A great day above Troutbeck.

[martin.h]

A good weekend weather forecast tempted us out again, these good forecasts seem to be very rare nowadays so we had to take advantage.
The plan today was to collect four Wainwrights from Church Bridge nr Troutbeck starting with Sour Howes and finishing on Wansfell Pike, looking at the map this trip should be straight forward enough, in reality we did encounter one or two problems connecting Troutbeck Tongue with Baystones and it was hard work in parts going "off piste".
We parked the car by the bridge and set off up the Garburn Road track until a stile goes over the wall near a small
plantation and then over a field to another stile which leads onto Dubbs Road then over another stile directly opposite.
P2270002 by Martin Hawer, Looking down to Troutbeck, Conison Fells in the distance with a sprinkling of snow.

P2270003 by Martin Hawer Red Screes poking up behind Baystones.

P2270004 by Martin Hawer Towards Windermere.

Here the climb up Sour Howes begins, looking uphill from here the path follows a ridgy line of crags towards a prominent rocky knoll, the summit is beyond that and the climb up to said knoll is steep but steady and soon arrived at. When there, the summit is just about in sight and there's a good path leading to it.

P2270005 by Martin Hawer Looking down to Troutbeck again from higher on Sour Howes, Wansfell in the middle distance and Nanny Lane visible. Scafells behind.

P2270006 by Martin Hawer Looking towards Threshthwaite Mouth with little Troutbeck Tongue below in the valley.

P2270008 by Martin Hawer Windermere.

Once on the summit we could see the way to Sallows and after the photo stop we set off following the wall for most of the way.
P2270014 by Martin Hawer Denise on Sour Howes.

There's a stile in the wall and at this point we left it and walked to the top, Sallows is a good view point from which you can see the southern fells and a lot of the bigger eastern fells.

P2270018 by Martin HawerOn Sallows.

P2270020 by Martin Hawer Sour Howes from Sallows.

P2270022 by Martin Hawer Looking to Yoke and the start of the Kentmere Horseshoe.


From Sallows we took a direct line to Garburn Nook and then went off piste taking a diagonal line across the fell side heading down Lowther Brow to the footbridge at NY425059 over Hagg Gill. This was uncomfortably steep in parts and we were lucky because we found gates in the fences in our general direction of travel, slowly but surely Troutbeck Tongue was getting closer.

P2270026 by Martin Hawer Lowther Brow, steep hillside, played havoc with the ankles.


At the footbridge we had a rest before the climb up the tongue. It may be a little hill but it's a steep 'un from the bridge but the top is soon reached with good views down the Troutbeck valley.

P2270029 by Martin Hawer Looking down the Troubeck valley from the new gate halfway up the Tongue.

P2270033 by Martin Hawer Denise on Troutbeck Tongue summit.

P2270034 by Martin HawerValley view from the summit of the Tongue.

P2270035 by Martin Hawer. Sour Howes right, Sallows left, from Troutbeck Tongue

P2270045 by Martin Hawer Ill Bell, Froswick and Threshthwaite Mouth from the Tongue.


We had another rest here looking towards Baystones,

P2270037 by Martin Hawer Looking to Baystones

from here it looked a long way, I managed to spot a reasonable route over to it, there was a fair bit of height loss but the re-ascent was at a steady angle or so I thought.
We headed down the hillside to Trout Beck towards the footbridge marked on the map but missed the bridge and found some stepping stones instead which worked to our advantage as the walk up to the road was a bit less steep.
We got to the road at about NY413063 near a sheepfold and a convenient gate leading on to the fellside. From here we cut directly uphill towards the top of Baystones. This was hard work, we had walls to cross, bogs to negotiate and tussocky grass to get over. After much swearing we reached the top, I'm sure it didn't look that bad from The Tongue but it was knackering and we were thankful we'd got there, I'm surprised this isn't a Wainwright, it is a separate lump similar to the ones that are around this part of the Lakes.

P2270047 by Martin Hawer On Baystones.

P2270050 by Martin Hawer Red Screes from Baystones.

P2270051 by Martin Hawer Rt to left Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick.


From Baystones we headed off to Wansfell Pike, this was over much better ground with a path to follow, a wee bit up and downy but much better travelling and soon we were there our last hill of the day, hard won in parts but well worth the effort.

P2270052 by Martin Hawer At last, Wansfell Pike.

P2270053 by Martin Hawer Langdale hills in the middle of the picture with the snowy Scafells behind.

We sat for a while looking around, by now it had got quite hazy with grey clouds subduing the light so the views were not great but at least we could see all around us unlike our last visit to the Lakes when we had clag on every summit.

P2270054 by Martin Hawer Strange clouds and subdued light.

We set off back to Troutbeck down a good path leading to Nanny Lane which in turn led to the little road back to the
bridge. We arrived back at the car after 6.5 hrs having enjoyed a day going off piste, it's good fun so long as you don't damage walls and fences so care has to be taken.

[thefallwalker]

A really good account of a rewarding day out busting a lung or 2 in parts! looks a lot different from a couple of weeks ago when myself & trailmasher were up around them parts as a few of them were completely covered in snow! your pictures give a totally diffrent aspect of the same fells

[ChrisW]

You guys put in a shift on this one Martin

there was a fair bit of height loss but the re-ascent was at a steady angle or so I thought.

We've all done this at least 5 times.....we'll probably do it 5 more this year too Some lovely shots with the snow dusted peaks in the distance

[trailmasher]

Nice one Martin and Denise a good photographic record of a decent walk whilst getting another 3 tops in Pity about the poor light later on but that's winter for you Well done