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A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale


Postby johnkaysleftleg » Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:30 pm

Wainwrights included on this walk: Eagle Crag, Sergeant's Crag

Date walked: 07/10/2012

Time taken: 5

Distance: 8.5 km

Ascent: 645m

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When the alarm went off at 7:00AM on Sunday morning I must admit that I didn’t want to get out of bed. A stupidly late night on Friday and a Saturday spent gardening saw me feeling somewhat tired. With my better half also not wanting to emerge from the warm bed it was by some miracle that we both dragged ourselves out into the day bleary eyed and thinking “I wish we’d given it a miss this weekend”. Perhaps it was the words “Chance of cloud free summits - greater than 90%” and “superb almost unlimited visibility” given in the MWIS forecast that roused us from our slumbers and off across the A66 yet again for the Lakes.

We drove through a sleepy Keswick and past the perfectly still Derwent Water before arriving at the magnificently situated Stonethwaite to begin todays wanderings.
Fortunately the forecast was 100% accurate as it was a beautiful chill, windless morning with just a few high level wisps to break up the perfect blueness of the sky.


EagleCrag.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



We crossed Stonethwaite Bridge to start south along the Cumbrian Way towards our first target of Eagle Crag. This is the third time we’ve walked along this section of the Cumbrian Way and I’ve got to say, as beautiful as the scenery is this path is blinking awful. It is covered with thousands of stones just the right size to be annoying making relaxed walking impossible. I don’t know for just how long this stoniness continues but I’d hate to walk all day on it that’s for sure.

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Eagle Crag from the Cumbrian Way

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Stonethwaite Beck from the bridge

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A waterfall spied through the trees


Fortunately it wasn’t far before we reached Smithymire Island and crossed the bridge over Greenup Gill. I suffered a small navigational malfunction at this point as to get away from the extremely sodden ground we attempted to traverse the hill side higher up and ended up struggling through four to five foot high bracken. Upon reaching the wall we had to head back down to the gate where the clear way along side the Gill was obvious.
We continued along the Gill on the very wet path before reaching the second wall which was our signal to set off up the hill in earnest.

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Looking back down to Greenup Gill

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Hughie has spotted some sheep!

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Looking down Borrowdale

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Across to Rosthwaite Fell


It’s a fair old pull up and even though there was no wind at all, and we soon entered the shadow of the fell, it was still steep enough to get a bit of a sweat on.

We crossed the stile once the crags were reached and continued upwards for a short while before the gully, AWs key to the ascent, was found. It’s a simple scramble up to the first terrace that leads you across the top of Heron Crag. You’re aware of the drop in places but exposure isn’t really an issue. That said I wouldn’t advise this route in thick mist.

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View up Langstrath

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Grace and Nicola ascending the terraces


Once the end of Heron Crag is reached you then have to go back and forth ascending to the next terrace up at the end of each one before the sloping summit plinth of Eagle Crag is attained. This really is a brilliant route up a fell and the summit panorama didn’t disappoint with views of Borrowdale and Langstrath looking equally fantastic.

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View North from Eagle Crag summit

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Looking towards Sergeant's Crag from Eagle Crag summit


We had lunch, lingering as long as we could on this fine top, before setting off for what looked to be a ten minute walk to Sergeant’s Crag. Oddly enough the next target actually seemed to get further away for a while but soon enough (about half an hour) we had completed the soggy traverse to Wainwright number two for the day.

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Fleetwith Pike from Sergeant's Crag

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Crinkle Crags, Bowfell and Esk Pike

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View to the West


The lack of wind saw Sergeant’s Crag infested with midge so we didn’t linger to long before heading down the open fellside to link up with the Cumbrian Way back to Stonethwaite.

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High Raise and Greenup Edge

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Eagle Crag and Greenup Gill

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Just one of the beautiful cascades of Greenup Gill

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Lining Crag and Greenup Gill

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Looking towards Borrowdale from the descent

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Arty Mono Shot

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Last look back to Eagle Crag


We passed the imposing Lining Crag before passing a multitude of stunning cascades on the gentle descent back to the start. In the end it was certainly worth getting out of bed for, in fact we wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
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johnkaysleftleg
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Re: A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

Postby garyhortop » Wed Oct 10, 2012 7:24 pm

What a great day for a wander JK and what a cracking walk!! Some really nice photo's there and really liked the "arty" black and white shot!! :wink: :D
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Re: A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

Postby Lenore » Wed Oct 10, 2012 10:48 pm

Superb pictures!!!
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Re: A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

Postby johnkaysleftleg » Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:45 am

garyhortop wrote:What a great day for a wander JK and what a cracking walk!! Some really nice photo's there and really liked the "arty" black and white shot!! :wink: :D


Lenore wrote:Superb pictures!!!


Thank you both very much. :D
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johnkaysleftleg
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Re: A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

Postby ChrisW » Thu Oct 11, 2012 4:57 pm

Beautiful photos of a fantastic hike JK, well worth getting out of bed for after all.....but that initial post alarm drag never gets any better :lol:
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Re: A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

Postby simon-b » Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:47 pm

Those are two rugged little Wainwrights, John, always worth climbing. Were the ravens flying above on the climb to Eagle Crag? Their calls really resonate around those cliffs.

Great views and excellent pictures.
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Re: A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

Postby johnkaysleftleg » Fri Oct 12, 2012 8:37 am

ChrisW wrote:Beautiful photos of a fantastic hike JK, well worth getting out of bed for after all.....but that initial post alarm drag never gets any better :lol:


To be honest Chris I normally jump out of bed if we're going for a walk, It's when it goes off at 6:30 to go to work that I have problems :lol:

simon-b wrote:Those are two rugged little Wainwrights, John, always worth climbing. Were the ravens flying above on the climb to Eagle Crag? Their calls really resonate around those cliffs.

Great views and excellent pictures.


Unfortunately no ravens Simon. Probably something to do with it being quite chilly and probably the stillest day I've ever encounterd in the Lakes. Didn't fell as much as a waft of breeze all day.
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Re: A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

Postby Simo » Fri Oct 12, 2012 10:17 am

G o od report and Great Pics. The Waterfall and Mountain Ash shot I like. The clarity was awesome that day. :clap:
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Re: A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

Postby tenohfive » Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:03 pm

You tried doing an arty mono with the last shot? Hope you don't mind me giving it a two second bash for an idea of how it'd look:
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Re: A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

Postby johnkaysleftleg » Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:34 pm

Simo wrote:G o od report and Great Pics. The Waterfall and Mountain Ash shot I like. The clarity was awesome that day. :clap:


Thanks Simo, it was as clear a day as you could wish for :D

tenohfive wrote:You tried doing an arty mono with the last shot? Hope you don't mind me giving it a two second bash for an idea of how it'd look:


It looks OK but personally if I can't get black sky on a mono I don't bother :wink:
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Re: A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

Postby SusieThePensioner » Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:02 pm

Definitely worth the effort and driving over the 66 :D
Wonderful photos as ever, John :thumbup:
johnkaysleftleg wrote:as beautiful as the scenery is this path is blinking awful. It is covered with thousands of stones just the right size to be annoying making relaxed walking impossible. I don’t know for just how long this stoniness continues but I’d hate to walk all day on it that’s for sure.

I always think the name "Stonethwaite" is appropriate and it hasn't changed over the past 50 years :lol: :lol:
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Re: A magnificent autumn day in Borrowdale

Postby johnkaysleftleg » Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:07 pm

SusieThePensioner wrote:Definitely worth the effort and driving over the 66 :D
Wonderful photos as ever, John :thumbup:
johnkaysleftleg wrote:as beautiful as the scenery is this path is blinking awful. It is covered with thousands of stones just the right size to be annoying making relaxed walking impossible. I don’t know for just how long this stoniness continues but I’d hate to walk all day on it that’s for sure.

I always think the name "Stonethwaite" is appropriate and it hasn't changed over the past 50 years :lol: :lol:


Thanks Susie. You would have thought the Millions of pairs of boots that have trudged along that path might have kicked at least some of them elsewhere :wink: On a more serious note I wouldn't be suprised if that's where the name was derived from :shock:
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