KYQ4: Grange Fell, Borrowdale

Saturday, 15 February 2025

Grange Fell, Borrowdale

Watendlath Tarn

Thursday, 13 February 2025

Ascent: 345 metres
Distance: 6 kilometres
Time: 2 hours 2 minutes

Grange Fell 415m 33mins
Great Crag 436m. 1 hr 29muns

The last day of our three-day visit to the Lakes. It had been a success even though we had not ventured into the higher fells. The weather prospects were better today and the idea had been to climb Skiddaw and its nearby peaks but I had to be home at 6pm so time was tight. The alternative was to continue to pick off some nearby lower hills and save Skiddaw for later in the year when conditions might be better.

John had decided to give the day a miss and left after breakfast. I thought we should nip down to Watendlath to climb Grange Fell and then maybe a couple of hills on the way home. It was still early when we arrived at the empty National Trust car park at Watendlath. It had been a regular visit when the family were younger. The children would paddle in the tarn, we would wander up Grange Fell chanting Jopplety Jopplety How, the name for the collection of outcrops on Grange Fell, and return to Watendlath for an afternoon tea of rum butter scones and ice cream for the children.

The tea room was closed for winter, and today, after a preamble around Watendlath and its tarn, we made a quick ascent to the Grange or Brundle Fell. We passed Jopplety How, which looked to be an enticing place for children to play, but we just visited the nearby summit. Keith suggested that we could take in Great Crag, another Wainwright to the north. I had previously climbed Great Crag from Stonethwaite, but it looked a logical extension to a short walk so we cantered over. The path was slightly boggy until the rocky staircase to the fine twin summits of Great Crag. There were good views of the snow-capped summits of Skiddaw and the Helvellyn Range was peeping above the long High Seat to High Tove Ridge. Scafell and its outliers to the south were blanketed in clouds. It was only 10:30am, and the descent to Watendlath was just a couple of kilometres. We decided to call it a day and go for a morning coffee and then head back north.

We called in at the Rheged Centre near Penrith, a grass-covered building, visitor centre, gallery and cinema of historical importance. I last visited it with the family on our way to a fortnight's holiday in Cornwall and I was pleasantly surprised at the range of activities and events on offer. After a coffee, scone and wandering around we headed back to Glasgow, where I dropped Keith and made it home by 4:30pm. Another 8 of the lower Wainwrights had been climbed, and we had experienced some surprisingly good visits to other places of interest. After 35 years of focusing entirely on trying to climb as many hills as possible in a day, I am beginning to get the hang of not spending all the time on hillwalking trips on the hills.