Edge Band Pudding & Hole - no photos today

It was raining when I got up, it was raining on the motorway and it was raining when I got to Tilberthwaite, I was under no illusions as to what the conditions would be on the hills. There was some sunshine around too and I saw the most spectacular rainbow as I got to the southern end of Coniston Water. Tilberthwaite is surrounded by quarries and from the car park a steep stone staircase takes you up through old vertical sided quarrying areas, the narrow corridors into them and the spoil heaps caused by them. The car parking spaces reserved for disabled drivers are handily placed for access next to the steep stairway.

After passing the main quarries the path carries on upwards over generally easy ground along the edge of the the steep deep valley of Yewdale Beck. The path splits into two, I followed the higher left hand branch but I should have gone right for reasons that will become obvious later. Where the path follows the beck as it bends to the right you have to cross a steep mountain stream at the closest point to the steepest part of the valley. Across the beck you have rock to scramble up, it isn't that difficult but you should take care when the rock is wet and potentially slippery, the long steep drop on your right isn't obvious.

As the gradient eases you get to a wide flat area and you have to cross Crook Beck and normally hopping across the boulders isn't a problem. With the depth and speed of the water I didn't fancy my chances of getting across safely. This is one one the rare occasions where walking poles would have been useful I decided I should have taken the right hand path earlier. The only thing to do was walk upstream and try to find an easier place to get across, it's debatable I suppose that I got as wet walking across the swampy ground and through tall wet reeds as if I had fallen in the stream.

Anyway I found a place that I was able to jump across the stream but the depth of water meant that I daren't misjudge my jump. Of course I now had to walk back downstream through more swamp and reeds, did I mention that it was raining too? I got back to the place where I originally wanted to cross the stream and remembered the problems I had last time I was here, I really should have taken that other path. The flat wet hinterland of Wetherlam around Henfoot Beck is a great place to get your boots waterlogged so it is a surprise that there are so many old mining levels in the area.

You can walk around the swamp passing various fenced-off old mine entrances but I've done that before and decided I would rather take my chances crossing the swollen beck and make a beeline to the good track I should have been on. The place where I crossed the stream was just below a rocky cataract and as sometimes happens the stream splits into smaller streamlets below a waterfall and each of the four of them were easy enough to step across. The path is obviously an old quarry path, deliberately constructed and strengthened across steeper ground giving good dry conditions as you walk above the perversely named Dry Cove Bottom.

The good path continues all the way to the slightly lower of the cairns at the top of Birk Fell, at last with a gap in the showers I could see the well made path I had been on and another fine rainbow forming an arch over Little Langdale. Ahead was the steepness of Wetherlam Edge and a good appreciation of what a big bold hill Wetherlam is. As you start to climb Wetherlam Edge the path is obvious at first and I had quite dramatic views of the Langdale Pikes and Bowfell as they were overtaken by clouds and rain and there was another rainbow. Then the rain came in again and the path became less obvious as the going became rocky, some of the slabs were too wet to climb up directly but there was always a way round and usually a small cairn to aim for.

After a good interesting climb that took longer than I remember I got to what felt like a summit but there ahead is the real summit cone, just five more minutes going up rough rocky ground but now there is no need to use your hands. The last bit of the climb takes you directly to the summit cairn, I got there in another gap between the showers and was able to see the rough stony summit and another rainbow in the valley below. The rain came in again while I was still on the summit, some of those hard rain drops were coloured white and the wind had become strong enough to make map reading almost impossible.

The visibility had become too poor to navigate by sight and the top of Wetherlam is too rough to support footpaths. From the summit you should head towards another cairn on an outcrop on the other side of a small tarn, my compass bearing found the rough path off the summit that becomes a very obvious path over grass. In good conditions I would walk over the ridge of Black Sails but in the wet and cold and with an increasingly strong wind I was happy to keep to the good path. The path does have one or two careful moments as you step across wet rocks on steep ground before the final rugged descent to Swirl Hause.

Then there is the ascent of Prison Band, another rugged and interesting climb on a good day but I was concentrating on just climbing and staying on my feet in the conditions. When the gradient eases you are suddenly on grass if you have missed the last bit of the path but with a quick look round I saw the substantial cairn at the summit of Swirl How. I was surprised to see several other people around the summit, these conditions aren't usually enjoyed by so many walkers. Without stopping I set off towards Brim Fell knowing where I was and being sure of the path.

After a few minutes following a descent and short ascent I saw some walkers standing at the top of a rock outcrop and I began to question where I was. Had I gone in the wrong direction from Swirl How and ended up at Great Carrs, it's something I've done before and it would have taken a similar length of time. I didn't recognise the place and the obvious path seemed to be going down too steeply, I had become disoriented and couldn't reconcile my position using map and compass. I was convinced I had left Swirl How in the right direction and my compass confirmed the direction I had come from but in this visibility I didn't want to get myself lost so I decided to head back and get my bearings again.

The ground was flat but stony, because I was preoccupied with feeling lost I didn't watch where I was putting my feet and somehow fell over with my face heading for the floor. Falling over on the hills isn't like falling in the street, you need to protect your head so I put my arms up in front of me, I ended up with a lump on my elbow but my forehead wasn't damaged by the rock it touched. I don't think anybody noticed as I got up and carried on and at a place sheltered from the wind I sat down to look at the map again. A couple of other walkers were coming behind me so I asked where they had come from, they had come from Coniston so I was in the right place all along.

Confident again I set off back towards Brim Fell, confident also that this was not going to be easy. I have been battered by strong winds before on Brim Fell, on wide flat hills a cold wet wind seems to accelerate as though in free-fall. At least now it had stopped raining, not that the mist was any more pleasant with a wind that was strong enough to stop me in my tracks a couple of times. The way is marked by substantial cairns and I have to say that I was grateful for them, the path isn't very clear and I wouldn't want to be struggling with a map in this wind.

With all these big cairns on a big flat hill it might be difficult to decide where the summit is but never fear, the summit cairn is a different class of construction, it is substantial and tidy - obviously the summit. The wind had actually subsided a little bit by now I wasn't in any danger of being blown off my feet but it was chilling my hands, my two pairs of gloves were wet but I didn't want to stop and change. At this point I noticed that both of my boot laces had come unfastened, I knew my hands would be too cold to fasten them so I had to carry on, with the laces being so wet they stayed in place quite well.

When I got to the large cairn at the summit of Coniston Old Man I sat on its sheltered side, took a pair of gloves off and tried to fasten my laces but as I expected I couldn't manipulate my cold fingers well enough. I put some dry gloves on and kept my hands in my rucksack for a few minutes until I got enough movement in my fingers to put a basic knot in the laces. The descent from Old Man through the quarries is steep and loose at times but at least it was sheltered from the worst of the wind. I was now beginning to wonder how I would get back to Tilberthwaite, I have done it before but ended up walking through a swamp and descending a steep wet hill before still having to walk along the road.

The alternative is a long road walk from Coniston so I decided I just had to get it right this time. Just as the steep eroded path through the quarries comes to an end you can see a good track leaving the path and heading towards Torver from a point where there are two large cairns about two metres apart, that bright rainbow isn't usually visible from here. At the lower of the cairns a faint path goes off to the left, it is less visible than usual in the bracken but it is there and after a short climb you descend towards Boulder Valley. I've managed to come a different way to usual and ended up on a good track above the active quarry.

I turned left along the track and carried straight on when it petered out over wet ground and where not surprisingly there are more boulders. You will reach a boulder much bigger than all the rest in the valley, this is the Pudding Stone. Close by is a flat wooden footbridge by which you cross over Low Water Beck and follow the steep eroded path downhill by the side of it. The path veers away from Low Water Beck and takes you to the footbridge over Levers Water Beck looking spectacularly full of water rushing steeply downhill. There is evidence of mining all around, mine entrances and a valley floor full of spoil heaps as you enter the old Copper mining area.

You can descend towards the Youth Hostel but I didn't want to go that way, there is a wide track ahead and I walked uphill until it ended. I continued along a path going downwards at first and then contouring around the base of Tongue Brow before it become a well-constructed path heading up towards Red Dell Beck, Coppermines Valley. Red Dell Beck is also in full spate and looks spectacular as the water falls steeply down the valley, it would be impossible to cross without the bridge being there. Across the bridge the path going downhill passes through many old mine buildings, someone put an awful lot of effort into this now quiet valley.

As you reach a row of cottages you can see a path going uphill between spoil heaps, the start of my path back to Tilberthwaite. After a short while the path doubles back on itself and heads northwards, this is no walkers path it must have been an important trade route at some stage. Then you get to another quarry with spoil heaps and paths a-plenty, this is where it all gets confusing with paths and streams everywhere. I ended up walking on a faint occasional path by the side of a stream, I wasn't sure it was the right stream to follow but I headed uphill towards a gully. I recognised the gully, I have descended from Wetherlam this way before and I'm sure I have been up this way too. In spite of my doubts, as you reach the top of the stream a path materialises and it seems to be going my way.

The path fades and is found again, I always try to work out where the path should be and usually find it again. Following these occasional paths is always awkward but you should remember to check your map o ccasionally too, it told me I was a long way from where I should be. Rather than persevere as I did last time I headed across the wet ground crossing a handful of streams in the direction of the high ground until I reached a larger valley. This must be close to the path and I suddenly came across a good constructed path, this must be Hole Rake and I had followed the wrong stream uphill.

The path took me easily back to the point where I couldn't cross Crook Beck earlier this morning. By now the sun was shining and I enjoyed the interesting walk back down through the quarries, although having got down the wet rock by the side of the steep mountain stream I could see just how precarious and steep it was. As the man says, every day on the fells has its own character and the potential to be a new experience, sometimes a challenge, today had been one of those challenges.

Andy Wallace 1st October 2005