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| Carrock Fell |
The Lake District is a very special place for many reasons. For a start, my parent's honeymooned in Langdale at the then Langdale Hotel which is now called Wainwrights, and 41 weeks later I arrived. As a young child my first excursions to the countryside, other than on local jaunts on the family tandem, were always to the Lake District in a hired car, usually an Austin A40, with my Grandma, a spinster aunt and my parents. We queued up with other traffic on the A6 to Lancaster and followed a scenic route through the Lythe valley to Newby Bridge and then up the west side of Windermere where we stopped for a picnic lunch and for Dad to do some fishing. We continued to Langdale and returned via Ambleside where we had ice cream at Waterhead before returning via Kendal and the A6.
Our school trip in the final year at primary school was a week in Newlands near Keswick and our class teacher, the inestimable Norman Duerden, took us hill walking onto Hindscarth and Dale Head as well as walks on the lower hills of Catbells, Orrest Head, Walla Crag and Causey Pike. It remains a fond week in the memory and probably inspired a lifetime of adventures in the mountains.
As a teenager, my first holiday with friends was an eleven-day youth hostelling trip in the Lakes where I fell in love with the Lakeland fells, a wide range of beers and two girls from opposite ends of the Leeds - Liverpool canal. At university most terms ended with a few days spent at a friend's flat in a converted barn on Lake Windermere. We rock climbed in Langdale, sailed and frequently capsized a GP14 dinghy on Windermere, walked and sometimes ran in the fells and visited most of the Lakeland pubs.
Almost all my trips home to Lancashire after moving to Scotland in 1973 were interrupted one way or t' other by a diversion through the lakes, often stopping for a quick excursion into the fells. Since 1984 we have holidayed there every year for a week in Langdale. Although I have climbed the popular hills like Scafell Pike, Helvellyn, Great Gable, Crinkle Crags and Langdale Pikes on numerous occasions, I eventually began to tick off the 214 hills identified and described with great precision and dry wit by Wainwright in his pictorial guides to the Lakeland fells. That journey is now almost finished and on Thursday I set out with Gregor for 2 days that could only be described as unadulterated Wainwright bashing. I have now only ten left to climb and I would hope to finish next year at the start of the Langdale week. The outings for the two days are described below.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Total Ascent: 1345 metres
Total Distance: 18 kilometres
Total Time: 4 hours 49 minutes
Walk 1
Ascent: 810 metres
Distance: 10km
Time: 2hrs 27mins
Carrock Fell 663metres 1hr 7 mins
High Pike 657metres 1hr 42 mins
Our school trip in the final year at primary school was a week in Newlands near Keswick and our class teacher, the inestimable Norman Duerden, took us hill walking onto Hindscarth and Dale Head as well as walks on the lower hills of Catbells, Orrest Head, Walla Crag and Causey Pike. It remains a fond week in the memory and probably inspired a lifetime of adventures in the mountains.
As a teenager, my first holiday with friends was an eleven-day youth hostelling trip in the Lakes where I fell in love with the Lakeland fells, a wide range of beers and two girls from opposite ends of the Leeds - Liverpool canal. At university most terms ended with a few days spent at a friend's flat in a converted barn on Lake Windermere. We rock climbed in Langdale, sailed and frequently capsized a GP14 dinghy on Windermere, walked and sometimes ran in the fells and visited most of the Lakeland pubs.
Almost all my trips home to Lancashire after moving to Scotland in 1973 were interrupted one way or t' other by a diversion through the lakes, often stopping for a quick excursion into the fells. Since 1984 we have holidayed there every year for a week in Langdale. Although I have climbed the popular hills like Scafell Pike, Helvellyn, Great Gable, Crinkle Crags and Langdale Pikes on numerous occasions, I eventually began to tick off the 214 hills identified and described with great precision and dry wit by Wainwright in his pictorial guides to the Lakeland fells. That journey is now almost finished and on Thursday I set out with Gregor for 2 days that could only be described as unadulterated Wainwright bashing. I have now only ten left to climb and I would hope to finish next year at the start of the Langdale week. The outings for the two days are described below.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Total Ascent: 1345 metres
Total Distance: 18 kilometres
Total Time: 4 hours 49 minutes
Walk 1
Ascent: 810 metres
Distance: 10km
Time: 2hrs 27mins
High Pike 657metres 1hr 42 mins
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| Blencathra from Carrock Fell |
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| High Pike from Carrock Fell |
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| High Pike |
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| Carrock Fell from High Pike |
We left Glasgow at 9:30am after Gregor sorted out a job offer and we made good time down to the lakes before the traffic controls to allow the arrival of the Pope in Glasgow kicked in. I calculated that there would be time to climb Carrock Fell and High Pike near Caldbeck and then drive on to Borrowdale to do another couple of hills in the late afternoon.
Gregor directed me with great precision to a starting point for Carrock Fell and High Pike at Calebrack. There was ford which looked too deep for my car so we stopped short, parked on some common land and ventured out into the breezy cool air and ascended the Carrock Beck for some distance before deciding that we would climb Carrock Fell first. There was a steep grassy slope with a well-used track providing a quick if tiring route to the summit. The top was amidst a boulder field with a splendid cairn, now looking far higher than the one captured in Wainwright's sketch. It was chilly for September but the views were very good in all directions.
We set out to cross the boggy marshland to High Pike and I was grateful for Goretex shoes. Gregor quickly gave up any pretence of keeping his feet dry and tried on a couple of occasions to push me into deeper water, he needn't have bothered my feet were wet too but I was not going to admit that, it is discomforting enough trying to keep up with him. There were quite a few walkers out and about including half a dozen at the summit of High Pike. It looked like pension day at the post office with Gregor taking photos for grateful groups of older ladies with their walking poles. We descended directly passing the Driggeth mine and the large shale deposits and then found a good track which brought us back to the ford and helpful pedestrian bridge.
We were well ahead of schedule and popped into Keswick to buy a snack at the Coop. We were only inside for a couple of minutes but I managed to pick up a £50 parking fine as they had introduced a new parking system and I had not displayed a parking disc inside what was always the coop car park. I went to the Council offices and lodged my appeal with the helpful staff who admitted that they had no discs and that it seemed unfair. They encouraged me to write an appeal which I did before we set off down Borrowdale or England's grandest valley.
Walk 2
Ascent: 535 metres
Distance: 8km
Time: 2hrs 22mins
Eagle Crag 503metres 44 mins
Sergeant's Crag 571metres 1hr 37mins
We drove up to Stonethwaite and continued to the campsite at the end of the track, pitched the tent on the banks of the blue/green beck and immediately set off for Eagle Crag which loomed above us. Wainwright had said 'This is a beautiful fell, often admired, seldom ascended'. We soon found out why. We crossed the Langstrath beck and contoured round the base until we found a faint trace of a path by Lakeland standards that took us up through the bracken to the crags where Ravens were circling. It was then a crag maze as we zig-zagged our way to the summit. But it was well worth it with great views back to Borrowdale and a whole showcase of Lakeland fells surrounding us at all points of the compass.
We made the short crossing to Sergeant's Crag and then a steep descent westwards to Black Moss pot during which a passing shower gave us a good soaking. The Cumbria Way followed the beck and gave us an easy trek back to the campsite. We dumped our rucksacks in the car and continued the walk down to the Langstrath Country Inn, a traditional Lakeland pub with a fine menu and selection of beers. We enjoyed a superb supper of traditional steak and kidney pudding washed down with some Jennings Cumbria ale before continuing to the hotel at Rossthwaite to watch some football and have a couple more beers and then walking back to the tent.
Gregor directed me with great precision to a starting point for Carrock Fell and High Pike at Calebrack. There was ford which looked too deep for my car so we stopped short, parked on some common land and ventured out into the breezy cool air and ascended the Carrock Beck for some distance before deciding that we would climb Carrock Fell first. There was a steep grassy slope with a well-used track providing a quick if tiring route to the summit. The top was amidst a boulder field with a splendid cairn, now looking far higher than the one captured in Wainwright's sketch. It was chilly for September but the views were very good in all directions.
We set out to cross the boggy marshland to High Pike and I was grateful for Goretex shoes. Gregor quickly gave up any pretence of keeping his feet dry and tried on a couple of occasions to push me into deeper water, he needn't have bothered my feet were wet too but I was not going to admit that, it is discomforting enough trying to keep up with him. There were quite a few walkers out and about including half a dozen at the summit of High Pike. It looked like pension day at the post office with Gregor taking photos for grateful groups of older ladies with their walking poles. We descended directly passing the Driggeth mine and the large shale deposits and then found a good track which brought us back to the ford and helpful pedestrian bridge.
We were well ahead of schedule and popped into Keswick to buy a snack at the Coop. We were only inside for a couple of minutes but I managed to pick up a £50 parking fine as they had introduced a new parking system and I had not displayed a parking disc inside what was always the coop car park. I went to the Council offices and lodged my appeal with the helpful staff who admitted that they had no discs and that it seemed unfair. They encouraged me to write an appeal which I did before we set off down Borrowdale or England's grandest valley.
Walk 2
Ascent: 535 metres
Distance: 8km
Time: 2hrs 22mins
Eagle Crag 503metres 44 mins
Sergeant's Crag 571metres 1hr 37mins
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| The ascent of Eagle Crag |
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| Borrowdale from Eagle Crag |
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| Sergeant's Crag looking north |
We made the short crossing to Sergeant's Crag and then a steep descent westwards to Black Moss pot during which a passing shower gave us a good soaking. The Cumbria Way followed the beck and gave us an easy trek back to the campsite. We dumped our rucksacks in the car and continued the walk down to the Langstrath Country Inn, a traditional Lakeland pub with a fine menu and selection of beers. We enjoyed a superb supper of traditional steak and kidney pudding washed down with some Jennings Cumbria ale before continuing to the hotel at Rossthwaite to watch some football and have a couple more beers and then walking back to the tent.
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