KYQ4: Whin Rigg and Illgill Head

Wastwater from Illgill Head

Monday, 27 June 2022

Ascent: 652 metres
Distance: 14 kilometres
Time: 2 hours 54 minutes

Irton Fell 395m 40mins
Whin Rigg 535m 58mins
Illgill Head 604m 1 hour 20mins

Whin Rigg and Illgill Head are two of the more inaccessible Wainwright hills. They hover above Wastwater in Wasdale but best accessed from Eskdale Green. They were some of Gregor's final Wainwright hills so we planned to do them sometime during the Langdale week. The showers that had been with us ever since arriving on Saturday afternoon finally ceased on Monday afternoon and gave way to a brief sunny interlude. It was game on as we drove over the Wrynose and Hard Knott Pass and along to Eskdale Green. During the many years driving over these two Lakeland passes with a maximum gradient of 1 in 3, I have never known them in such a poor state of repair. The potholes were ferocious and the patching poor. As a deterrent to motorists, it was an unintended but effective measure. In reality, it was a result of Council road budgets being hammered by 12 years of austerity by the government. We headed up a narrow lane to Porterthwaite in Miterdale where we parked on a flat grassy area by the beck. It was 5:15pm as we started the walk over the bridge and back along a forest track to reach the steep path through the forest to the Irton Fell ridge.

I had had two lazy days since arriving whereas Gregor and Emily had already had a 13-kilometre walk in the morning. I thought it might slow them down but they forced the pace on a non-stop ascent but I hung in and arrived at the ridge only a minute behind them. After two days of rain, the path up the ridge from here was quite boggy in places but, with the breeze behind us, it was an easier climb to Irton Fell cairn at 395 metres and then on to Whin Rigg. It was a pleasure to drop down from the summit and witness Wastwater framed by scree and rock faces with the views up to Great Gable and the medley of Wasdale hills.

I had not been up these hills since the 1970s when it had been a wet dull day when no views were visible. I had climbed the hills north of Wasdale during a field trip to the Nether Wasdale school camp in 1965. They had provided an introduction to long days on the hills with a couple of similarly inclined older boys, and in the full flush of youth we then spent a couple of hours in the evening playing football. My geography teacher asked me why I wasn't in the football team and I replied that he would have to ask the Head of PE, which was his substantive post. With Brian Hall, a year older than me playing on the right wing, my position, there was no way I could have made the team.

The walk along the ridge to Illgill Head was easy-going although there was no sense of slowing our pace. Emily and Gregor have a penchant for taking Strava Crowns. After another short stop at the cairn on Illgill Head, we continued to the northeast to make a descent whilst enjoying the views of the Scafells and Great Gable. By 350 metres the path curved back towards Burnmoor Tarn and we followed the narrow path through the sturdy bracken ferns with Herdwick sheep and lambs dispersing from the narrow path as we approached.

It was a long 7 kilometres on the return passing Burrnmoor Tarn and eventually dropping down into Miterdale. It was after 8pm when we arrived back at the car park. We had captured the best weather of the week. Evening walks are always inspiring as the winds drop and shadows lengthen. Even the reverse journey over Hard Knott and Wrynose passes seemed more enjoyable with the evening colours on the fells and less traffic on the crumbling asphalt.