Fisher's Wife's Rake - Photo Gallery
It was pouring down with rain all the way up to Stanah and I was looking forward to another soaking. There was a huge amount of water coming off the hills, there was some flooding on the road by the side of Thirlmere, but the rain had just about stopped when I got out of the car. I was fairly certain that it was just a pause in the downpour as I walked up the road in the direction of Keswick. I reached a ladder stile by the side of a wooden gate, and went through it to get onto the path that climbs the south ridge of High Rigg. By the time I reached the undulating summit ridge the clouds has dispersed and the sun had come out, not that it felt very warm in the fresh breeze.
I walked almost directly to the summit at the north end of the ridge, there are many small peaks with cairns that you can investigate; as interesting as it is you will end up on the wrong side of a tall wall if you do that. I left the main path to climb to the second highest peak, marked as spot height 343 on the map, before dropping back down to the path leading to the summit of High Rigg. Almost immediately you start to descend steeply, on grass, down to St John's in the Vale church; I decided to cross the road and wall-stile onto a muddy path, past a small group of fell ponies, on to Tewet Tarn and across a field to get to a tarmac road. I walked along the small road to the main St Johns in the Vale road, and crossed it to get on to the Old Coach Road, signposted to Matterdale. The road is now only suitable for off-tarmac use, and fortunately for walkers there is very little of that. I walked as far as a ladder stile; I crossed it and followed a trodden path through old spoil heaps to join the remains of a substantial mineral line.
I passed the now overgrown quarry faces, and an assortment of abandoned quarry hardware; just before the track started to descend to the right towards Lowthwaite Farm, I walked up a rising green track on the left. I passed through a couple of gates and then reached another gate in a wall that didn't look as though it would open; it was time I turned left towards the crags anyway. I followed the wall to the other side of a field, I was thinking I might have to climb over the wall but I found a gate that let me out onto rougher ground. I walked across to another wall, where it, and a fence (topped with double barbed-wire strands too high for me stride over) were all that stood between me and the path I wanted.
I walked by the side of the fence, above a ruined section of wall, looking for a weak point; I found a small mound by the side of a fence-post where the barbed strands had been hooked onto the plain strand below them, making it possible to safely get my legs over. I started walking southwards, on a small path in the direction of Bram Crag Quarry; there is a steep, rocky gill just there, I climbed up it by mistake on an earlier attempt to find Fisher's Wife's Rake. I walked past the gill, and as the path I was on fizzled out, I saw it had moved higher up the slope and then I saw a still-higher path that I climbed up to.
Shortly after I started walking along the higher path, I came to a rock outcrop with a tree growing out of it, or rather clinging to it; the path carried on below the outcrop, but Fisher's Wife's Rake starts with clambering over the outcrop. The path below the outcrop works too, but it isn't any easier as you suddenly find the way to be steep, eroded, narrow and partly blocked by substantial gorse outcrops. After a few awkward steps to get past the gorse growing between boulders, the path settles down to being very steep and quite eroded in places; those sudden stronger gusts of wind were a bit unsettling on such steep ground.
It's an interesting place though, walking by the side of an impressive crag, wondering who Fisher's wife was and how often she had to make this strenuous climb up to apparent oblivion. Towards the top of the rake you have to cross a couple of mountain streams, even with so much water in them they were easy to cross; the only with approaching from below is being able to see the precariously balanced boulders that would bear your weight as you crossed. Above the higher of the two becks is what used to be the most awkward part of the climb, a plain grassy slope that used to need all-fours but these days a trodden path makes it a bit easier.
Eventually you will reach a cairn, but you needn't think that the hard work is finished; if you are lucky you will find the steep zigzag path, if like me on my first attempt you don't find it, you have a steep upward slog on boulder-strewn grass. You can tell the steepness is almost finished when you reach a small gully filled with reeds, you can also tell that the ground is going to get wet. Even though the gradient has eased, it is still a slog; the path has disappeared in the wetness by that stage, you just have to head directly for the skyline, or as directly as you can with having to avoid the worst of the swampy ground.
As you reach an especially large area of swampy ground, if you bear left you may find the remains of Jim's Fold; I can't be more precise about it's location than that. There is a path just above the fold that is tempting to follow, but there are lots of paths on Clough Head that take you to places you really don't want to be, especially on a windy day. I had forgotten just how much of a slog it still is to get to the summit of Clough Head; after hoping to get somewhere by following a path I decided to just get to higher ground as directly as possible and find the ridge path.
Fortunately the visibility was good so I could tell where the higher ground and the ridge was likely to be; I found the soggy ridge path and made the final slog to the summit of Clough Head. The views from the summit were surprisingly good, especially Blencathra and Skiddaw; the wind was unsurprisingly strong, I had hoped to finish my walk before it got too strong but I was starting to think about escape routes. It also got very cold all of a sudden on the exposed summit, I didn't hang around for long before heading towards Calfhow Pike. The depression between Clough Head and Calfhow Pike is soggy at the best of times but I was literally treading water at times as I made my way across the swampy ground.
I had no intention of visiting the summit of Calfhow Pike, the wind had become strong enough to be troublesome, and I was hoping that by keeping to the path below the ridge, I could make it to Great Dodd. I had got about half way up to Little Dodd when I made the decision to stop; it was exhausting battling against the wind and it would only get worse when I got to the ridge. The clouds above the summit of Great Dodd were being blown past it at great speed, even if I managed to get to the summit it would probably have been impossible to get any further.
The only problem was how to get off the ridge; my choice of directly downwards to St Johns in the Vale was based on my determination to get down quickly rather than known routes. As it happened the gradient wasn't difficult, the ground was mainly grassy and even, although the wetness made it slippery in places. I was well aware of the steep crags and gullies that line the valley, so I had to find a safe way down; I could see the escarpment below that I expected, but could I find a reasonable way down?
Suddenly I realised that I could see Castle Rock; I knew there were footpaths to the valley from there so I started to follow the contours towards it rather than try to get down from where I was. It was a good job that the bracken was dead, I could never have walked through that much fully grown vegetation; I eventually reached Mill Gill, but rather than try to cross it I made my way, relatively easily, down wet ground to a wall. I walked along the wall in the direction of Castle Rock, there was probably a path there at one time because there was was a warning sign put in place by North West Water; it read “Danger – Firing Range”.
After stumbling across mossy boulders and fallen branches, I came to Mill Gill; the waterfalls in the gorge are very attractive when there is so much water in them, the stream is very awkward to cross when there is so much water in it! After more mossy boulders, and having to cross a wooden barrier, I descended to the water race where a very dodgy stile and plank got me across. A final easy descent took me down to the road back to Stanah.
© Andy Wallace 17th January 2009