free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Last week saw me down in the Lake District once again. Thursday’s forecast was good, so I fitted in another walk around the fells. This time I went for a circular route to include the Langdale Pikes, plus some extra stravaiging to make it more of a full winter day. It’s only 40 minutes or so drive from our place in the Lakes to Great Langdale and I arrived at an almost deserted Dungeon Ghyll car park by 8:30am. I’m not sure if my NTS membership entitles me to free NT parking, but I paid them £8:50 anyway – I don’t begrudge it as they do good work maintaining paths and what not.
- Harrison Stickle from car park
The start of the walk took me through the beer garden of Lanty Slee’s pub and then round the back of the farm to get on to the path proper which heads up beside Dungeon Ghyll Force waterfall.
- View back down Great Langdale
I made things a little more interesting by staying on the north side of Dungeon Ghyll on a less well trodden path. This was a tad precarious in places on the edge of the chasm so probably not advisable. I see why they called it “Dungeon” Ghyll, it’s quite a hole. I passed by a couple of bolted anchors in the rock which the canyoning crew must use to get down there. After a few hundred metres and once above the waterfall, the ravine opened out somewhat and I crossed the stream easily and made a short scramble up the south bank to regain the well-constructed and not at all precarious path which leads up Mark Gate and on to the base of Loft Crag.
- Back on the south bank of Dungeon Ghyll
- Path heads around to the left of Thorn Crag. Harrison Stickle in centre of photo
From around 500m elevation there was a bit of snow and ice on the path, but easy enough to negotiate. I clambered up onto Loft Crag without any problems.
- Pike of Stickle from Loft Crag, Bow Fell in cloud behind
As is often the case in the Lakes, it’s not obvious which of the 3 or 4 rocky outcrops is actually the top of Loft Crag, so I just made my way over the ridge best I could before dropping down a little and walking on to the base of Pike of Stickle. Pike of Stickle is an impressive little peak which required some minor scrambling to reach the top. There was a little bit of snow and ice, but not quite enough to warrant crampons (which I was not carrying anyway).
- On Pike of Stickle looking eastsoutheast
After carefully making my way up and down Pike of Stickle, I headed across the bowl of Harrison Combe which had a fair covering of snow, consolidated in the deeper accumulations, but with breakable crust where the tufts of grass broke through. Not too hard going though, and I soon made my way up through the rocks to the top of Harrison Stickle.
- On Harrison Stickle looking southeast
- On Harrison Stickle looking northeast to Pavey Ark, Stickle Tarn below
There was a stiff breeze, and it was quite cold, so I donned the down jacket at this point. Next destination was Pavey Ark which is the ridge above the cliffs to the northwest of Stickle Tarn. I think the actual summit is on the northeast end.
- Looking southwest from Pavey Ark, Harrison Stickle in foreground, Crinkle Crags and Bow Fell in distance
I then headed due west away from the cliffs to Thunacarr Knott which was only a short walk over the snow, with just a small elevation change.
- On Thunacarr Knott
A rather undistinguished hill, just a high point in the moorland immediately behind the Langdale Pikes. Next, I headed due north for 1.5 km or so to reach the highest point of the day, High Raise, at 762m. This is just rolling moorland, but quite nice to cross in the snow and there are great views northwest to Keswick and with the higher tops of the Western Fells very prominent too. There were quite a few folk about by now, but it never felt too busy.
- On High Raise looking west. Scafell Pike in cloud
I continued northwest for a short distance before turning and heading southeast to the curiously named Seargeant Man, a rocky knoll perched at the edge of the High Raise plateau. I found a sheltered spot out of the wind and had lunch.
- On Seargeant Man looking northwest back to High Raise
I had the option at this point to just head back to the car via Stickle Tarn but as I had plenty of daylight remaining, I decided to add an extra loop to lengthen the day. I headed northeast initially then turned east along a broad and poorly defined ridge, dropping height all the time. There was not much of a path here, but easy enough going. I left the snow behind and packed the down jacket as the wind had dropped and it was getting quite warm. Eventually the ridge narrows somewhat and ends up at Tarn Crag which is a rocky outcrop overlooking Easedale.
- On Tarn Crag looking southeast towards Windermere
There were a few more people here with a good path coming up from Easedale and Grasmere which is not far away. I left Tarn Crag on the path initially heading down steeply to the east and then turned south on a fainter path to make my way down to Easedale Tarn. Short grass underfoot, with all ice long gone on the sunny side of the hill so I got down to the tarn quickly. Here I picked up another path which comes up from Easedale and made my way around the east end of the tarn. It seemed like I had lost a lot of elevation at this point which would need to be recovered, but in fact it was only 250m, not too bad.
- Easedale Tarn below Tarn Crag
I continued on the path, muddy in places but improving with height, heading southwest and climbing onto the ridge of Blea Rigg. Before the crest I turned west on a fainter path up a small gully to the top of Blea Crags. I had a break here on a perch overlooking Easedale Tarn before making my way over another set of rocky outcrops on the crest of the ridge, one of which was presumably the summit of Blea Rigg.
- On Blea Rigg looking west towards Harrison Stickle
The climbing over for the day, all that was left was a very pleasant stroll back to the car park in the sunshine. There are many paths criss-crossing the fell up here, so I just followed one heading west towards Stickle Tarn. There were fine views of the cliffs of Pavey Ark and Harrison Stickle as I dropped down to the tarn.
- Stickle Tarn and Pavey Ark cliffs
There I met the nicely built path that heads up to Seargeant Man. I continued along this path, past the dam at the end of Stickle Tarn then dropping down beside Stickle Ghyll to reach the pub and hotel at the bottom. It was quite steep in places, but the excellent path made progress easy.
- Path beside Stickle Ghyll
A few people were having post-walk pints in the beer garden of Lanty Slee’s but I resisted the temptation, instead opting for an entertaining daylight drive back to base over the Wrynose Pass then down the Duddon Valley.
