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Following a frustratingly fine Lakes Easter weekend spent in the house we finally managed to get over the A66 on the Tuesday. The fine weather had held on and it was a blissfully perfect morning at Mardale. There is always something about the Mardale and the head of Haweswater that gets me, even though it was flooded to create a reservoir, drowning a wonderful little community that had existed for centuries, I can't help but feel awestruck by it's beauty. It helps I suppose that it has been very kind to us as regards weather as it was again today.
Heaven is a place on earth by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Our three remaining Far Eastern Fells were not the easiest to link up sensibly, Options being a long circular from Swindale, or a route containing large sections of there and back from Mardale or Longsleddale. I eventually stumped for the Mardale route, starting with Branstree's North ridge. Branstree is a fell we have climbed before and due to it's somewhat dull nature it became synonymous with grassy lumps and the sound of "oh no not another Branstree!" has been a common cry from Grace over the years.
This route starts off very promisingly as the small path winds it's way up through crags and boulders in charming fashion, with beautiful cascades to your left adding to the scene. All to soon however the gradient eases and the features vanish leaving you with an expanse of rising grassy moorland. We stayed on the Mardale side to give us fine views over Haweswater but soon it became apparent that the grassy trod we were following was just traversing, not climbing the hillside. A brief direction change and some hard work brought us to the optimistically named Artle Crag where stands a superbly built cairn as apposed to the small pile of stones and dog bowl on the actual summit.
Round the Bend by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Lakeland Road by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
A Bit of a Slog by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Artle Crag by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Highest dog drinking bowl in England by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
We barely paused on Branstree and set off down the peculiarly named, given it's on Branstree, Selside Brow towards our next target, This was a very quick and simple descent to the boggy col at the top of Mosedale. Any thoughts of dullness were forgotten by the huge temperature inversion to the South with cloud filling longsleddale making a spectacular sight. We've seen this phenomena a few times now but it never gets old. Thanks to the relatively dry weather of late the col was OK and the peat hags were easily avoided. The climb up Tarn Crag was a case of following the fence up the largely gentle gradient before heading of towards the flat summit. Here stands a peculiarity of this fell in the shape of a large survey column. The structure is repeated on the slopes of Branstree and Grey Crag and has weathered quite beautifully. The original purpose was apparently the construction of the Haweswater Aqueduct and must have been quite an undertaking before the days of helicopters dropping stones where you want them.
Longsleddale Inversion by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Looking down Mosedale by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Shippman Knotts by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Towards the Gatesgarth Pass by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
View from Tarn Crag by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Survey Column and Tarn by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Grace on Tarn Crag by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
We had lunch here, enjoying the views of the dissipating inversion before returning to the fence to hopefully make a relatively dry crossing to Grey Crag. The country here is certainly not that which is typical of the Lakes, far more Pennine in character as it changes from crags to the boggy delights of the Shap fells. Fortunately the route wasn't too bad (especially as we had to return this way) and this remote Eastern outpost of the Lakes was bagged.
Hughie on Grey Crag by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
We retraced our steps, apart from the diversion to Tarn Crag's summit and arrived back at the head of Mosedale to be confronted with the less than attractive sight of the initially steep slopes of Selside Brow. Following some slow trudging we left the wall and crossed over towards the survey column missing out on another visit to Branstree. (because I'm a merciful and benevolent leader
) We passed some stubborn snow patches, which Hughie enjoyed immensely on the way and declined to climb the nameless lump between Branstree and Selside before an easy gradient took us to our final Far Eastern Fell. Hazy but expansive views of the Pennies were our reward and we had a few moments rest to celebrate.
River of Snow by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Mad Dog Snow Swimming by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Stone Tardis by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
All done on Selside Pike by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Swindale with Pennines beyond by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
We returned via the old Swindale/Mardale corpse road which granted us great views with Haweswater looking like Quicksilver in the afternoon sun and the beautiful cascades of Rowantreethwaite and Hopgil Becks reflecting just what a paradise Mardale can be and just how heartbreaking it must have been for the displaced families who had lived here for generations to leave.
Classic view from the Corpse Road by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
The Far Eastern Fells are often not classic Lakeland, although Mardale Head most certainly is, but in many ways they benefit from this, giving this wonderful district another, quieter string to it's bow. It will not be too long before I return to the delights of Mardale and its surrounds as I feel it will be impossible to stay away.
