The Central Fells of Lakeland

Well......it was time to return to the Lake District after undergoing major surgery back in February. I’d been out walking with friends on Kinder Scout in the Peak District a couple of weeks earlier, so I was feeling pretty confident I was fit enough to return to some Lakeland walking.

I was looking for a fairly easy walk, but including fells on my Wainwright list, something like Black Fell and Holme Fell, not too high and about 6 miles. But then I remembered one route I’d planned last year in the central fells, Walla Crag, Bleaberry Fell, High Seat, High Tove and Armboth, of which, some are notoriously boggy for most of the year. So after an absolutely scorcher of a May without hardly any rain, these fells would be about as dry as they will get and now would be a good time to get them done.

The walk would be about 11 miles, a little more than I wanted, but I was hoping the going would be good, these fells were relatively low, the highest being a little over 600m and I’d be adding 5 Wainwright’s to my tally, taking me to 114.

My planned route

The weather was continuing to stay warm as it did in May, and temperatures were expected to reach about 19c-20c on the fell tops today, light winds but early morning mist clearing during the morning, but giving way to isolated showers later in the afternoon with possible thunderstorms. 

Undeterred by the forecast, I left home at 6:30am with a boot packed with a spare change of clothes, lots of fluids and Jam sandwiches. On a warm day I don’t want to be worried about eating warm meat.

I try and drink as much as possible on the drive up, so I’m well hydrated before the walk, leaving me with just a 2Ltr drinks bladder to carry, keeping weight to a minimum.

Also packing a bottle of juice for my return to the car along with a bite to eat.

A lovely Christmas present shows an early start. It's only the second time I've worn it and I only know half it's features, but I'll master it over the coming months.

The drive was two and a half hours from home, traffic was light and went smoothly apart from the police briefly stopping all traffic on the M61 just in front of me for no apparent reason. But we were soon back at 71mph ish and as I drove along the M6 nearing Penrith I could see how low the cloud base was on the Howgill’s. So I knew my little fells today at 5 and 600m would be in mist. 

I planned to park in the National Trust car park at Ashness Bridge and on my arrival at bang on 9:00am the car park was empty. There is two or three small car parks along this very narrow lane, but Ashness Bridge is a fairly large one, and free for NT members.

I was in shorts today, no need to carry waterproof pants, but I did pack my shell and mid layer to add to the 2ltrs of water along with all the other usual bits and bobs.

By the time I’d had a stretch, eaten a banana, booted up, reset my GPS and told myself I’ve locked the car out loud so I’ll remember, it was 9:20am and I was on my way.

After passing the ‘Bark House Mountain Base, which is a bothy staffed by Volunteers for the National Trust as a shelter. A photo of Ashness Bridge is a must do, when visiting here, unfortunately for me, there was no view of Skiddaw in the background as beautiful as the bridge is and pretty narrow I thought as I drove over it. That classic view wasn’t on show today.

Bark House Mountain Base Bothy. Closed this morning

Ashness Bridge

So my first stop would be Walla Crag, and looking at the signpost for Walla Crag and my map, I headed in the opposite direction to the signpost which said ‘Great Wood’ trusting my navigation rather than the tourist trail, which stated 1hr 25mins.

Heading left towards Great Wood

The route up to Walla Crag was nice and steady, although another signpost on my route pointed to Walla Crag with ‘steep climb’ I found it comfortable, but I guess if you had a pushchair it would be a different matter. The path is mostly on a well established stony trail, and lined with ferns, and some cute little flowers, I think they might be Erysimum, but not sure. 

The path was very dry and cracked in places higher up, my walking poles made a hollow sound as they struck the ground, and I was hoping this was a good sign for higher up.

As I gained height, I was a little gutted, as I could see a little of what should be terrific views of Derwent Water and the Islands of St Herbert and Lord’s, I could only see a faint outline of Brandelhow and Cat Bells. I’ve never seen Derwent Water from high up on this side of the lake so it was a real treat, a wow moment.

The dry cracked path to Walla Crag shows signs of things to come 

Looking down at Derwent Water and Lord's and Derwent Isle

The path approaching Walla Crag

On reaching Walla Crag 50 minutes after leaving the car I stayed here only briefly, no point as not a dot could be seen from this big lump of rock which was a shame. I couldn’t see the steep drop below the crag but got a sense of it from the trees of ‘Great Wood’ below and I wasn’t ready for a sit down yet, and drinking from a rucksack bladder means you can keep drinking without stopping to get a bottle out. 
But I could imagine having lunch here, sat admiring the views of Keswick and the surrounding mountains and a glistening lake below......oh well, a short one for another day perhaps.

Walla Crag

As I left the crag I saw a family approaching through the mist from the Keswick direction, probably from Great Wood, these would be only a few of the handful of people I’d see for the next few hours.

The south east towards Bleaberry Fell from Walla Crag

From Walla Crag I couldn’t see Bleaberry Fell and not knowing the central fells very well I took a compass bearing and followed the well trodden stone path towards a steep looking crag in the distance which I mistook for my target. It didn’t matter as it was on my route, and as I got nearer the crag, I could then see Bleaberry further east about the same distance again from Walla Crag. It’s quite funny in mist how without perspective a small fell seems to loom over you and can look huge and steep, as did this fell until I got nearer.

During this section of path walked, I crossed a small pool of water teeming with tadpoles from nearby reeds, I could just see this spot covered with hopping frogs sometime soon, sure signs of how wet this area gets.

 The mist clearing on Bleaberry Fell. 

The fell in front of me was now clearing, as the cloud interspersed amongst the peak tops It now showed me the short ascent to the summit standing at 590m and I was surprised to find a wind shelter to sit in and take a break, although there was no high wind to shelter from, the flies and midges more than made up for any unpleasant weather the shelter was designed for. I’d just got my seat mat out and sat down to eat a boiled egg before it got warm and half a jam sandwich when the little buggers swarmed around me, must have been the heat off my body as sweat was pouring off my brow after the stiff climb. Even though it was misty and overcast, it was very warm and felt at least the forecast of 19-20c Needless to say, I soon packed up my rucksack hoping not to have swallowed one of the few midges which landed on my butty, and set a course SSE, nipped in the process on face legs and arms, “BUGGER OFF!!!” I shouted wafting my hands.........They took no notice.

While laid in a hospital bed, this was a moment I'd been looking forward to, back on a Lakeland summit and a sense of full recovery.

Well this was it, ‘bog zone’ here we come. The path south from Bleaberry Fell is a good one at the start, but then as I descended into what would be pretty bad wetlands normally, the path breaks up.

Yes there was areas of water, even after such a dry May, but this was easily negotiated, but I could also see huge areas of dried deep mud. I say deep, because of the deep boot prints left behind some time earlier. I was almost expecting to find the odd solitary boot abandoned, but no, only the remains of a hard walked mountain top.

The heather covered tops of the Central Fells

Lovely firm mud made the going easy

Eventually I arrived at a stile. On the other side there was no obvious path to follow same as much of the last mile or so, relying on my compass bearing and picking up the path by more luck than skill. But at this stile, someone on social media had told me to turn left and follow the fence line, which I did, and was thankful of the advice as the cloud had rolled in once more and visibility was poor.

I turned left here, having crossed the stile and followed the fence line

A boundary Stone of Manchester Corporation Water Works (M.C.W.W)

marking the edge of their land around Thirlmere stands amongst the Cotton grass.

Turning left following the fence line brought me to another well established path which followed a fence southwards, the fence eventually breaks right and the path runs diagonally to rejoin the fence at a stile. Crossing the stile soon guides you to ‘High Seat’ 608m 

The trig point can be seen as I approach High Seat in the mist

In this kind of weather, sometimes I find the need to verify the altitude at a summit checking my GPS which to be honest, is all I use it for, preferring my mobile app and my ‘proper’ compass to navigate. I don’t trust electronic compasses. I also carry a map which only sees the light of day if it’s raining. But a nice big trig stands on High Seat, so I knew I was standing in the right spot. Problem was as soon as I stopped I was attacked by nipping midges.

The trig standing on High Seat

A few spots of rain started as I left my third Wainwright of the day in as many hours, again heading through dry mud and some boggy sections, quite often pathless, cloud cleared before another wall of clag lined my route, so much for it clearing up in the afternoon.

The rain started to get a little more persistent and although warm, I didn’t fancy getting too wet, so shell jacket went on leaving my pit zips open to stay cool.

Two very welcome posts, bridge the boggy ground, and It was boggy here. Even after the month long drought we'd had. They made the crossing easy.

Again more deep mud to negotiate as I trek south by the fence line, but thankfully dried up.

I arrived at the 515m high ‘High Tove’ at 12:30pm it’s marked by a large cairn. Midges were fewer in numbers here, that could be due to the light rain. I was making good time, I still felt fit, so although the weather was now deteriorating fast, I wanted to visit ‘Armboth’ my 5th summit of the day still and I was going for it.

keeping an eye on my heading as the path becomes a little indistinct on route to Armboth.

Navigation was tricky to this fell as visibility deteriorated and with a faint path which disappeared occasionally, the compass stayed out until I came across the large rock formations. Checking altitude on my GPS confirmed the summit at 479m. Although I did check out a rock a short distance away seen through the mist, just to be sure.

Approaching Armboth 

Armboth summit 479m

Rather than head west to ‘Middle Crag’ and follow the fence line north back to ‘High Tove’ I decided to just retrace my steps back as I knew there was a faint path back to High Tove.

I sat one last time, back on the cairn at High Tove for a jam sandwich without having to share it with Lakeland midges.

Very quickly the rain changed from spitting to a full on downpour. By the time I’d packed my food away, map (it’s raining) and seat mat, my shorts were soaked to the point of translucency.

But the air temperature was still warm and my top half was dry, as I headed west over the nearby stile and down the grassy path to Watendlath.

It was only here, I crossed paths with a couple walking up the fell after 5 miles and the best part of three and a half hours without seeing a soul.

Suddenly I’d dropped out of the clouds, and the view of Watendlath Tarn, the farm and a fantastic looking valley was revealed. The stone path down to the farm was wet and treacherous, it must have claimed a few elbow fractures in it’s time, not to mention other injuries. So a steady descent on the grass edges brought me safely down to the farm.

A beautiful stone bridge spans Watendlath Beck, and from here I watched mountain bikers heading up the steep climb to ‘Great Crag’ and an angler was seen trying to catch one of the many trout with which the tarn is stocked with.

Watendlath Tarn and farm and the slippery path down

The stone bridge over Watendlath Beck

Watendlath Beck just a short distance downstream from the bridge

I crossed the bridge to follow the path down by the water at the head of the beck, following a few ups and downs but then the path almost levels out and becomes a very steady, flattish walk. The rain had now eased off and my shorts no longer clung to my legs as they dried out slowly.

This section along the beck was really pleasant and relaxing as the sound of a cuckoo was overheard above the other singing birds and together with the sound of rushing water from the beck made a perfect end to this walk.

Crossing the beck at a bridge lower down, led me into a woodland heavily shaded with lots of light deprived vegetation, moss and dead trees.

The path brought me out on the lane, for the final part of the walk, it was now mid afternoon, passing a few cottages overlooking Derwent Water, as a finale, the walk produced ‘surprise view’ a fantastic view of Derwent Water, and way below was The Mary Mount and Ladore Falls Hotels, again still murky so not the day to see it at its best, but worth a drive up, just for this on a nice clear day.

On my return to the car park, a guy from the National Trust was in his van, he asked if I’d walked by Watendlath, and was the film crew still there?

I hadn’t seen any, they probably had the day off due to the weather, but what a treat that would have been to see.

I was glad of the change of clothes, even my boxer shorts were wet. So a quick change in the back of the car, a drink and half a pack of jelly babies and I was ready to go.

I’m disappointed now, having done the walk, I picked the wrong day weather wise, and missed the views, especially as the following day, Sunday was glorious again and clear.

However, I picked an excellent time of year to get this done in one. 11 miles through a lot of bog is tough going and I felt I had it easy. Plus a good opportunity to brush up on my navigation skills in the mist. 5 more Wainwright’s walked, and more importantly building my fitness up after major surgery, but maybe I missed the whole point of why Mr A.W added these fells to his list.

The recorded route