Walking Forum meet Friday, Bessyboot, Glaramara and Allen Crags

The spring walking forum weekend meet up in the Lake District had finally arrived. 10 members of the forum were planning to meet up at various points in the weekend.

The plan was 2 nights stay in the Borrowdale YHA for most of us, while one forum member camped and two guys would join us just for the Saturday walk, which would be a climb to Scafell Pike via ’The Band’ onto Great End and Broad Crag. Sunday was a “see how we feel on the day” walk.

To make the most out of the weekend, Tim (percy) and Colin (strider) were walking on the Friday, so I decided to join them having managed to get the day off work.

The three of us had arranged to meet at 9 am by the school in Stonethwaite for a route in the southern fells, climbing up to Bessyboot / Rosthwaite Fell, Glaramara, and Allen Crags, returning along the Langstrath Valley which was filmed as the opening and closing footage to ’Countryfile’ the valley would take us back to Stonethwaite.

As always with these weekends, there is a list of gear to sort and pack as long as your arm, so it was a relief to be on the road by 6:20 am Friday morning. Traffic was light, probably due to the approaching Easter holidays and I made good time, arriving at the closed school in Stonethwaite at 8:30am.

I was first to arrive on a glorious sunny April morning, cool with a breeze but very comfortable. I'd found some free parking on the roadside, and by the time I'd put my boots on, Tim’s car was pulling up behind mine, followed shortly by Colin. 

We had warm welcomes for each other, as it had been some time since we were last walking together. The guys soon kitted up, as it was about 9:10 am, so with packs strapped on, we headed off along the lane following Stonethwaite Beck passed the Langstrath Country Inn in Stonethwaite village to a point where we were able to leave the lane for a climb up through a ravine on a steep but stepped path taking us up along side ’Big Stanger Gill’ between ’Hanging Haystack’ and ’Bull Crag’. As the three of us made the steady climb, views out to the Newlands Horseshoe opened up through the trees with ’High Spy’ and ’Maiden Moor’ on show. It was warm out of the cool breeze and the climb earned a sweaty brow or two.

Colin and Tim starting the climb along side Big Stanger Gill

Looking East towards Ullscarf

We followed the gill to the head of its source, passing a marshy patch near to the summit of ’Bessyboot’ following a good path. It was clear to see this area could be fairly wet during the winter months, but was pleasantly dry today and we soon made the last section of climb to its 551m summit around 10:30 am. The wind here felt fairly cool but comfortable enough with just a microfleece on.

After several attempts to take a group photo from my remote switch, I was finally successful after remembering to turn off the flight mode on my mobi......oops, much to the relief of Tim and Colin who were patiently posing for the shot.

A chance here for a break and a drink while admiring the surrounding fells on this gloriously sunny day before the seat mats were packed away and packs were back on. Tim led the way once Colin and myself were ready to go, passing ’Tarn at Leaves’ for the higher ground on Rosthwaite Fell.

From left to right, myself, Tim and Colin on the summit cairn of Bessyboot

I must say, it was nice to take a back seat with regards to leading today and follow Tim, who along with Colin had been in this area before, unlike myself.

I remember looking across these peaks from Allen Crags last year on a walk up to Great End, and thinking it looked fairly level and straight forward, but in fact, the whole of this route to Allen Crags from Bessyboot has some big undulations and quite deceiving on the map. But also the path disappeared periodically which all helped to add time to the walk. Some excellent views down into the Langstrath Valley and the gnarly rocks of Eagle and Sergeant’s Crags on the far side could be seen.

Looking back at Bessyboot summit

View of Tarn at Leaves and Bessyboot to the Left.

Eagle Crag and Ullscarf beyond

The Skiddaw Range to the north

View down into Langstrath and Pike of Stickle on the skyline

Looking down the Borrowdale Valley to Derwent Water

The Langdales in the distance 

We passed Dovenest Crag and crossed Combe Door to the south, on and off trails before Glaramara came into sight. Approaching our second Wainwright of the day, there didn't seem to be a path leading to the summit, so the three of us decided to take our own preferred track up to the rocky cairn. I opted for a short scramble while Tim and Colin took a more direct route. 

Colin crossing Combe Door

Approaching Glaramara summit

The summit cairn of Glaramara 783 m / 2,569 ft

It was a welcome stop here in the stone shelter by the summit cairn, just out of the now strengthening wind. Now at 783m we were pretty much as high as we were going and we could certainly feel the wind now as I donned my jacket, hat and gloves. 

The walk to Allen Crags was damp at times and Tim did his best to avoid the wettest areas as he’d opted for a walking shoe today. Which he found very comfortable and light, but not ideal for wet areas.

Looking at Esk Pike to the left and Great End centre of photo

We would be climbing the far right side of Great End tomorrow

At 785m Allen Crags was the highest point of the day, a Wainwright fell I'd visited last year, it was windy then too. We found some shelter on the western side of the fell facing the partially snow filled gullies of ’Great End’, and sat looking at tomorrows walk, trying to work out exactly where ’The Band’ route was. 

The stops we took were just long enough. The cold wind soon reduced body temperature and finger ends in particular, so we weren't hanging around too long. Time was ticking by, we had covered just under 6 miles and it was 1:30 pm.

We wanted to be back at the hostel to book the group in before they arrived.

So after finishing my ham and egg sandwich we headed down to Angle Tarn taking in the views of Esk Pike, Bowfell and the Langdales before descending into the shelter of Langstrath Valley following the beck.

Our last stop for food

Way down the valley I could see Eagle Crag in the far distance and I knew we had at least an hours walk still to do. In fact, we had just over two hours to get back to the car. We crisscrossed the beck a number of times before brushing with the Cumbria way lower down.

We had hoped to visit the ’Secret Cave’ but were unsure of its exact location, plus we were too knacked to be bothered climbing the fellside at this point in the walk.

Heading down to Angle Tarn from Allen Crags

On the outskirts of Stonethwaite, Tim pointed out some excellent wild swimming pools for future reference, but not today, far too cold for that.

By now we were ready for a pint and although tempting as it was to call in at the ’Langstrath Country Inn’, we needed to push on back to the cars, so we could get checked in at the hostel. I recorded a mileage of 13.5 miles with a total ascent of 1,024 m 

Black Moss Pot

After a quick change of footwear back at the car at 4:30pm we all drove the short distance to the Borrowdale hostel and checked in to find we were the first to arrive. The three of us were in a room for six, so obviously we all grabbed the lower bunks before returning to the bar for a well-earned pint. A short time later Dave (Rhino) and his partner Lyndsey arrived and joined us.

After storing some milk, teabags and cereal plus food for tomorrow in the self-catering kitchen it was time for a rather tipsy shower and change of clothes.

I also plugged in a multi socket point into our one socket so we could all charge our phones over the weekend.

We all rejoined the group in the main lounge where Reg (gunwharfman) had arrived, he was camping just up the road and was joining us at the pub for our evening meal. Dave, Lyndsey and Dom (Domtheone) who'd also just arrived were cooking at the hostel.

So Colin, Tim, Reg and myself walked the ten minutes across fields to the Riverside Bar at the Scafell Hotel in Rosthwaite and enjoyed an excellent meal and another pint. Fortunately we had head torches for the return walk back to the hostel as it was now pitch black darkness. Ruth (yorksgal) had arrived at the hostel while we were gone and the group had settled in nicely around the huge table in the hostel bar area. Hugs from Ruth followed and much catching up was done by all. We had a few good laughs a couple more drinks and arranged to meet ready to go at 9am before unsurprisingly Colin Tim and myself headed for bed on what had been a long day. Erm.....I think the others followed shortly after?

Reg and me

To be continued................