The Gable's Wildcamp

It was a surprisingly straight forward drive up to Seathwaite in Borrowdale. Considering it was the August bank holiday I was expecting more traffic on the roads. Granted, there was a queue to come off the M6 motorway at Kendal - the Grasmere Show was on, so it seemed quite a few people were heading there, but luckily I drove straight past that junction on my way to the northern lakes.

I parked my car on the verge at the side of the road, booted up and slung on my pack before heading quarter of a mile down the road to Seathwaite Farm, and the start of the adventure.

My route would take me up the side of Sourmilk Gill*, so named because the waterfalls look like churned milk, and up into the hanging valley of Gillercomb from where I can ascend the north ridge of Base Brown.

*This is the third 'Sourmilk Gill' I've come across in the Lake District, the others being in Easedale near Grasmere, and on the route up Red Pike from Buttermere.

The lower slopes of Base Brown were littered with boulders that had no doubt fallen from the higher crags at some point in the past. One huge boulder in particular was at least the size of a small bungalow! Overlooking that was the precariously situated 'Hanging Stone'. In his pictorial guide Wainwright advised walkers not to sneeze whilst passing below this rock - so I took his advice and followed the path around the crag and up onto the top of the ridge.

Although a relatively wide ridge, the valleys fell away quite sharply. To the west was Gillercomb, and to the east Styhead. I continued along the ridge and not long after reached the summit of Base Brown - 2,120 ft.

I stopped for a bite of lunch, and could see both Green Gable and Great Gable in the distance.

Although similarly named, they are characteristically very different mountains - from this aspect, Green Gable was a huge sweeping, smooth grassy hill, whereas behind it, Great Gable was a towering mass of rock.

It was a slightly boggy descent from Base Brown but on reaching the col to Green Gable I joined the more well trodden path up onto Green Gable. About half way up, this path then met with the more substantial path which heads over the ridge from the Honister Slate Mine, over the peaks of Brandreth & Green Gable before it heads up Great Gable. This is a very popular path, more akin to a gravel road, and I soon reached the summit of Green Gable - 2,628 ft. The views to the west opened out over the sharp drop of Greengable Crag. Due east, the view was straight down into the Ennerdale valley - one of the most remote areas of England - and looking north east the views took in Buttermere & Crummock Water with the Grasmoor fells in the distance.

Due south though was the ominous hulk of Great Gable. It only seemed a short walk, but it looked like a steep descent to the col, known as Windy Gap, & then a steep rocky path up onto the top.

From the research I'd done when planning the walk, there was not a lot of ground suitable as a tent pitch on the top of Great Gable, and those pitches that were suitable were quite exposed to the elements. Low cloud had started to flow through the valley, with wisps heading up through Ennerdale and over Windy Gap. The summit of Great Gable became shrouded, and the cloud eventually thickened & dropped to cover the Green Gable summit as well.

I decided to postpone my journey to Great Gable & chose to find a tent pitch on Green Gable instead. After wandering around for a few minutes trying to find a suitably flat patch of grass that wasn't boggy, rocky or covered in sheep droppings, I found my pitch and set up camp. I was on the eastern slopes, meaning I was out of the worst of the wind, and was just on the threshold of the cloud layer, every now and again it lifting just enough for me to see over to Sprinkling Tarn & Seathwaite Fell.

After cooking up my boil-in-the-bag dinner (Chicken Tikka Masala with Vegatable Pilau Rice for those interested), the cloud had lifted slightly above the Green Gable summit, so I grabbed my camera & headed to the summit to see if there would be any sign of a descent sunset. Short answer was: no. Although the low cloud was still flowing in and around the valley. After the supposed sunset time had passed, I headed back to my tent, and the cloud descended once again, this time for the night.

I had set my alarm for 05:50am on the Sunday morning...sunrise was due at 06:08am, so I had a bit of time to ascertain the prevailing weather conditions (by slightly unzipping the tent door & peeking outside) & set up my camera for a time-lapse.

There was still low cloud lingering, although it was quite broken & moving through quite quickly due to the breeze coming through Windy Gap. There were some firey colours erupting over the Helvellyn range in the east, so started the time lapse. While that was runnung, I ate a couple of breakfast bars along with some fruit juice, before eventually packing up the tent and heading back up to Green Gable summit once again to assess my next moves.

It was looking promising. The was still some cloud about, but the Great Gable summit was clear. I started the descent down to Windy Gap col. On my way down I was talking to a chap who had camped on the neighbouring fell of Brandreth, and who would be walking along the northern traverse path around the base of Great Gable heading towards Kirk Fell. We took our different paths at the crossroads at Windy gap, and I headed onto the route to the summit of Great Gable.

It was quite an enjoyable route, much more exhilarating than the steady plod up Green Gable from the day before. Great Gable's route had a bit of scrambling up rocks & narrow traverses before topping out onto the summit plateau, which looked like something from another planet with rocks strewn everywhere.

A hundred or so feet infront I spotted the rock plinth which was the true summit, and also is where there is a War Memorial plaque to the Fell & Rock Climbing Club members who perished in the 1914-1918 war. There is a sermon held on this mountain every Armistice Sunday to remember those fallen, with crowds of people taking the walk from Honister to Great Gable.

Just behind the War Memorial was the summit cairn - 2,949 ft. For such a great & prominent mountain, the cairn was the complete opposite - just a small pile of rocks, but with a lone, slightly weathered Remembrance Day Poppy still resting against it.

Just off to the south west though was the Westmorland Cairn. Situated on a ledge just below the summit, this pile of rocks is named for the Westmorland brothers who started the cairn in 1876 to mark the spot they declared was the finest view in the Lake District. The view was made even more spectacular as the wisps of cloud swept through the valley below.

After a few minutes taking in the view, I followed the narrow path which skirted along the ledge round to a short grassy ridge, it was only about 50 feet long, but was one of the potential wild camping spots, so handy to know if I try and camp here again. It was exposed though, with steep drops either side, not a place to camp in high winds, or low visibility, but it did have spectacular views into Wasdale.

And in those views once again came the thick low cloud, heading straight towards me. I took the decision to head back to the summit cairn, and from there found the well cairned route down to Sty Head. At the bottom of the path was the Sty Head Stretcher Box, a well known landmark, as well as an invaluble equipment point for the local Mountain Rescue teams.

The cloud had well and truly decended by this time, will all surrounding fell tops now shrouded in cloud, but my path would take me past Styhead tarn, where I stopped for a quick coffee. A few wild campers who had spent the night at the tarn were still packing up their kit. I followed the path along Styhead Beck, heading back towards Seathwaite. This is a popular route for Scafell Pike & other surrounding fells, so I passed quite a few day hikers heading the opposite way, up into the fells.

But, after a mile or so I diverted onto a lesser travelled path which followed the opposite side of the shore, which then followed a narrow traverse along the foot of Base Brown, and past Taylorgill Force. This is one of the highest waterfalls in the Lake District, dropping some 140 feet.

The narrow path ran over the top of a scree slope and involved a small bit of clambering over some rocks. The cloud had brought some very light rain, so I just took my time & slowly made my way along the path.

Eventually the path turned into a bit of a scramble down to where the valley floor began to flatten out, and I passed a number of walkers who were heading up the same narrow path I had just come down.

From there, it was a simple, albeit a bit boggy, walk back to Seathwaite farm.

Another enjoyable camp & hike done, with 3 more fells ticked off the list, although the weather could have admittedly been a bit better, especially for late August! But that just gives me the excuse to visit the area again when conditions are more favourable.

Till the next one!

Mark