Fell Race and Corrie Face - Photo Gallery

It was a lovely sunny morning when I parked the car in Dunnerdale, just past the first cattle grid north of Seathwaite. It was warm enough at 9:30 am for me to wear tee-shirt and shorts but I made sure I was wearing plenty of Factor 15 sun screen and my silly but essential hat. Directly across the road is a signpost for a bridleway that takes you through bluebell fields down to Fickle Steps; a set of large stepping stones across Grassguards Gill. This crossing place has a substantial steel wire handrail that might be required if the gill is in spate but it is at quite an awkward height if you are tall.

On the opposite bank is a signpost that directs you upwards through the trees if you are going to Grassguards. This is the best time of year to be walking through deciduous woods but the dappled light disguises the footpath so I was glad of the directions. After climbing up peaty ground for a short while you come to a large rock outcrop where a more obvious path goes off to the left around the obstacle. Apart from the occasional mud and exposed tree roots this was a delightful walk through the woods, quiet and peaceful; I was wondering if anybody else ever bothered to come this way when I met another walker coming in the opposite direction.

At the edge of the woods I came to a track and spent some time looking at my map to make sure I didn't go off in the wrong direction. I turned left and forded the gill to reach Grassguards Farm, I walked through the farmyard and the dogs who had been barking before I got there were probably more friendly than they sounded. Once I got past the farm I was walking on a good track, I did wonder why I couldn't see Grassguards Gill any more and Harter Fell wasn't where I expected it to be but I was sure I was on the right path.

I came to an unusually high gate reminiscent of the ones designed to keep deer out; there was a notice on it announcing that this was the Grassguards Native Woodland. It was an easy walk through the replanted area, there were still plenty of bluebells in flower and it was warm enough for butterflies to be on the wing. I kept expecting to meet a path that turned towards Eskdale and I was still wondering where Grassguards Gill was, when I came across some farm buildings that I wasn't expecting. The sign on the gate said Stoneythwaite, I had walked in completely the wrong direction; one day I will learn to trust the evidence.

Details shown on the Ordnance Survey maps are usually correct, when you can't see what you expect to see but carry on anyway there is only one outcome; once again the problem with the map was on the other side of the glasses. At least the way back to Grassguards wasn't arduous; once I got back there and looked at the map properly the way was obvious. There is a sign on the farm gate that offers a Permissive Path if you wish to avoid the yard; in my determination to go through the yard I had neglected to make sure that I should. On the way back I took the Permissive Path just for a change and arrived at the path I should have taken by the side of Grassguards Gill.

The walk from here reminds me very much of walking in Scotland, the path is wet bordering on ankle-deep swamp, the gill is attractively rocky and the trees are conifers; in the sun it is a very enjoyable walk. Eventually you have to cross the stream; up on the skyline to the left you can see a stile where a path leads to Green Crag and just across the stream there is a signpost for the Public Bridleway to Eskdale. The bridleway is obvious but it is a typical Forestry Commission path and makes no concession to walkers; there is swampy ground with tree debris but the conifers planted either side give you very little alternative.

I was thinking again that not many people used this path when I was overtaken by fellrunners, the mud splashing up on their bare legs has a high sun protection factor. There is no way through the trees to Harter Fell, you have to keep on the swampy bridleway until you reach a kissing gate at the edge of the plantation. By this time several other runners had passed me and if I had been in any doubt about the route there was no mistake now. Once through the gate the runners all turned right up the hill; there wasn't a lot of running going on up the steep slope and for people who were enjoying themselves there were not many smiles on this warm day.

I wasn't actually the last person to reach the checkpoint at the official summit of Harter Fell; although to be fair he said he had started twenty minutes late. This is an attractive summit befitting an attractive looking hill, there are a number of rocky tors each of which would be a fine summit and all of them have to be climbed. The view is extensive but you can't see anything you recognise, although you can put names to everything you see as long as you are familiar with them. From a distance Harter Fell looks as though it is equally steep on all sides, the steep ascent means only one thing on the descent.

There are no secrets on Harter Fell, you are there or you are not, no false summits and no easy way down. I could see the buildings at Birks in Dunnerdale below as I started to descend but I couldn't see the path that I was going to use to get there. The initial easy, steep green descent ended at a kissing gate; who knows why the gate is there but immediately after it the path quickly became steeper and badly eroded. After what seemed to be a shallow gully I got to the harvested forest section, who knows what the way down would have been like when the trees were still there but it is not easy now they are gone.

The loose stones and boulders of the gully are replaced by tree debris and swampy areas without losing any steepness although there is a vague path through it all for most of the way. After the tree debris ends you have to walk in or by the side of a stony stream until you reach the ruins of a stone building by the side of a track. I was convinced I had come down the wrong way but at the side of the track was a wooden post with a blue arrow pointing to the footpath which was the way I had just come down. I turned right along the track and took the left hand branch soon after and walked through the yard next to farm buildings that looked empty but not derelict.

There is a final walk back through woods to reach a path that takes you back to a car park that the map says is called Froth Pot; all of that and I am only half way through my walk. I turned right onto the road and after about ten minutes I reached a track on the left hand side leading to Brow Side. I walked along the track and up towards the house but just before it I turned left onto a waterlogged green path. The path zigzagged once or twice before reaching a wall; through a gap in the wall was a small signpost to Seathwaite Tarn but it wasn't as direct as the path going uphill.

I followed the footsteps on the direct path up the grass slope until the gradient eased and I could see Seathwaite Tarn for the first time. I walked on towards the tarn until I felt that I was at a point where I needed to gain height. I turned left up towards Troutal Fell on grass, easily avoiding the outcrops of rock that came in waves after each short flat section. Eventually I came to a faint path in the grass that must be the route coming up from Seathwaite Tarn. After the effort of getting this far I would have been demoralised by how far away the summit of Grey Friar was if I didn't already know. From this direction Grey Friar is a big hill but from the other direction can anybody say they have really climbed it?

I was pleased to reach the cairn where the rocky summit plateau begins, it was only a short walk over rough ground before I reached the summit. The excellent view of Coniston Old Man and Dow Crag was more than matched by the view of the Scafell group from the nearby north west cairn. With going out of my way at Grassguards I was running short of time to walk my planned route so I was trying to work out an escape route. It didn't look like there was any way down from Fairfield, the grassy col between Grey Friar and Swirl How, so I continued on the path up the opposite slope to the summit of Great Carrs.

From the summit of Great Carrs it only takes ten minutes to get to the top of Swirl How, one of my favourite summits; for once it is not covered in mist but the breeze is definitely stronger here. I walked in the direction of Brim Fell and when I got to Levers Hawse I was still looking for signs of a footpath towards Seathwaite Tarn. There was no sign of a footpath, the ground looked impossibly steep and there was scree on the steep slope nearer to Brim Fell. According to the map a right of way exists but it doesn't look as though anybody has ever exercised that right. I set off downwards, at first heading towards the head of the valley but when scree took over from grass I started going directly downhill.

The ground is very soft and each footstep is likely to tear open the thin covering of grass, if people had used this route it would have quickly become very eroded. As it was there were eroded sections where the loose stones made it awkward to get down without sliding uncontrollably. The view upwards looks impossibly steep, it isn't a climb I would volunteer to make and but for being short of time I wouldn't have descended this way. I always wondered what it would be like to descend into the smooth-sided corries that are everywhere in the Lake District; I now know they are not impossible but I won't be making a habit of it.

As the gradient eased the ground became generally firmer but as I got closer to Tarn Head Beck it became wetter and marshy. I had been aiming for a small spoil heap that I could see marked on the map as disused Mines so at least I knew exactly where I was. I could see no evidence at all of any previous traffic on the right of way, maybe it was a way of getting between the mine here and those on the other side of Levers Hawse but they probably haven't been used for more than a hundred years. There was however a small path on the other side of Tarn Head Beck and once I go to it I made good progress, the ground was dry, flat and boulder free.

As I got closer to Seathwaite Tarn there was the inevitable swamp but the path took me around the dry edge of it and once I got to the tarn the path was easy again. The path takes you across the dam and on to a good track that was probably a service road for the reservoir; it seemed to be heading towards Walna Scar Road. I didn't want to go that way. I could see a path on the other side of a small stream; the blue waymarker arrow showed me how to get over to it. I started to descend on the path by the side of the stream, its small valley is named Tongue House Close on the map.

I had to cross to the other side of the stream and continue down over uncultivated and sometimes boggy ground before crossing a wall at a ladder stile to where a small bridge crosses Tarn Beck. There was then a short walk through bluebell woods before reaching the muddiest path of the day, the final five minutes to where I had left the car.

Andy Wallace 3rd Jun 2006