I was given a copy of Fellwalking with Wainwright as a gift from some family recently and found this while looking for a NW fells circular walk of around 9 miles. Wainwright isn't too keen on the Coledale valley itself but did praise the views and the high ground portions of the walk so, with a positive forecast we went for it.

All images are large resolution so click them to take a closer look!

View from the Grisedale Pike ascent path


View up the latter part of the ascent path


Having parked just outside Braithwaite we made our way up the steep and long (over 2 miles) path to Grisedale Pike. Views are fantastic throughout this round so doing it on a clear day will make all the difference.

There is some no-grade scrambling available if you search for it on the path which is a good way to distract from the relentless but manageable pull up to the summit. Once there the views open up again and all the effort is rewarded!

Hobcarton Crag and Hopegill Head from Grisedale Pike


Crag Hill from mine tracks between Grisedale Pike and Hobcarton Crag


Hopegill Head looking over Sand Hill (756m) toward Crag Hill - Hobcarton Crag and Grisedale Pike on the left.


From Hopegill Head we walked over Coledale Hause and up Liza Beck. I was on the look out for a nice looking direct route up the crag and the map shows a cairn on the summit plateau however, I didn't fancy the scree run and quite vegetated route that seemed most obvious. Perhaps one to come back to on my own in drier months, this whole route is an excellent round to run over.

Crag Hill from Coledale Hause


Crag Hill summit view


The whole round can be seen from Crag Hill summit and the views E through SW of the greater Lakes ranges are superb. Coming of the summit to Sail involves some no-grade scrambling with plenty of easier paths to avoid it. The ridge here is great fun for someone who enjoys exposure but we did meet a woman who had to turn around and head down to Force Crag mine path as she couldn't get past this bit. Once off Sail the decision is whether to take Outerside - Stile End or Scar Crags - Causey Pike back, we went for the slightly shorter Outerside - Stile End route as I've been suffering some foot pain recently and didn't want to push things too much. This is the dull bit and slightly boggy underfoot.

View back to Sail and Hopegill Head from Outerside


The rest of the descent back to the village is lovely and easy. Going again I'd go over Scar Crags and Causey Pike to cross Stonecroft Gill and join the same path to Braithwaite just SSE under Stile End avoiding Outerside as it's more interesting. A great round though, I hadn't heard of it before but think it deserves some attention!