Great Gable from Honister Hause
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 9:22 am
After a few weeks wandering elsewhere it was time to return to the Lakes. The original plan had been a easy day bagging Mellbrek and Hen Combe but Grace decided she fancied something a bit more entertaining so we headed to Honister to climb Great Gable.
We set off a bit late due to an alarm clock malfunction but were still suited and booted and ready to walk by 10 O'Clock on a beautiful Lakeland morning. The approach to Gable we were using was Moses Trod, named after (for those who don't know) a legendary Honister quarryman and bog water whiskey maker from the misty past. He allegedly had an illicit distillery in his hut and used this high level route to smuggle his produce amongst the slate deliveries to Wasdale. His Whiskey may not have tasted very nice but his taste in walking routes was first class. Very quickly the classic view (best seen from Fleetwith Pike) of Buttermere and Crummock Water appears but attention is grabbed by the fine site of Pillar in all it's considerable glory.
We followed the path making good progress until we came to a fence. This fence isn't shown on the OS map but this was our marker to head up the western slopes of Brandreth towards the so far unseen Great Gable.
Great Gable is not unseen for much longer however as it rapidly goes from peeping over the skyline to filling your whole field of view ahead.
By now it was obvious that our chances of getting "The best view in England!" were reducing as the cloud was increasing, shrouding Pillar and Kirk Fell summits and creeping around the North West ridge of Gable. Undaunted however we set off up said North West Ridge from Beck Head.
The summit of Gable is hard won by Lakeland standards with this route being reminiscent of the tourist route up Blaven but as we were starting from about 670 meters it wasn't to long before we reached the stony summit. As expected views towards Wasdale were totally obscured by clouds but we did get fine views over Sprinkling Tarn past the Langdales all the way to Windermere.
After an fine picnic we set off to bag the other three targets of the day on our return journey starting with the mildly scrambly decent to wind gap. The route over Green Gable, Brandreth and Grey Knotts was an easy undulating amble following the roughness of Great Gable and it provided an enjoyable return to Honsister.
That said however the final steepish decent to the car park from Grey Knotts was a bit tiresome given it was lose, a bit damp and slippy, the type of ground you just can't get any rhythm on. If you try this route striking out over the open fellside to link back up with your outward route might be a better option.
All in all a great day in the hills and ideal preparation of our upcoming week on Skye.
We set off a bit late due to an alarm clock malfunction but were still suited and booted and ready to walk by 10 O'Clock on a beautiful Lakeland morning. The approach to Gable we were using was Moses Trod, named after (for those who don't know) a legendary Honister quarryman and bog water whiskey maker from the misty past. He allegedly had an illicit distillery in his hut and used this high level route to smuggle his produce amongst the slate deliveries to Wasdale. His Whiskey may not have tasted very nice but his taste in walking routes was first class. Very quickly the classic view (best seen from Fleetwith Pike) of Buttermere and Crummock Water appears but attention is grabbed by the fine site of Pillar in all it's considerable glory.
We followed the path making good progress until we came to a fence. This fence isn't shown on the OS map but this was our marker to head up the western slopes of Brandreth towards the so far unseen Great Gable.
Great Gable is not unseen for much longer however as it rapidly goes from peeping over the skyline to filling your whole field of view ahead.
By now it was obvious that our chances of getting "The best view in England!" were reducing as the cloud was increasing, shrouding Pillar and Kirk Fell summits and creeping around the North West ridge of Gable. Undaunted however we set off up said North West Ridge from Beck Head.
The summit of Gable is hard won by Lakeland standards with this route being reminiscent of the tourist route up Blaven but as we were starting from about 670 meters it wasn't to long before we reached the stony summit. As expected views towards Wasdale were totally obscured by clouds but we did get fine views over Sprinkling Tarn past the Langdales all the way to Windermere.
After an fine picnic we set off to bag the other three targets of the day on our return journey starting with the mildly scrambly decent to wind gap. The route over Green Gable, Brandreth and Grey Knotts was an easy undulating amble following the roughness of Great Gable and it provided an enjoyable return to Honsister.
That said however the final steepish decent to the car park from Grey Knotts was a bit tiresome given it was lose, a bit damp and slippy, the type of ground you just can't get any rhythm on. If you try this route striking out over the open fellside to link back up with your outward route might be a better option.
All in all a great day in the hills and ideal preparation of our upcoming week on Skye.