Day off to the Lakes for another fine day of fell walking.
As the second segment of this walk involved no paths (Rosthwaite Fell summit
ridge / plateau) I loaded some waypoints into my Garmin , and these proved
really useful.
Up at 4 AM , followed by a reasonable trip up to Cumbria.
I parked at Seatoller (NT car park). From the car park turn left and walk along
the road for about three hundred yards. Just after Mountain
View cottages there is a footpath sign on the right.
Following this across to the far corner of the field there is a footbridge
across a stream (looking at the map, this is a tributary of the River Derwent).
From there the path climbs the side of the Fell for a short distance before
veering right at a shallower angle. After a few hundred yards the path then
turns towards the left and starts to climb steeply up the fell. The OS map
clearly shows a path which brings you out at Tarn at
Leaves, but I soon lost the path (as did a fellow walker), so I aimed at what
seemed to be a decent line to a small dip in the first visible ridge. After a
tough , steep climb (and as usual many ‘false’ summits), I arrived at the ridge ,
but this brought me out well north of Bessyboot.
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| First high point on ridge before Bessyboot |
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| Tarn at Leaves |
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| Bessyboot Summit |
After sorting out my
co-ordinates I headed for the summit of Bessyboot with Tarn
at Leaves at the foot. From here the fun started ….. To the South West on the
skyline I could see Glamara summit, but actually I couldn’t – this turned out
to be Combe Head. I set off from the summit of Bessyboot to skirt left of
Rosthwaite Cam , and at that point as I was a lot lower on the plateau , and I
had no line of sight for my target I set my Garmin to lead me to the edge of
the great hollow. This next section included negotiating my way over rocky
outcrops, around small tarns and swampy / boggy sections. Next Target was Combe
Door, which involved similar terrain. I could now see the summit of Glamara
again.
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| Yet another obstacle |
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| Coombe Door (I think?) |
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| Langdale Pikes |
I figured the best way would be to get on the West ridge to take me to
the summit. However, what looked like one solid mass of rocks turned out to be
several. So up one and this just brought me to a dip with the start of the
summit ridge across a boggy hollow. Up a boulder strewn gully to the
summit……NO….this turned out to be the summit of Combe Head with the ‘real
Glamara’ due South across yet another boggy hollow. Finally, after a mild
scramble I arrived at the top of Glamara. It seems fitting that Wainwright #100
should not be a straightforward one !!
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| Glamara Summit |
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| Glamara Summit Shelter |
During the crossing of Rosthwaite Fell I had glorious views
all around of Great Gable, the Langdale Pikes and Derwent Water in the distance.
I have to say , by this point I was really tired after all
the ups and downs , and wet patches, so I was less than impressed when the rain
and mist blew in reducing visibility down to about 30/ 40 feet. I certainly
couldn’t see the ‘clear’ path leading to Allen Crags. I decided that I needed to get the grid ref of Allen
Crags from the map and tap that into my Garmin. Once again, this great little device
kept me on route. The mist quickly cleared and I could see the path
about a couple of hundred yards away. All I needed to do was scramble down from
the rock I was on down to the path. However, I soon came to an abrupt halt as
my way was blocked by a 30 foot cliff. I had to backtrack and veer left to get
a gradual way around to meet the path below. From there it was a clear trek to
Allen Crags crossing some picturesque tarns on the way. Finally, I arrived at
Allen Crags summit with some wonderful clear paths showing down to the Esk Hause
area. Due to my tiredness at this point , there was no chance I was going to
tackle Esk Pike today (it would have been an extra 2 miles to the walk ) My
journey back was the excellent path along Ruddy Gill / Grains Gill, back down
to Seathwaite, with the last mile along the road to Seatoller. This is a
spectacular but comfortable descent with waterfalls on view and the mass of
Glamara to the right.
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| Allen Crags Summit |
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| Rosthwaite Fell from the car park |
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| One of many tarns near the path to Allen Crags |
A tough mountain day, but very rewarding. The walk shown
above is around 10 miles but I am claiming 12 miles , with all the ups and
downs and sidetracking on Rosthwaite Fell !!
By the time I had got back to the car I had been out 9 hours.
OS OL4 (NW Lakes) and OL6 (SW Lakes) About twelve miles
