KYQ4: Wainwright Bashing: Day 2

Catbells, Skiddaw and Derwentwater

Friday, 17 September 2010

Total Ascent: 1980 metres
Total Distance 22 kilometres
Total Time: 8 hours 10 minutes

Walk 1

535metres, 6km, 2hrs 41mins
Bessyboot 551m 1hr 11mins,
Rossthwaite Fell 612m 1hr 27mins

Walk 2

610 metres, 5km, 2hrs 14mins
Maiden Moor 576m 1hr 12mins

Walk 3

835metres, 11km, 3hrs 15mins
Bakestall 673m 55mins
Great Calva 690m 1hr 57mins

After a remarkably comfortable night at Langstrath in the tent, we had a cheese roll and water for breakfast before sauntering out of the campsite and immediately up a steep path through the oak woods by Stanger Gill leading up to the fells above. The Pope may have been in Glasgow today but we felt that we were the ones in heaven. The sharp light played on the bracken and the crags provided an intricate jigsaw puzzle as we kept climbing upwards through superb scenery with Herdwick sheep, as bred by Beatrix Potter, acting as extras in a film set that Gregor described as better than Lord of the Rings.

We did find Bessyboot, what a glorious name for a hill, where a Herdwick sheep was posing and bossing the summit. The view across to Rossthwaite Fell was beyond the Tarn at Leaves and we negotiated the numerous descents and ascents before the final scramble to the summit. There were wonderful views in all directions and we agreed that this was one of the very best of Lakeland fells, contrary to Wainwright's somewhat dismissive tone. We sensed our route back to the path leading down through the oak woods and arrived back at the campsite thoroughly pleased with our morning excursion.

We packed the tent and set off for Grange-in-Borrowdale and then to Manesty on the shores of Derwentwater from where we would climb Maiden Moor. Why I had not climbed Maiden Moor before, I am not sure. I had been up Catbells dozens of times often with a child on my back and others in tow. We parked at Manesty near the home of Hugh Walpole, who wrote two anthemic novels about this area - Rogue Herries and Judith Paris, and proceeded up a stone staircase to Hause Gate, the col between Catbells and Maiden Moor. Gregor asked whether had he climbed Catbells and I told him, yes, but I had probably carried him in the knowledge that it would send him on a detour and give me time to make Maiden Moor before him, but only just. We admired the views from Maiden Moor including the Vale of Newlands, one of my favourite places from the school trip and it is the location of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle's laundry.

On the descent we were surrounded by hundreds, yes hundreds, of autumn walkers; the baby boomers complete with walking poles and making a noise like the world knitting championship as they clattered up and down the stone staircase. If the coalition wanted a quick win for tax-raising they could do a lot worse than introduce a walking pole tax. We were down before 2pm and decided to drive north to do some hills north of Keswick.

We were both a bit stiff from 4 walks in the last 25 hours but, notwithstanding, I decided that we would attempt Bakestall and Great Calva, my 2 remaining hills in what is known as Back o' Skiddaw. They were a stiffer challenge than we had admitted to ourselves from looking at the map. Bakestall, or Bakewell as I kept calling it required a sharp climb of 400 metres from the track to Skiddaw House and the top was merely an outlier of Skiddaw. We immediately rechristened it, Tart.

We made a muddy descent back down to the track and then after ascending the track for a kilometre struck up the slopes and suffered a horrendous 3km trek across a spongy heather moor that in Scotland would at least have had a soundtrack of whirring grouse. We reached the summit with great relief and descended via Little Calva and then back down to the track just above the Whitewater Dash, a quite amazing waterfall that would do well at Disneyworld, it merits a repeat visit sometime in the future.

We arrived back at the car knowing that this had been a punishing day, 2000 metres of climbing and 22 kilometres on 3 separate walks with no lunch. We drove along to Caldbeck and had an early supper in the Oddfellows Arms before driving back to Glasgow. It had been a highly productive two days and a great reunion with the lake district in autumn but I must buy some walking poles so I fit in with the baby boomers.