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What a few days it has been weatherwise!! Fortunately on Sunday I managed to take advantage of it to head over to the Lakes, with my eldest to bag a few unclimbed Wainwrights in the Far Eastern Fells. We parked up at Martindale old church and headed South alongside the intake walls above the perfectly flat valley of Howgrain Gill. The weather was good and confidence high, so high in fact that we ambled blindly along, a short distance behind another walker who was doing a similar route. It was only when he doubled back and met us that we realised we had both made mistakes and missed the path that would take us over Brownthwaite Crag. We decided it was time for the first bit of graft of the day so headed up the steep fellside for a short distance until we reached a col before climbing up and over the crag. There was an upside to this error as we got to see the small cave that's marked on the O.S. map.
Once over the crag our next target was the ruined building at the top of Fusedale. As I wanted to include Wether hill on the trip we slogged straight up the fellside until we reached it's uninteresting summit and High Street, the Roman Road that crosses it on it's way to Brougham from Ambleside. In fact our route South followed the "road" across terrain more akin to the Howgills than the lakes. From here the near distance views opened up with High raise and Rampsgill Head directly in front and Beda fell to our right. Unfortunately the haze meant that even the nearby Helvellyn range was hardly visible but couldn't really complain as it's not often you can walk the high ground in March in a tee shirt. There is little of interest on the ridge itself except for a small sheet of water that is no more than a pond but has the name of Redcrag Tarn. The views to the Head of Rampsgill, Rest Dodd and the Nab are impressive enough to offset the left, right, left, right, route march. After two and a half miles It's "squad Halt" as High Raise is reached which was a great point to stop and have our snacking. Unfortunately the flys seemed to take a liking to the summit aswell so we moved further down to finish.
Kidsty Pike was our next objective and it was an easy ten minute stroll to what would appear to be a modest little summit to those unfamiliar with the area. It's only on reaching the summit rocks that true drama of the pike reveals itself as it is perched atop the great gulf of Riggindale beck backed by the bulk of High Street and it's eastern ridge. We sat a while to take in the scene ahead but when it became a bit busier we moved on to another easily attained WW of Rampsgill head. The view down the valley from it's northern edge is as impressive as any in the lakes.
On descending to the narrows of the straits of Riggindale we had reached the point to head back North on a well worn path towards Angle Tarn two miles away. This we did with a diversion via The Knott and past Satura crag to end up at what must be one of, if not the most attractive high tarn in the Lakes. Last time I was here I'd only seen it in the mist but now seeing it on a sunny afternoon overlooked by Angletarn Pikes was a spectacular sight. Had I passed this way first I wondered how tempted I'd have been just to sit there for the day and given the summits a miss. Time was pressing, however, and with four miles still to do we forced ourselves away and made our way to Boardale hause on a path which clung to the edge of the fellside and gave great views down to the patterdale valley and Brotherswater a thousand feet below. At the Hause we found ourselves on the path back to Martindale which cut across the ridge from Angletarn Pikes to Beda Fell. I wanted to include Beda Fell in the walk but Ollie was flagging so after pointing him in the right direction for the car I headed across the mile long ridge to it's summit at Beda Head and it's stunning views back to parts of the route we'd done, Place Fell, Hallin Fell and Ullswater. A fitting end to a great day out that proves once again walking the lakes isn't just about conquering the highest hills.
- Beda Fell
- Steel Knotts from Brownthwaite crag
- The pond of Redcrag Tarn
- High Raise from the South
- Kidsty Pike (left) Riggindale and Haweswater
- Angle Tarn
- Rampsgill Head, Rest Dodd and The Nab form Beda Fell
- The North Ridge of Beda Fell with Martindale, Hallin Fell and Ullwater.