Gavel Neese to Piers Gill - Photo Gallery
On the day that the England football team starts its long-awaited World Cup campaign it seems that Wasdale is the non-football alternative way of enjoying the sunshine. I had to be patient as I joined a stream of cars heading up the valley and the National Trust camp site at Brackenclose was full. The temperature had already reached 20C by the time I got to the car park; I applied a good layer of Factor 15 sun screen before I started walking and I was going to have to wear my silly hat all day. If you leave the car park and turn left you will cross a substantial bridge over Lingmell Gill, turn left straight after it and pass through a gate into the grounds of the camp site.
Keep going straight ahead on the track cum car park used by campers until you come to the site exit gate. The track then is less substantial as it goes along the bank of Lingmell Beck, not that you see much of the beck most of the time – it generally flows beneath the river of stones. I usually cross the stones where you can see the track continuing on the other side of the beck but I carried on to try and find a way around the short section of the valley road. The path onwards is much narrower and is in danger of becoming overwhelmed by bracken and gorse.
I reached a footbridge after a few minutes where I had to cross the beck anyway, one of the wider crossings in the Lake District but not a trickle of water to be seen. Once I got across the bridge there was a fairly obvious route across a field to the road; I turned right on a fainter path through the gorse bushes to see if there was an alternative route up the valley. I thought I was getting somewhere when I found a more substantial path but it only led me to the back of Lingmell House. It was obvious that if I carried on I would end up climbing walls or gates so I decided it was time to return to the main path now I was past the tarmac.
Adjacent to Lingmell House there is a field with a gate that opened easily enough but there was a couple of feet of wire fencing running across the top of the gate just to make it a bit awkward to get through. The initial section of the main path towards Styhead takes you past St. Olaf's church where the ewes and their lambs were sheltering in the shade of the Yews. The dust created by cars coming from Burnthwaite Farm was picked up by the strong breeze and blown into the sun cream on my legs like mini pebbledash. Once you get through Burnthwaite Farm the track is generally grassy and stony until you get to the wide footbridge across Gable Beck; there was still some water flowing under the bridge.
Across the bridge Gavel Neese is on the left, you can see ridge of Gable's nose stretching upwards to a far horizon. The rising path is on good grassy ground; the odd eroded sections have now been repaired with stones but it is still a long haul. The firmness of the ground under the grass makes it not the usual steep green slog but it was very warm although the breeze was quite delicious. There is plenty to look at too; there are big hills all around, the best view of Wasdale and Wastwater is from here and Ill Gill coming down from Kirk Fell is an intriguing looking object.
Suddenly everything changes, all at once you are confronted by loose stones and the view upwards is steep and unrelenting. There is of course the easier alternative path going off to the left to Beck Head but I haven't come here for an easy time. The solitary upright boulder called Moses' Finger has been visible for a long time but only now does it look improbable – the only upright object in a sea of sliding stones. I suppose the purest route would be as I have done in the past, straight up the awkward, sliding scree; at the risk of widening the erosion you can walk up grass at the edge of the stones.
It is still strenuously steep - especially on a warm day, but at least you only have to make each step once; walking on the stones you are likely to slide down a step for every two you make. Instead of arriving at Moses' Finger I had a sideways view of it and I can see a small crack of daylight underneath it – it is actually resting on an embedded boulder rather than supporting itself. The way ahead is even steeper, there is a grassy alternative to the eroded path cum scree slope but you shouldn't stray too far from the path because you wouldn't want to miss the cairn. The cairn shows the start of the South Traverse and if you miss it you will have a much harder day ahead of you, not that the South Traverse is easy.
The South Traverse may be well documented but the path isn't as obvious as you might think, it can fade underfoot but looking ahead you will see a cairn or signs of flattened grass or lighter coloured stones. The path traverses steep ground but follows the contours for quite a while until you reach a point where it suddenly turns left up a shallow gully; it is obvious in as much as there is no alternative. After a short scramble upwards the path again follows the contours for a short while; after another short climb to the top of a grassy ridge Little Hell Gate comes into view. In spite of its intimidating name there is no problem crossing the scree, you can actually climb up Little Hell Gate to reach the summit of Great Gable.
After climbing up out of Little Hell Gate the path rises up to the crest of another grassy ridge before dropping down to another small scree-filled gully. I wasn't quite sure if this was Needle Gully but it was where I expected it to be so I started to climb up it. After climbing up onto another small, exposed grassy ridge I could see I had climbed too soon, Needle Gully is a little way ahead. The climb downwards directly towards Needle Gully was a bit more steep and bouldery than I felt comfortable with so I climbed back down steep grass and boulders to the small gully I had climbed.
The next gully was indeed Needle Gully, the distinctive clink of climbing gear and the voices of climbers talking to each other were additional clues. The scramble upwards is steep and some of the boulders need a big step to get over them but there is no exposure before you get to the base of Napes Needle. The Needle is straight up on the right and on the left, after stepping between climbers' rucksacks you can scramble the few exposed steps up to the small ledge known as the Dress Circle. This is the traditional viewpoint for watching climbers if you think that climbing is a spectator sport; I was joined there by another party of climbers waiting their turn.
I carried on to the most awkward place on the walk, an exposed sloping slab. There is a small ledge you can walk across below the slab but you are aware of the exposure and you have to climb up onto the slab anyway; this is not something I would be comfortable with if the rock was wet. You then have about thirty feet of descent down a rocky gully, there are plenty of places to put your feet and holds for your hands but it is pretty steep. When you reach the bottom you can see Sphinx Rock up ahead and there is a faint path that traverses the steep ground in its direction.
I thought I should be able to find a way upwards towards Sphinx Ridge without climbing up to Sphinx Rock; after a steep climb up another small gully, steep grass and clambering over boulders I didn't find the route I was looking for. I decided it was best not to continue upwards in case I got myself into something I couldn't get out of so I clambered back down and made my way over to Sphinx Rock after all. I didn't get right up to the Sphinx; I'm not a fan of sloping slabs with nothing to hang on to and a long, unforgiving way down. There is an obvious enough path that passes close to the Rock and takes you up grass and boulders into a steep and steep-sided gully.
The climb upwards feels comfortable enough but the view back downwards is fairly exhilarating. You have to walk across a large chockstone which would cause no problem if it were two feet off the ground but it is not a place where you would want to stumble. The next section is a more eroded gully, filled with steep and sometimes slippery stones but you can hold onto the steep walls at the side. At the top of the gully is the start of Sphinx Ridge, the climbing now is on more substantial rock; there is a route that avoids the more gratuitous climbs that I use with being alone. Eventually you reach a lovely green ridge that seems completely out of place but it is a splendid little spot to rest and ponder about what you have just done.
The way ahead is obvious; a path takes you around the base of Westmoreland Crags unless you feel adventurous to take a more direct route. The popular path goes a long way round before climbing up to the summit of Great Gable but I took a slightly more direct route to the Westmoreland Cairn. The view from the cairn is one of the best and shouldn't be missed if you have made the effort to reach the summit of Great Gable. The only problem with the view is that it is very hazy with the weather being so warm – you can't have everything. The other surprise is how strong the breeze is on such a warm day, it would probably feel uncomfortably hot without it.
I had planned quite a long walk but it took a long time to get to the summit of Great Gable and my legs already feel like they have worked hard. As I descended to Styhead by the Breast Route I was running different possibilities through my mind and each time I came to the conclusion that I didn't need another hard climb. My first decision point was at the foot of Skew Gill; I decided not to climb it and continued on to walk the Corridor Route. At my next decision point I decided not to make the steep climb up to Broad Crag col and when I got to Piers Gill I decided to descend from there.
The path downwards beside Piers Gill is fairly steep and quite rugged in some places but the gill is full of interest and Great Gable looks good straight ahead. There are a couple of rock steps to get down, a “bad step” scramble down fifty feet of rock and Greta Gill and Lingmell Beck have to be crossed. The gills are easy in dry weather but they can be very difficult to get across when they are full. As I got closer to the valley of Lingmell Beck I was sheltered from the breeze and it got very hot in the late afternoon sun. I felt the need to re-apply some sun cream and it all got a bit messy mixed in with the dust that had stuck to my legs earlier.
It was a very warm walk back down the valley, the clear pools in the beck looked very tempting but if I took my boots off would I ever want to put them back on again? Wasdale was still full when I got back there and I started to think about football again.
Andy Wallace 10th Jun 2006