More catching up, this time around Mosedale.

[martin.h]

Another day in the Lakes concentrating on "catch ups" for Denise.

Wasdale is always a place I look forward to visiting, it was one of the main areas my mates and I went when we were younger, it was the draw of England's highest hills, some really decent climbing, the climbers bar at the Wasdale Head hotel and the feeling of remoteness that helped make it feel special to an eighteen year old hatching a passion for the mountains.

Denise and I had been here early on in our time together at the start of our mutual interest in the mountains, we've had holidays here with the children where we managed to coax them up Great Gable and Scafell Pike. But we never got to visit the mountains tucked away above Mosedale together, I did a long walk with a friend 40 years ago starting on Yewbarrow and finishing on Sca Fell, I think he said the route was called the Wasdale Skyline. today's walk was a shortened version because Denise has done most hills beyond Kirk Fell.

We parked up at the car park by Overbeck Bridge, there's some work going on at the moment so some of the space is taken up by construction equipment and vans but there's still room for at least eight cars. It was overcast with a sneaky cold wind, there was no rain forecast so we were hoping for a reasonable day.

We set off walking at 08:45, Yewbarrow firmly in our sights, well, lets face it, it's probably the only thing in sight from down here and it looked steep, very steep, I'm sure it's got steeper these past 40 years
Following the fence/wall up the initial slopes we found the split where the path starts to head up towards Dropping Crag and the gully above leading to Great Door.

Wastwater from the start of the gully


Middle Fell.


Great Door.


Great Door view.


Middle Fell and Seatallan.


Red Pike with Haycock on the left.


After an hour of huffing and puffing we were on the summit


The higher summits were shrouded in cloud.

Scafells.


Whinn Rigg, Illgill Head, Wastwater


Our intended route was showing signs of clearing and by now there was a hint of sun

Red Pike and Pillar.


Kirk Fell and G.Gable.


Pano.


The wind was a bit strong which was spoiling it a bit We set off for Yewbarrow north top and decided to descend to Dore Head via Stirrup Crag even if the wind was a bit iffy, as it turned out we were sheltered and found the scramble down very enjoyable

Kirk Fell and Gable from Dore Head.


Red Pike was next and by now it was completely clear, Pillar kept getting a few wispy clouds hovering over the summit but there was loads of time before we arrived on that summit so we were confident of a cloud free round.

The climb up Red Pike looked long and sustained from the top of Yewbarrow, it's not bad in reality taking us about an hour and a quarter summit to summit. From Red Pike summit the views were getting really good now, the only mountains wearing a cloud were the Scafells.

Red Pike.


Red Pike views.








Pillar.


Scoat Fell was next, we headed down the good path from the summit and with the visibility being good we took a direct line from about NY161113 over boulders to the wall, this was a bit of a mistake because the boulders are big and tricky to negotiate, anyway we got a good view of Steeple when we got there.



Scoat Fell has a large flat summit, the wall is good for a sheltered lunch spot so we decided to stop for lunch after we'd visited Steeple.

Scoat Fell summit.


Views.




There's a short drop and a scrabbly climb to the top of Steeple.





From the summit the views are good down to Ennerdale and across to Great Borne, Starling Dodd, Buttermere's Red Pike and High Stile. The craggy side of Scoat Fell looked pretty impressive too.





The wind kept us from staying longer on Steeple and were soon on our way back to Scoat fell to continue our journey.
We had our lunch in a sheltered spot before we set off again for Pillar.

As we were nearing Wind Gap we got the first real sense of the steep climb on to Pillar, thankfully it's one of those "not as bad as it looks" experiences. On the way up we met a couple of groups of about ten people each coming down, we'd seen about four people up to this point, Pillar looked like it was going to be busy. When we got to the trig point there were two people there and they were just on their way so we had the summit to ourselves.





Again the views were pretty good, there was a haze so it wasn't great for photo's, all the hills were clear of cloud except for Scafell but we could see Mickledore

We set off for Kirk Fell.

The walk down to Black Sail pass was a bit arduous on tired legs especially over the rocky bits, all the way down I was looking for a route through the crags on Kirk Fell, once at the head of the pass we could see a path heading up over to the left, this was the way up but it led us up a loose and scrambly gully it was a bit tricky higher up, there were one or two places where I thought we shouldn't be here, luckily it wasn't too technical, the only problem was Denise's reach was just a bit short for her to get decent hand holds, it was quite entertaining to say the least. At the top of this we could see the summit and couldn't wait to get there.

So, Kirk Fell summit was in the bag.



Part of our route, Pillar etc.


The beautiful Lake District.


Pretty good looking mountain G.G is.


Same again but with a better view of Green Gable to the L.



After a long and in parts, entertaining scurry around Mosedale, we stayed a while in the shelter on Kirk Fell before the walk down, I'd opted for the direct route down to Wasdale Head, I knew it was steep, just how we'd cope on tired legs i wasn't sure, t'was not a descent to hurry.

We set off down and soon found it to be every bit as difficult as I thought it might, loose steep scree on a hard surface, it was like walking on marbles on a laminate floor, we descended very gingerly

After what seemed an age we reached the short strip of green path at the bottom of the hill, we could see this for most of the way down and longed to be there, at last we were, all we needed to do now was get back to the car park.

Kirk Fell from t'bottom.


and from t'road.




Pillar with hat on.


Mr Gable with hat on.


This took longer than I thought it might too, at least it was mostly road walking and it soon passed, we were ever mindful of the traffic, these roads are not good for pedestrians.

This was a really enjoyable day, we reduced Denise's catch ups by six, now there are real plans to finish the Wainwrights together next year

[thefallwalker]

great report on a fantastic walk Martin
myself and Trailmasher struggled up Yewbarrow in June last year, & I can tell you it took longer than 1 hour so well done to you both & this June we watched as a fella struggled down Stirrup crag in over an hour, I guess peoples perceptions of danger differ
Lovely shots of some great hills, as you say G.G is a spectacular looking fell, it always reminds me of a pie top like you get as a pub meal

[martin.h]

Hi Chris,
Yes, it's a nice part of the world, judging by the large number of cars parked at Wasdale Head and the amount of folk coming off the Scafells, we definitely chose the quieter side

From now on, every time I see Great Gable, I'm going to get the urge for a pie, a Steak and Ale pie with a flaky pastry top, and, of course, a pint to go with it....Bliss

Cheers.

[dav2930]

Enjoyable report. Nice photos of an impressive round; the ones of sunny Gt Gable from Kirk Fell are great. Good luck with completing the Wainwrights!

[martin.h]

Enjoyable report. Nice photos of an impressive round; the ones of sunny Gt Gable from Kirk Fell are great. Good luck with completing the Wainwrights!

Thanks Dave, I've always liked the look of Gable from any side, but it does look quite intimidating from Kirk Fell

We're hoping to do all the catching up by spring with some of my remainders in and amongst and then be in the position to finish them together in late spring/early summer, we've 24 to do all told, I'm in the process of working out the logistics at the moment, fingers crossed

Cheers.

[johnkaysleftleg]

A great round visiting some excellent fells, the route up Kirk Fell from there is a bit of a maze I recall we kept heading towards the left and eventually found a relatively friendly way up. as for that way down from Kirk Fell....worst route in the whole of Lakeland IMHO.

[yokehead]

What a cracking round, nice job!

there were one or two places where I thought we shouldn't be here, luckily it wasn't too technical, the only problem was Denise's reach was just a bit short for her to get decent hand holds, it was quite entertaining to say the least

Charming, poor Denise I say, what a gent! . Perhaps you need to invest in arm extensions for her!

A fine view of GG as you say, thanks for that, my visit was into clag at half height so good to see.

[martin.h]

A great round visiting some excellent fells, the route up Kirk Fell from there is a bit of a maze I recall we kept heading towards the left and eventually found a relatively friendly way up. as for that way down from Kirk Fell....worst route in the whole of Lakeland IMHO.

Hi Anthony,

Kirk Fell is a bit of a puzzle from that direction, we were led to the gully by the path but as we were getting closer we noticed what I describe a "red chossey gully" further to the left with a vague path leading to it, people have used it for both ascent and descent and I wonder if that was the way to go, our gully was very loose indeed and, yes, that descent down the front of Kirk Fell nasty, very nasty

[martin.h]

Hi yokehead,

Yes, it's a superb day out, we had thought of extending it to take in Green Gable and Base Brown (missing out G.G) but decided that we might not have enough day light, one for the summer, me thinks

Arm extensions, now that's a good idea mind you, she showed me a few moves on the cuillin ridge that I thought were pretty impressive, knees are under-rated

Cheers

[johnkaysleftleg]

A great round visiting some excellent fells, the route up Kirk Fell from there is a bit of a maze I recall we kept heading towards the left and eventually found a relatively friendly way up. as for that way down from Kirk Fell....worst route in the whole of Lakeland IMHO.

Hi Anthony,

Kirk Fell is a bit of a puzzle from that direction, we were led to the gully by the path but as we were getting closer we noticed what I describe a "red chossey gully" further to the left with a vague path leading to it, people have used it for both ascent and descent and I wonder if that was the way to go, our gully was very loose indeed and, yes, that descent down the front of Kirk Fell nasty, very nasty

The red chossey gully was the one we ended up at, however rather than go up the gully you can scramble out of it up onto a little grassy slope to the left which soon turns into a path.