King of the Northern Fells - Part 2
From Seatoller, I drove back north for a few miles following the road as it twisted between the verdant green fields of Borrowdale, and pulled into the National Trust car park at Rosthwaite, for a short lunch-time walk.
I had visited Rosthwaite before - the last time was back in early March when the weather was nowhere near as favourable as it was today. That was the first time I climbed Castle Crag (#178). It's the lowest of the 214 Wainwright peaks, at only 951 feet, but its a cracking little route to the top.
I moved some kit across into my day-pack, and headed up through the village. I struck gold when I spotted that the Flock-In Tea Room was open, and nipped in to pick up some lunch.
I first heard about this tearoom a couple of years ago from watching one of Julia Bradbury's shows on TV. She was also walking a route to Castle Crag, and recommended visiting this tea-room, famous for its Herdwick pasties. I had to pick one up, along with a cold lemon Fanta from the fridge - that would be my lunch sorted.
Following the farm road away from the village, it reached junction, either turning right to follow alongside the River Derwent, or for the more adventurous, it forded the river. There were a set of stepping stones available. I took the plunge (not literally), and crossed via the stepping stones. When I visited back in March, the majority of the stones were underwater (and I instead took the riverside path)! This time round, the river was surprisingly low, and the crossing was straight forward.
On the other-side of the river, with dry feet, I turned right and followed the path between the fields & the river, before reaching New Bridge (which I woudl cross on my way back), but for now I continued on past it, still following the river.
Passing through a couple of fields, that were home to Herdwick Tups (males), my route up turned off the main riverside path, over a stile on the path up the slopes of Lingy Bank. Walking through woodland, it became very humid & the climb meant it was quite a sweaty ascent. As I climbed, there were gaps in the trees which gave a fantastic view over the small village of Rosthwaite & south east over the fields & woodland towards the Langstrath valley, Eagle Crag being the dominant peak. (See first picture). This view only got better as the path headed above the woods, through a gate in a stone wall to an open shoulder of the fell. I spotted some rocks, and stopped for lunch, tucking into my tasty Herdwick pasty, which I washed down with the refreshing lemon Fanta.
After lunch, I set my sights on the summit. It wasn't too far off. After climbing over a large wooden stile over a drystone wall, I was at the base of the climb to the summit. The scars from Castle Crag's mining days were very apparant. The ground was covered with chippings of rock and slate, and up ahead, a path zig-zagged its way up through the massive spoil heap. The stones towered above, and were piled up immaculately to form a wall to the path. I've done this path in both wet and dry conditions, and have to admit, the loose stones make it slippy in either conditions.
At the top of the zip-zag path are the quarry workings, and a small plateau again overlooking Borrowdale & Langstrath - but we're not at the top yet.
The quarry site is quite a sizable area, considering this is only a small fell. Curiously, the floor of the quarry is now dotted with dozens of propped-up standing stones. It gives the quarry a very eerie feel. Folklore says that if a stone is toppled one day, then it will have stood itself back up the next . I got a 'Blair Witch Project' feeling from the area, and made sure not to topple any of the standing stones, incase I ended up with a witche's curse!
From the quarry, a small narrow path leads steeply up through woodland to the summit. Passing through a lovely woodland glade (which seems like a cracking little wild-camp spot), the trees are left behind for a small summit plateau. The view north immediately opens up with views over Dewentwater to Keswick & Skiddaw in the distance.
I spent a short while relaxing at the summit, and there were a few other people who had decided the same. But before leaving, I paid a visit to the war memorial on the summit, which is dedicated to the men of Borrowdale who died during World War I. There is a large flat piece of rocky ground just before the memorial, and this is where, each year, a Service of Remembrance is held to commemorate our war veterans.
From the summit of Castle Crag, the only way back down is the same way I came up, so after teetering back down the quarries' spoil hep path, I retraced my steps back down to the riverside path heading towards Rosthwaite. Instead of heading back over the stepping stones, I turned over the stone bridge and the path back to Rosthwaite. The river was very low - almost non-existent on the side of the riverbed, so I found a spot to get down onto the stone river bed and take a photograph of the bridge span.. a shot that wouldn't be possible if the river was in spate.
From the river-bed, I rejoined the path back into Rosthwaite, and my car.
Leaving Rosthwaite, I turned north, driving alongside Dewentwater towards Keswick. Passing through the busy market town, I headed along the A591 for a short distance before turning off & heading towards Underscar, and the car park at the end of Gale Road.
It was half past five on a saturday afternoon, and I was expecting the car park to be full, but there were a few spaces available, so I grabbed one, sorted out my rucksack, and hauled it on my back. Following the Skiddaw path from the head of the car park, after only a short distance, my track turned off the Skiddaw 'tourist route' to head round the ghyll of Whit Beck. My destination for the evening, Lonscale Fell loomed above me.
Rounding Whit Beck, the track climbed steadily before levelling out to follow the lower contours of the hillside. It was a lovely sunny late afternoon, and I spotted quite a few butterflies fluttering about & sunning themselves on the ground.
After just-shy of a mile, I reached a five-bar gate in a wire fence crossing the track. It was on the other side of the gate where things really went up a notch.
The path up Lonscale fell turned off the level track to climb steeply up alongside the wire fence. It was a wide grassy path between bracken, but in the late afternoon sun it one one hell of a slog. The thermometer on my wrist-watch logged a temperature of 34.5 degrees Celsius when I was around the half way point of the climb!
It was a tough, unrelenting, half-mile before the path began to ease. I could see the east peak ahead, a small pike which marks the head of the Lonscale Crags on the eastern side of the fell. I follwed the path towards it, with the crags getting closer on the right hand side.
From the east peak, the views north were barron, but spectacular - the Glenderterra valley leading through to the tree-less Skiddaw Forest which opened out below. I could see the lone building of Skiddaw House Youth Hostel just visible within its own small copse of pine trees. The fells of Great Calva and Knott completed the frame on the northern edge of the expanse.
From the east peak, I headed west, clambering over the wire fence to pick up the path for a short quarter of a mile jaunt to Lonscale Fell's true summit. (#211 - 2,344ft) It was a large, flat grassy place and it was easy enough to find a pitch for my tent. I had amazing views south, over Derwentwater & across the majority of the Lake District.
I was listing off all the fells I could see that I had climbed. But there were also three in sight that I had still to tick off.
I settled down and fired up my Jetboil to start cooking my dinner. It was a much clearer evening from the night before, with only wisps of cloud in the sky. I watched as the sun slowly decended over the Skiddaw hills, changing the colours of both the sky and the mountains until twilight eventually came.
I was outside of my tent until just gone 11pm, watching the moon move across the sky & the bright lights of Keswick twinkling below. I was enjoying life like a king on top of my last Northern fell. I headed back into my tent, and closed it up for the night. It was a breezy evening, but nothing too harsh that would keep me awake.
As usual, I had set my alarm for the early morning, for the chance to see the sunrise. But on unzipping the tent door, was met with clag, meaning I couldn't see more than a few meters from the tent. I went back to sleep for another couple of hours. I woke up again around 7:30 am, looked out of my tent, and thankfully the cloud had lifted, giving yet another stunning view across Cumbria. Whilst brewing my morning coffee, I had a herd of nosy neighbours wander round my tent before they headed off to different pastures.
After breakfast, I packed up and made my way west off the fell. My plan was to follow the ridge-top fence for a short distance, before turning off on a smaller path descending by the side of the upper reaches of Whit Beck, where I would then join up with the Skiddaw 'tourist' path for the remainder of the descent.
It was a pleasant, and quiet route. I crossed paths with my first walker just before the junction with the tourist path. The view at the junction was spectacular, again overlooking the Lake District, but this time, with the help of my camera timer, I grabbed a shot of me overlooking Keswick & the Fells.
It was a straight-forward descent from here - the tourist path is a substantial, if steep, rocky track. I was glad I was on the descent as I passed quiet a few walkers slowly plodding their way up.
At the bottom of the track, and just a little of half a mile from the car park is a stone memorial to the Hawell's - a family of Herdwick shepherds who worked on these fells in the 19th & early 20th centuries. I paused at the memorial, and was thankful for yet another safe trip.
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