4 or 500 feet we took the jackets off and by now it was reasonably sunny and warm.  

We got back to the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel for about 2pm and decided to go straight in for a drink before crossing the road to the car.  It was still sunny so we sat outside, looking back up Stickle Gill admiring our efforts!  Pretty soon it started to rain so we had to retire inside.  It rained most of the way home too, so we were quite lucky with the walk, dodging the really heavt showers.  Another great day on the fells though with a short but very steep walk up the highest peak in the Langdales.  We provisionally planned a walk in mid July - unexpected trips to Spain permitting!

See you next time.