A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:30 pmWhen the alarm went off at 7:00AM on Sunday morning I must admit that I didn’t want to get out of bed. A stupidly late night on Friday and a Saturday spent gardening saw me feeling somewhat tired. With my better half also not wanting to emerge from the warm bed it was by some miracle that we both dragged ourselves out into the day bleary eyed and thinking “I wish we’d given it a miss this weekend”. Perhaps it was the words “Chance of cloud free summits - greater than 90%” and “superb almost unlimited visibility” given in the MWIS forecast that roused us from our slumbers and off across the A66 yet again for the Lakes.
We drove through a sleepy Keswick and past the perfectly still Derwent Water before arriving at the magnificently situated Stonethwaite to begin todays wanderings.
Fortunately the forecast was 100% accurate as it was a beautiful chill, windless morning with just a few high level wisps to break up the perfect blueness of the sky.
We crossed Stonethwaite Bridge to start south along the Cumbrian Way towards our first target of Eagle Crag. This is the third time we’ve walked along this section of the Cumbrian Way and I’ve got to say, as beautiful as the scenery is this path is blinking awful. It is covered with thousands of stones just the right size to be annoying making relaxed walking impossible. I don’t know for just how long this stoniness continues but I’d hate to walk all day on it that’s for sure.
Fortunately it wasn’t far before we reached Smithymire Island and crossed the bridge over Greenup Gill. I suffered a small navigational malfunction at this point as to get away from the extremely sodden ground we attempted to traverse the hill side higher up and ended up struggling through four to five foot high bracken. Upon reaching the wall we had to head back down to the gate where the clear way along side the Gill was obvious.
We continued along the Gill on the very wet path before reaching the second wall which was our signal to set off up the hill in earnest.
It’s a fair old pull up and even though there was no wind at all, and we soon entered the shadow of the fell, it was still steep enough to get a bit of a sweat on.
We crossed the stile once the crags were reached and continued upwards for a short while before the gully, AWs key to the ascent, was found. It’s a simple scramble up to the first terrace that leads you across the top of Heron Crag. You’re aware of the drop in places but exposure isn’t really an issue. That said I wouldn’t advise this route in thick mist.
Once the end of Heron Crag is reached you then have to go back and forth ascending to the next terrace up at the end of each one before the sloping summit plinth of Eagle Crag is attained. This really is a brilliant route up a fell and the summit panorama didn’t disappoint with views of Borrowdale and Langstrath looking equally fantastic.
We had lunch, lingering as long as we could on this fine top, before setting off for what looked to be a ten minute walk to Sergeant’s Crag. Oddly enough the next target actually seemed to get further away for a while but soon enough (about half an hour) we had completed the soggy traverse to Wainwright number two for the day.
The lack of wind saw Sergeant’s Crag infested with midge so we didn’t linger to long before heading down the open fellside to link up with the Cumbrian Way back to Stonethwaite.
We passed the imposing Lining Crag before passing a multitude of stunning cascades on the gentle descent back to the start. In the end it was certainly worth getting out of bed for, in fact we wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
We drove through a sleepy Keswick and past the perfectly still Derwent Water before arriving at the magnificently situated Stonethwaite to begin todays wanderings.
Fortunately the forecast was 100% accurate as it was a beautiful chill, windless morning with just a few high level wisps to break up the perfect blueness of the sky.
We crossed Stonethwaite Bridge to start south along the Cumbrian Way towards our first target of Eagle Crag. This is the third time we’ve walked along this section of the Cumbrian Way and I’ve got to say, as beautiful as the scenery is this path is blinking awful. It is covered with thousands of stones just the right size to be annoying making relaxed walking impossible. I don’t know for just how long this stoniness continues but I’d hate to walk all day on it that’s for sure.
- Eagle Crag from the Cumbrian Way
- Stonethwaite Beck from the bridge
- A waterfall spied through the trees
Fortunately it wasn’t far before we reached Smithymire Island and crossed the bridge over Greenup Gill. I suffered a small navigational malfunction at this point as to get away from the extremely sodden ground we attempted to traverse the hill side higher up and ended up struggling through four to five foot high bracken. Upon reaching the wall we had to head back down to the gate where the clear way along side the Gill was obvious.
We continued along the Gill on the very wet path before reaching the second wall which was our signal to set off up the hill in earnest.
- Looking back down to Greenup Gill
- Hughie has spotted some sheep!
- Looking down Borrowdale
- Across to Rosthwaite Fell
It’s a fair old pull up and even though there was no wind at all, and we soon entered the shadow of the fell, it was still steep enough to get a bit of a sweat on.
We crossed the stile once the crags were reached and continued upwards for a short while before the gully, AWs key to the ascent, was found. It’s a simple scramble up to the first terrace that leads you across the top of Heron Crag. You’re aware of the drop in places but exposure isn’t really an issue. That said I wouldn’t advise this route in thick mist.
- View up Langstrath
- Grace and Nicola ascending the terraces
Once the end of Heron Crag is reached you then have to go back and forth ascending to the next terrace up at the end of each one before the sloping summit plinth of Eagle Crag is attained. This really is a brilliant route up a fell and the summit panorama didn’t disappoint with views of Borrowdale and Langstrath looking equally fantastic.
- View North from Eagle Crag summit
- Looking towards Sergeant's Crag from Eagle Crag summit
We had lunch, lingering as long as we could on this fine top, before setting off for what looked to be a ten minute walk to Sergeant’s Crag. Oddly enough the next target actually seemed to get further away for a while but soon enough (about half an hour) we had completed the soggy traverse to Wainwright number two for the day.
- Fleetwith Pike from Sergeant's Crag
- Crinkle Crags, Bowfell and Esk Pike
- View to the West
The lack of wind saw Sergeant’s Crag infested with midge so we didn’t linger to long before heading down the open fellside to link up with the Cumbrian Way back to Stonethwaite.
- High Raise and Greenup Edge
- Eagle Crag and Greenup Gill
- Just one of the beautiful cascades of Greenup Gill
- Lining Crag and Greenup Gill
- Looking towards Borrowdale from the descent
- Arty Mono Shot
- Last look back to Eagle Crag
We passed the imposing Lining Crag before passing a multitude of stunning cascades on the gentle descent back to the start. In the end it was certainly worth getting out of bed for, in fact we wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
