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We've been on a mission of late, wanting to finish the Wainwrights together on the same mountain has involved a fair bit of catching up for Denise, when we decided to have a go at doing all 214 we had to get Denise on an even keel with me which meant, at the time, she needed 67 "catch ups" so I've been planning days out that included catch ups for Denise and new ones for us both.
This trip out would gain Denise 3 catch ups, Base Brown, Green Gable and Glaramara and two new ones for us both, Seathwaite Fell and Rosthwaite Fell. It looked a fairly big day on the map, in reality it was but the reward was well worth the effort, this is how we got on
We parked up in the N.T car park in Seatoller meaning we had the walk into Seathwaite at the start of the day on fresh legs as opposed to at the end when the legs were about to give up the ghost
we were off for 08:15 for the mile walk to Seathwaite, it was a bright morning, lovely spring colours all around and new lambs in the fields.
Through the farm buildings and then up alongside Sourmilk Gill. This is a steep pull up to start the day but height is gained quickly and the mind is taken off the effort with the great views of the mountains around, Borrowdale and the waterfalls in the Gill.
Action shot
As we got to the start of Gillercomb we chose to ascend Base Brown by the Hanging Stone route, this is a direct and interesting way up, from below it looks a bit daunting but once above the massive fallen boulder there's a path that threads its way around the crags and it gives spectacular airy views of Borrowdale.
Looking up to the hanging stone you can see how aptly its named
Once above the crags it's a straight forward walk up to the summit of Base Brown and on the top we could see most of our intended route,
Views from BB
Photos taken and then we were off to Green Gable.
Green Gable from Base Brown is just a steady pull up and the distance between the two is soon covered, on the top of Green Gable the views were ok.
The cloud had started to cover the higher tops and we had a hail shower so my summit photo session was brief, this was short lived though, by the time we'd arrived in Wind Gap it had stopped and it became a lot brighter as we went down Aaron Slack, by the time we'd arrived at Styhead Tarn it was nice enough to sit down and have a munch.
Aaron Slack, the photo doesn't do it justice, its much steeper than it looks here.
Great End from Styhead Tarn.
Lingmell, tomorrows target.
From the tarn we did a rising traverse up to the summit of Seathwaite Fell, it looked steep and, in parts, it was but with about 150m of ascent it was soon over with and we were on our third Wainwright of the day.
Approaching the summit
Aaron Slack, a better view.
Summit Denise
Base Brown from Seathwaite Fell
I knew the 601m top on Seathwaite fell was the wainwright but on the way over to Sprinkling Tarn we did the higher tops as well, just in case
Great End and Seathwaites other tops
We had lunch by Sprinkling Tarn and had a good rest before setting off to Allen Crags.
Seathwaite Fell in the sun from our lunch spot.
As we got closer to Allen Crags I saw an alternative way of gaining the path to Glaramara and went off piste traversing below Allen Crags, we'd done this Wainwright so it saved a bit of time. On gaining the path we could see Glaramara, it looked a heck of a long way off so it was a case of heads down and gerron' with it
By now the legs were feeling the effects of the rough terrain, once on Glaramara's summit we could make out Rosthwaite Cam, knowing Bessyboot was behind the cam and a bit further on it felt like we may not have the legs to do it so we had a longer break on Glaramara to refuel and appreciate the views, it was now decision time, shall we go for it? of course we will, we're up here now so we might as well continue so off we went.
Glaramara summit Denise.
Summit Views, Base Brown, Green Gable & Great Gable
Bow Fell, Esk Pike etc.
Glaramara pano
Langdale Pikes.
The descent from Glaramara towards Comb Head involves a bit of a tricky down climb
which was no problem as it turned out, on tired legs it looked worse than it was and for the first time in ages we doubted our ability
Once down it was off to Bessyboot.
Rosthwaite Fell is a series of ups and downs and quite tiring, we went on to Rosthwaite Cam on the way to Tarn at Leaves and saw our final Wainwright just a wee bit further on and, to be honest, it looked bigger than all that had gone before, it was only a short hop but, crikey, it felt a whole lot further, we took our time and arrived on Bessyboot, a bit weary but happy we'd done what we'd set out to do.
After more munchies and a couple of photies we set off on the descent to Combe Gill so we backtracked to Tarn at Leaves and took the path from there, we lost the path about halfway down so headed for the sheepfold we could see from above, found the path again and this led us to the sheepfold, we crossed Combe Gill here and picked up the path coming from Glaramara. From here we followed it back down to the road and then back to Seatoller.
Springtime in Borrowdale.
This was a great day out, I knew it was going to be long one but it did all the fells we had left in the area in one go, I suppose when the ultimate goal gets closer the sense of urgency becomes greater.
Nearly there now, excellent