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This was a great half day walk in good weather. This route would more traditionally begin or end with Barrow but I ticked that off a few weeks ago so missed it out on this occassion.
The walk into the valley from Braithwaite Lodge to Barrow Door is a nice warm-up for the ascents to come. I tackled the zig-zag route up the east side of Outerside, a path that Wainwright describes as "charming", which must mean "very steep". From there I crossed the wet boggy ground on the west side towards the path up to Sail Pass. This is an interesting path for anyone who doesn't like steep drops to the side of the path. There is nothing difficult about it and the path is actually quite wide but it looks a little scary from the bottom.
Once at Sail Pass the route up Sail is a long pull up the zig-zags. This isn't the most interesting hill I've climbed and the summit cairn could do with some work as its really just a pile of 3 or 4 small rocks. The summit of Sail is the first view I had of the Scar Crags and Causey Pike ridge. These are great looking hills so I got myself back down the zig-zags as quick as I could and then up onto Scar Crags. You can't really appreciate these hills properly until you are on the next one and look back. The going along the ridge is good and the paths very wide and there is no real sense of being on a knife-edge when walking. Looking back at Scar Crags from Causey Pike is a great viewpoint, as is the view out to Skiddaw from Causey Pike summit.
I chickened out of descending the scramble down the nose of Causey Pike and returned back down the valley to Braithwaite.
A great walk. Here is the route and some pictures...
