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This day out had been planned for a while, doing a bit of research and route planning I wanted to have a go at this to complete the Western Fells and, after today, if all went well, I'd only have 12 Wainwrights to do to finish them all.
We did the usual weather watching thing during the week, it had been predicted the sun was going to shine on Saturday the 21st, we had a weekend booked at the Premier Inn near Whitehaven, as the week progressed we saw that, for once, the weather was set fair for Saturday and it looked like the forecasters were going to get it right.
Saturday morning dawned, looked out the window and wow, lo and behold, the forecast was spot on, not a cloud in the sky and it was going to stay that way.
Whitehaven to Greendale was only a 40 min drive, we set off earlyish, got parked up on the big grass verge by the holiday lets in Greendale and were off up the hill by 08:40, the sun shining and the hills bathed in that early morning light that promises a good day out.
The first hill on the agenda was Middle Fell, looking inviting to the right of us.
Buckbarrow, our final one today, was on the left.
The initial climb is quite steep so we felt the lack of hill fitness we've got but, once we'd managed to find a steady plod, we kept going, it's a climb of around 500 metres so, being the one with the camera, I managed to steal a couple stops in the pursuit of digital memories, if you know what I mean.
The views initially are quite subdued, there's nothing much to see until height is gained, around 250m things start to get better.
Seatallan
On Middle Fell summit we could see the majority of our planned route, I thought everything looked a bit far off, especially Caw Fell but the weather was pretty much perfect, we had loads time so decided we could take it easy and enjoy our surroundings without fear of the views being taken away by iffy weather.
Middle Fell summit
Views, Scafells.
Kirkfell and Great Gable above Yewbarrow
Haycock
Seatallan
Shiny Wastwater
Sellafield
We set off from the summit towards Haycock, I had done a bit of research on the route I'd got planned and found the Pots of Ashness could be the "Pits" of Ashness due to the amount of water down there so I planned to try and keep fairly high, around the 500m mark to avoid the worst of it, this did actually work and as a result we could head for High Pikehow without needing much re-ascent.
Views from above the "Pits"
Haycock
Seatallan
Red Pike I think!
Scafells
We started the climb up Haycock opting to stay right of Gowder Crag and the steep face of the hill. This way up was steep enough but it was on grass as opposed to scree and crags, height was gained fairly quickly and the summit was reached after a couple of stops where the camera came out (and the chance of a breather)
Seatallan from near the summit of Haycock
Haycock summit is very bouldrey and there's a wall running over the summit.
It's a great viewpoint, if only I'd taken some photo's, I'd lost the lens cap for my camera so I was rather pre-occupied in the vain attempt to find it (I didn't), we could see where we'd been and where we were going, to the right was the very rocky way over to Scoat Fell, Pillar etc to the left was our route to Caw Fell, quite a contrast being initially rocky then a wide grassy ridge to the summit, after a quick snack we set off for Caw Fell.
This was a nice easy trip over following the wall, the summit of Caw Fell is on the right of the wall but there are many openings with gates and stiles in it so there's no bother crossing it
Caw Fell is big wide expanse of a summit but the views are good, this was my 200th Wainwright, not massively exciting for the double century but I did manage to get a photo thanks to Denise.
Caw Fell summit
Me on't 200th
Views
Starling Dodd and Red Pike with Grasmoor behind
Pillar and Scoat Fell
Scafells behind Haycock and the wall
We had a little sit down by the wall to have a rest, the wind had got up so the wall was good shelter, after our rest we set off for Seatallan.
This was a bit of a slog, we decided to stay highish to lessen any re-ascent but found it to be hard work travelling over boulders on the SW side of Haycock, we should have taken the lower option, as a result it took us longer to travel the distance.
After much swearing at boulders and myself we arrived in the dip between Haycock and Seatallan, from afar the ascent up Seatallan looked daunting, closer, it looked bl**dy awful, we got into plodding mode and started the climb up.
It wasn't that bad too be honest, Denise found it easier than I did but getting into a steady plod and a couple brief photo stops, I've got the camera, remember, we arrived at the summit.
On Seatallan there's a trig point, a shelter and a smaller cairn, we visited them all to make sure. We had a long break in the shelter, it was early afternoon so there was no need to crack on
Seatallan summit
What a view!!
Kirk Fell and Great Gable
England's highest
Haycock
Caw Fell
View from the shelter
After our extended break we set off for Buckbarrow. We visited the cairn on Glade How before reaching our final goal,
by now I was feeling a bit tired, probably due to the lack of hill days this year so the cairn on Buckbarrow was a welcome cairn to reach, after a brief stop and photo's it was just a case of getting back to the car.
Buckbarrow
I'd decided to head off in the direction of Joss Naylors cairn
and the decent down by Tongues Gill, this was steep in the lower parts but it soon got us down to Greendale Gill where we crossed and got onto the main path heading to Greendale tarn from Greendale.
From here it was an easy trek back to the car thus finishing a great day out in fantastic scenery, the weather was absolutely ideal, we couldn't have wished for better.
A last look at the Scafells before we set off back to base, sun still shining and beautiful blue sky.
