Sunday 31 August 2014

Eskdale and Wasdale Summer Mission Part 2

Eskdale and Wasdale Summer Mission Part 2

Wasdale

The drive over to Wasdale was a bit of  a surprise when I reached Wastwater I just had to find a parking place and stop just to soak this evening view up, the beauty of this valley was fantastic and I was going to spend a couple days exploring this valley.
I got back into the car and carried on to Wasdale Head Inn and the campsite, the inn boasts that its the birthplace of rock climbing. 


Wastwater view

Scafell Pike part 1 and Lingmell 

7 miles, 27/7/2011

Scafell Pike elevation 978 meters (3,209) ft.
Lingmell elevation 807 meters (2649) ft
I was up early this morning after my early night so when I got out of the tent this morning to see clear blue skies this made my decision to do Scafell Pike if I can make it to the summit before the weather changes as it usually does in the lakes.
So with breakfast on and then sorting my stuff out for a day’s mission in the mountains to climb the highest mountain in England.
Scafell Pike is the only mountain that I will devote three missions to, the first being from Wasdale the second from Great Langdale and third from Borrowdale. 
It was only 730am in the morning as I set off on the path to Lingmell Gill and it was a beautiful sunny morning has I started my assent of the gill,  I was so busy with looking at the flora that I missed my path for Brown Tongue, and found a beautiful flower Starry Saxifrage saxifrage stellaris, this flower is one of the most familiar of the mountain plants, for its grows in a wide range of habitats.
I found my way back onto to the path on Brown Tongue and made my way up to Hollow Stones 


Starry Saxifrage
From Hollow Stones
From  Hollow stones, it was up to Lingmell col and my first view of Sprinkling Tarn and Borrowdale, such a great view, and now I was heading up Lingmell to the summit and this when I notice the cloud building up and rising up from the valley.


Will I make it to Scafell Pike before the cloud; I had good views from the summit of Lingmell. The view of Great Gable from in Lingmell is incredible.It was time to push on before the clouds had got the better of me, so back down to Lingmell col and the path to Scafell Pike, I remembered walking this route the first time I came to the lakes and climbed Scafell Pike from Borrowdale, and its one route I want to do again, I reached the boulder field of Scafell Pike.

Great Gable from Lingmell
The  summit was free of cloud and people, that’s the  advantage of being up early, but not for long as I sat there taking in the view I was joined by another solo walker and we sat there watching the clouds gather around the summit looking over to the summit of Scafell it was great and I was happy to achieve my goal for the day I can take a steady walk back down but not the way I came up, so I took the Mickledore route down and onto Hollow Stones to retrace my route back, on the way down I met many walkers on there way up, but I knew I had the best of the weather today and it has been a great walk.   

The summit

Scafell Pike's original name 'The Pikes of Sca Fell' , and this term was used to describe Broad Crag and Ill Crag as well as Scafell Pike itself. The change was caused by an error on an Ordnance Survey map and stuck.





Illgill Head and Whin Rigg

8 miles, 27/8/2011

Illgill Head elevation 609 meters (1998) ft
Whin Rigg elevation 53m meters (1755) ft
Illgill Head
The fifth day of my mission and the last day in Wasdale, it was a lovely sunny morning and I had planned a long walk of about 8 miles circular a ridge and valley walk.So as I set off from the valley bottom to start my climb of Illgill Head a four-mile climb to the summit, and what a beautiful climb out of the valley with the views opening up the side of Illgill Head. 

On the way up I got to see several Small Heath butterflies Coenonympha pamphilus, they were on the wing in and out of the grasslands and I also got see a bird known as the Wheatear a summer visitor to upland grasslands, this Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe was a male  And as I  was nearing the summit I noticed another butterfly, I spent some time trying to photograph this species, it was not till I got home that I could identify it properly.

The only British alpine butterfly, the Mountain ringlet Erebia epiphron is found in the Lake District mountains (its only English locality) above 1,800 feet, it flies abundantly in restricted areas stragglers range widely over the neighbourhood. Such colonies tend to shift their quarters every few years. http://www.cumbria-wildlife.org.uk/mringlet.html

Mountain ringlet

From the summit of Illgill Head I started the mile-long walk to Whin Rigg, grassy walk along the ridge, enjoying the views along this easy section of the walk I found a spot for my dinner and sat there enjoying myself wondering why on such beautiful day there were not more people out walking. After my dinner it was on along the ridge and I passed my first walkers of the day, I found a path close the edge so I could see down into the valley, but I started to get vertigo.  

Cliff edge view


I got back to the main path and carried on to the summit of Whin Rigg and then it was downhill, the rest of this ridge of high ground carries on to terminates at Irton Pike, but I was not going that far. I found the path I wanted and what a joy it was on this path back into the valley, with great views of Wast Water as I descended, I was in no rush to reach the valley bottom, each section of descent was for me a photographer's dream on such a beautiful day as this, I reached the valley bottom and it was hot and sweltering so I had a short break sat there staring up the valley with a sandwich one hand. 


Whin Rigg

The last section of the walk was  along the quiet road with views across to Wastwater screes, these screes was formed as a result of ice and weathering erosion on the rocks of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, they are approximately 2,000 feet, from top to bottom, the bottom being about 200 feet below the surface of the lake. Wast water Lake is a ribbon lake; it’s a deep lake with steep sides with an elongated trough and is the deepest lake at 76m in the Lake District.  


Wastwater Screes 

While I was enjoying my last section of the walk I spotted another flower of interest White Stonecrop sedum album, the stonecrop species are succulent plants, with fleshy leaves; there are six native species of this family.


White Stonecrop
.And that’s it for another interesting walk and the end of the Wasdale mission with only a day left to my holiday I took the car back to Eskdale and I stayed at the youth hostel for the rest of the evening relaxing around the grounds of the youth hostel.




Hardknott and Harter Fell

9 miles, 28/8/2011

Hardknott elevation 549 m (1,289) ft
Harter Fell elevation 649 m (2128) ft
My last day of my holidays and with my rucksack packed for days fell walking,I left the youth hostel behind and headed down to Doctor’s Bridge and picked up a footpath what  took me along the valley to Jubilee Bridge passing through fields and woodland on this nice sunny morning, at Jubilee Bridge I took to the road for the climb of Hard Knott Pass, visiting the Roman fort on my up to the summit of the pass. The views as I climb was just great, more I climbed more they opened up of the Esk Valley at the road summit I stopped for a break and got talking to a cyclist who had also just come up the pass on the bike without getting off once, he was on his way to Blackpool.

Now at the summit of the road, I got my first view of the Duddon Valley, this valley was the future missions to come. now where is that path up Hardknott fell, has usually there was no sign of one, but I made my way up using my map reading skills off in right direction working my around rocks it was easy going.

Once on the summit of many undulations it was difficult to find the summit cairn,  I thought I found it, but no but I could see from this vantage point a cairn, so I climbed back down and headed for the cairn, once there I knew I was in the right place the view of the Scafells was just wonderful.    

Scarfells
From the summit, I retraced my route back down to the road and now route to Harter Fell. To begin this next walk my way forward was not very clear, I went through an area of Forestry Commission's deforestation finding only faint paths here of sheep tracks. In AW day this area on the Duddon side was covered in conifer trees, but recent clear felling with the attempt to restore the area. I found a path up to a grassy shelf and on I went on towards the summit.

Harter Fell summit
I arrived at the summit and it was time for a long break and to take in the great view from the summit.this is my second visit to this Fell, the last time I was here I did not get a view,  but now I have 360 clear view, I must have spent a good 30 minutes at the summit as I sat there trying to name the fells, but over to a distant fell, Black Combe was covered in a rain cloud and it looks like it was heading this way so it was time to move on and take the path down into Eskdale. 

Hardknott Roman Fort

I stopped for a break once of the fell and on more level ground, I  looked up at Harter Fell now covered in cloud, but the rain never came,  I moved on and met a family on their way up to Harter Fell, shame they would not get the views I had. One last view of the head of Eskdale before I dropped down into the wooded valley of the Esk and the end of the walk.

Eskdale Head
The end of my holiday and seen so much and discovered a lot, this being my first time I have spent such a lengthy period in the Lake District and it's been well worth it on so many levels. Using AW books has the basics of discovery and then adding the natural and historic history to the walks has benefited to give the walks more richness to the walks. 
Wasdale is such a gem of a valley two memorable walks will be the Scafell walk and the Illgill Head and Whin Rigg walk, not just for the great views but for such things as Starry Saxifrage and the Mountain ringlet butterfly. 
 What I like to do is to come back and explore the Wasdale screes and Piers Gill to look at the flora of these sites. 
The prehistory sites of Barnscar, area has so much to give, this area is so rich in history, that there is a bigger story to tell about this area and lots more sites to visit that on this mission I have not used much of my time in exploration of these sites and are best left to when the vegetation has died back to see these sites better. 
 Eskdale has lots more to offer in walks yet, this beautiful valley is a walkers paradise and while I have the use of the youth hostel I will be back soon and now for my favourite view from this mission.


Wastwater





Monday 11 August 2014

Eskdale and Wasdale Summer Mission Part 1.

Eskdale and Wasdale Summer Mission Part 1.

June 24th to the 29th this being the longest mission so far and a solo mission to revisit Eskdale. So after a three-hour drive, I arrived at Cumbria's west coast, into the village of Ravenglass in the late afternoon. 

Ravenglass

5.30 Miles circular 

After an hour of resting after the drive up from Derbyshire, I needed to stretch my legs, so the first walk of the day was coming from Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland, this part of the walk is from the Muncaster Fell walk.


Map of the walk

Ravenglass is sited on peninsular in the estuarial confluence of the rivers Esk, Mite and Irt and it’s here they come together and meet the Irish Sea.
A three-mile circular walk starting from the village of Ravenglass, from the village I  followed the coast and railway line on this cool grey afternoon, I followed the coast till I came to the Esk estuary and then turned inland to go under the railway viaduct.
Some of the first people to settle in Cumbria where the Mesolithic people around 75000 years ago. At that period in history, the fells were densely wooded, to a height of 1500 feet this woodland extended down across the coastal plain, leaving only a narrow shoreline strip suitable for settlement.
This coastal fringe suited the Mesolithic people. They were hunters and gathers, important sites such as this area, what is known as Eskmeals, have yielded extensive finds of flint scrapers, arrowheads and ‘microliths’, small finds of flint that were set into a wooden or bone shafts.
It’s these people I started to think about as I walked along the river, how they would have seen the world, travelling up the river into the wild woods of Eskdale on a hunting trip.
I left the river and started to climb to Newton Knot the views started to open up with Black Combe in the distance and a lovely wooded view up the Esk valley.     

Ravenglass



Eskdale from Newton Knot
From Newton Knot I took another path to the grounds of Muncaster Castle and the walk along the A595, only a short section of road walking and then back on to a footpath to a small pond and then onto the Roman bath house and the end to nice little walk.



Muncaster Fell 

25/06/2011, 7 miles circular

The first full day in this area and after a night of rain, while wild camping in the Duddon Valley.
I arrived in the village of Eskdale Green on this damp morning. This is part two of yesterday's walk, the rain clouds covered most of the fells today, my plan was to do the valley route first, just in case the weather may improve later for the route over Muncaster Fell on my way back on this circular walk.
I left the village on a path across a damp meadow with lots of marsh orchids to see on my way to the railway crossing; the next path after the crossing ran at the foot of the fell on and into the Muncaster estate, you knew you were on an estate because of the exotic shrubs of the rhododendrons that were everywhere.
I left the level ground of lower Eskdale and started the climb through the woods and up onto the plateau and onto Muncaster Tarn.

Muncaster Tarn

I stopped at the tarn for my dinner and the weather had not improved so after dinner it was over the top passing the trig point in the low cloud covering the fell I made my way off the fell and out of the cloud into the green valley of the Esk and back to the village of Eskdale Green to finish off the walk.
It was mid-afternoon so I took the car up the valley to Boot village and a little car park next to Trough House Bridge. I parked up for an hour watching the weather, shower after shower. I decided on an evening walk to explore the valley.



Eskdale valley walk.

4-mile circular

Another new book, to add depth to my exploration was the Lake District Natural History Walks, Christopher Mitchell, I was going to do walk number 7, Eskdale a riverside walk, 3 miles.
As I walked to St Catherine’s Church the rain had stopped and it started to brighten up, there was a wedding going on at the little church as I passed the church and down to the river Esk, the river was flowing fast because of the rain we have had.
I crossed the river on the disused railway line, what is known as Girder Bridge, the railway line was used to take iron ore from this area. I followed the river path for a short section, then pulling away from the river slowly for a higher path, I walked slowly on this walk I was identifying the trees and the plants to find anything I did not recognize, nothing stood out for me,  I was just enjoyed the lush areas of mixed deciduous woods of oak, ash, birch and hazel.
I passed a spruce plantation hiding a nice secluded tarn, the weather was improving with sunny spells, I made my way to the road, with nice views up the valley, I joined the road and crossed Doctor Bridge for the return journey along the north side of the river.
Looking across the river there was a good view of a waterfall coming off the fells this waterfall is known as Biker Force.
The path along the bridge took me back to Girder Bridge and the end of the walk, do I use the same path back  to Trough House Bridge, looking at the map gave an alternative route back on the other side of the bridge, so I crossed Girder Bridge again and followed the path, this path took me to an interesting site known as Stanley Gill.
There is an information board telling me about the site and showing an interesting walk. But not today my energy levels were running low and so was daylight, so I left it for tomorrow morning and made my way back to the car park and I set up my wild camp in the car park for the night.



Stanley Gill

 26/6/11 

After packing my tent up and made up my food pack up for the day I returned to Stanley Gill to do this small walk, I passed through ancient woodland of sessile oak, birch and hazel, the path started to climb through this damp woodland passing small waterfalls what were rich in many ferns, lichens, and liverworts. After half hour of walking I came to the top and out of the trees into a field system with views of the surrounding fells, and my chance to see what the weather was doing today, in fact, it was improving, still, the highest fells were in the clouds.I returned the same way back to the car.


Stanley Gill

Muncaster fell   

After my little adventure of Stanley Gill, I took the car back to Ravenglass filled up with petrol and I decided now that the weather had improved I was to revisit Muncaster Fell to get a clear view from the summit. So I parked in the grounds of Muncaster Castle and took the track straight to the top about a half hour of walking passing the tarn again to the trig point 231 m 758 ft.




Esk estuary


From the trig point, I retraced my path back to the car, that was worth it with the good views, now it was on to my next walk a short drive to  Waberthwaite., and after two short mission now a long one to finish my day off.


Stainton Pike  

from Weberthwaite, 8 ¾ miles

This walk took from the book Outlying Fells of Lakeland A Wainwright, in the book at the start of the Stainton Pike chapter he states this is a tough walk by the route described, much of it over the pathless terrain of an easy gradient but rough underfoot.
Stainton Pike is one of many well-defined summits on the long ridge of high ground that terminates at Black Combe, this being the first of many I shall visit while exploring this area.
So all packed I set off across the landscape with map and compass at hand, Wainwright mentions a forestry plantation but this seems to have gone now.  But I did find some cairns and these cairns were also indicated on the map and my research on the area makes these burial cairns from the mid-Bronze Age. I left the cairns behind and headed for a small ravine and a stream, I ascending slowly and came to Rowantree Force a double little waterfall and a nice rest point before the climb to the summit.


Rowantree Force
Now for the summit, as I head up I came across a fence what I followed up to the top looking for exit to the summit cairn, but no luck, I could see the cairn, so I carried on following the fence line to a little tarn, but still no exit, but now I could see the Knot my next destination.
From the top, the views were poor due to low cloud covering the Scarfells. just started to head down to the Knot when I got a sudden whoosh over my head and saw a pigeon being chased by a peregrine falcon. But back on the walk and I made it down to the Knott and got my first view of Barnscar village. 
Barnscar a mid-Bronze Age settlement is roughly 200 feet square and covers ¾ of an acre. To the north are two communal areas with two adjoining huts. On the western side are the remains of four detached hut circles, while to the south and east are irregularly shaped enclosures with large hut circles attached. 


Barnscar settlement

Further examinations of the cairns in the area by D Walker in 1957, gave pollen readings coinciding with the clearance of the upland forest during the mid-Bronze Age.

Back to the walk and the last section as far as the walk has gone so far it's been a good walk no hardship till now this last section with no path trying to navigate through dense bracken and grass, then into area of bogs and rushers, made it hard going the only thing of interest now was the flowers in the bogs, Marsh orchids and Bog asphodel. I made it back to the road and the last section of the walk along the road, it’s been a good long day with three missions but now I am tired out.




Back at the car and now the drive over to Wasdale Head.

Friday 1 August 2014

Eskdale weekender

Eskdale Weekender

It's just been under a year since my last mission to the Lake District, I have been busy finishing off other areas of interest such as the Southern Pennines and the caves of the Yorkshire Dales, also last year I did a big mission of an exploration to France and the Vezere Valley in the Dordogne. Now I can concentrate more on the Lakeland missions. 

So it was good to be back in the lakes since the last mission was to finish off the Coniston Fells, what are now done,  so the next stage of the exploration of the southwest came about when a friend of mine got a summer job at Eskdale Youth Hostel this was good timing and gave me the chance to start the exploration of this valley.


13/05/2011.

So with a car loaded with two friends and a dog, we arrived at the Eskdale Youth Hostel late Friday afternoon and we soon got settled in for the weekend, this gave me a chance to get an evening walk in.
Wainwright's introduction to Eskdale; 
‘But precedence must be granted to Eskdale, the one valley that gives full allegiance to the Southern Fells and in some ways the most delectable of all. This is a valley where walkers really come into their own, a sanctuary of peace and solitude, a very special preserve for those who travel on foot’.

Harter Fell, 21409 (ft), 652m.

8 miles circular  

I and Paul Dial left the youth hostel for Penny Hill and crossed the river Esk at Doctor Bridge and then started a lovely climb out of the valley leaving the trees behind and the enclosed land to views of the valley and then the plateau at the top of this glaciated valley, what I find interesting, up here among the rocks, bogs and rough grasslands, is the flora, and one plant I discovered was the bog-bean Menyanthes trifoliata we had wandered off course while seeking out the plant life of these boggy areas.

Upper Eskdale

Bogbean 
We had wandered somewhat away of course so we had to push on to find the path to take us up Harter Fell.
The cloud had started to come in by the time we found the path to the summit, so we never got the view we wanted, so we headed off the mountain in the direction of Wynose Pass and back out of cloud we could see the road below us the sun was setting in the sky so we knew there was not much daylight left, but we had made it to the road and we knew now that the last section of walk was going  to be in the dark but we were safe now just a road walk back to the hostel, we passed the Roman fort enjoying the twilight as we reached the bottom of the valley and last the 20 minutes of the walk was with our head torches on to finish off the walk.



Scafell, 3162 ft, 964 m and Slight Side, 2499 ft, 762 m.

10 miles circular 

A big walk planned today, so an early start from the hostel and a six-mile walk to the summit of Scafell and another seven back.
Scafell is one of the big mountains in the Lake District National Park, originally known as Scawfell, but this name once covered all of the bulk of the higher ground but now that mass is split up with each peak getting its own name such as the highest peak in England is known as Scafell Pike and the second highest is Scafell this is the sister peak what I was climbing today.

So it was back along the road what we used last night, it was a morning of sunny spells, and we soon left the road behind for a footpath through the rocky scenery with pink granite on show, we crossed many boggy areas on the Terrace Route, and on the way we stopped to take stock of where we were heading, and at our feet was a plant that took our interest, it was the Round-leaved sundew Drosera rotundifolia, this interesting  plant is a ‘meat-eater’ it catches insects and uses their nutrients to compensate for the lack of nutrients found where it commonly grows. The glands at the tip of each leaf hair secret a gooey liquid. This then traps the insects and they become entombed and the nutrients absorbed. 


Round-leaved sundew.
The next section of the walk gave us our first view of Slight Side as we headed for it, and as we started to climb, the views opened up to Burnmoor Tarn, we carried on climbing Slight Side to the summit on a grey overcast day. We stopped for a short break. From the summit we set off again into the cloud, we went, on a compass bearing and seen very little on the way to the summit of Scafell.


Slight Side
We did not know we were on the summit of Scafell, I was just working it out as another walker turned up out of the mist, and answered our question for us, that we just passed it. This is another summit to do again in better weather.


East Buttress
The next stage of the walk was the descent to Cam Spout through a rocky gully, the might of the East Buttress of Scafell came into view towering above us as we made our way down a scree slope, and came back out of the cloud and then it started raining, this rain stayed with us for the rest of the walk. Has we got to Cam Spout and beyond, we passed many nice waterfalls on the way down to the valley bottom.

Waterfalls
Next section was along the River Esk before leaving it for higher ground again, a path took us along a rocky route in places and areas of bogs, and then back to the road and the youth hostel and the end of a long walk.





In the evening we took the car with a group of friends to visit the Roman fort of Hard Knot, all I am going to say on the site is that it’s an impressive fort, I will not go into its history. 

The next day we had planned a walk to visit the stone circles on Brat’s Moss above the village of Boot and it was also my birthday, we took the car to Boot on this wet morning we were hoping it would stop raining by the time we booted up and got onto Brat’s Moss, but the rain just got heavier, so by the time we got onto Brat’s Moss it was so heavy and with no views we just called it off. And that is it for this weekend in the Esk Valley.