Goldscope to Causey - Photo Gallery

It was a lovely sunny morning when I parked at at Gutherscale; I set off in tee-shirt and shorts and walked along the road to Skelgill, admiring the early-morning view of the sun shining on Causey Pike. From Skelgill I couldn't remember where path was that I needed to avoid walking on the road, I was hoping it would be obvious when I got to it, but it wasn't; I ended up walking down the road anyway to the junction at Stair. I walked along the little road to Little Town, but made a mental note of where to find the footpath to Skelgill from Ghyll Bank. I carried on past Little Town and turned left onto the gated road leading to Newlands Church, I then took the first track on the left, opposite the church, and had lovely morning views of Hindscarth and Robinson.

I followed the track across fields, through Low Snab Farm and out of the gate at the other end; the valley of Newlands Beck opened up before me with the sunlit beauty and clarity that you only get in the morning. Even the spoil heaps of the Goldscope Mine added to the ambience rather than looking a mess; but then the mine workings were what I came to see. I started to walk up a rather obvious path, but soon afterwards I bore left towards the heaps of waste material, and soon found the awesome-looking adits. The entrances to the old mines are impressive hand-carved holes, it is scary to think that people used to enter the angled narrow tunnels before venturing deep inside the hillside just to do their daily work.

The views from this industrial relic were just lovely, Dale Head at the top of the valley, and the Skiddaw massif to the north. I scrambled up the rocks beside the slanted lower hole to reach the upper one and then continued upwards; the rock face is steep and big steps were required in places, I was beginning to wonder if this was really a good idea but eventually I clambered on to the top of the outcrop. From there I could see the higher adits, tilted at same awkward angle; I walked uphill through dense bracken to get to them. The upper holes seem smaller than the lower ones and even more scary to think that the miners routinely used them to get to work.

I thought about scrambling up the rocks by the side of these holes but I wasn't sure where it lead me to, and I had a big walk to do. I walked on a small path through the bracken towards the ridge on the skyline; another small path veered off towards the rocks again and I followed it for some gratuitous clambering. I think I could have managed to scramble up from the mine entrance, although it would have been hard work on the steep, rough rock. I eventually rejoined the ridge and was pleased to find that there was more clambering required, I chose the route with as much gratuitous scrambling as I could manage.

I had forgotten what a good hill Hindscarth is, I enjoyed the climb up to the ridge and it looked good in a suit of purple heather along its full length; there were good views too in the clear visibility of all of the surrounding hills. It is a pleasant, airy ridge without any difficulty, the path doesn't keep to the crest but clings on to the steep sides just below it; I had to put on my jacket and gloves in the cool breeze. The walk along the ridge is longer than you think, there are a few undulations which is probably why the path bypasses the crest; eventually, as you reach the end of the ridge and start to climb, there is a more straightforward, but eroded path leading up to a cairn.

The cairn marks the start of the summit plateau, sloping upwards it is rough, but less eroded; there is no single route or path, the effect of many walking boots is spread across a wider area. Hindscarth has a big shelter cairn, which is not quite at the summit, followed by an easy gradient to a smaller cairn that is. I continued to walk along the summit ridge almost to the fence, at the mid-way point between Robinson and Dale Head. I turned right to follow the path downwards, steeply at times, before walking beside the fence and ruined wall along Littledale Edge to a broad col where you see an obvious path going up towards Robinson.

The path climbs up by the side of the fence, there is a geographical feature nearby that is called Hackney Holes on the map, I must investigate that one day. The gradient isn't as tedious as it looks from Hindscarth, or maybe I'm a bit fitter than I used to be; when you reach a cairn and the gradient eases, there is a less well-worn, but obvious, path to the summit of Robinson, with its avenue of parallel outcrops. It looked like the summit was empty but there were several walkers sheltering from the cold wind behind the summit outcrops, enjoying the view over Crummock Water, in front of Mellbreak and partly hidden by Rannerdale Knotts.

It was easy to see who had set off early, some of us were wearing shorts, whereas it had been cooler for those who had set off later in full-length trousers. I set off down the path downwards, towards Buttmere Moss; the path is obvious and rather eroded in places, the walk across the moss is not too swampy at this time of year but the path does disappear in bright green vegetation at a couple of places. The wetness is at its worst just before you start the gentle climb towards High Snockrigg; I didn't go there, I've been before and there is not much to report. I took a right turn where the path splits, and at first it is an easy descent on grass going in the direction of Newlands Hause.

I stopped a couple of times to look across to Causey Pike and wondered how to get over to it, in the height of the bracken season some routes would clearly be impossible. There is a sudden edge to the grassy plain, the small stream gully ahead is the route of the path into which you have to enter. It is a steep and rugged descent but very obvious and not too difficult when it is dry; it takes you eventually down to the busy Newlands Hause car park where tourists stop to “do” the Lake District, usually without leaving their vehicles.

Across the road a path is marked that starts the grassy slog up to the ridge of Knott Rigg; footsteps worn in the ground make it easier, especially with it not being wet. The going is easier once you get onto the airy, but plain, grassy ridge; you have to keep your eyes open or you might miss the small, flattened cairn at the summit of Knott Rigg. You carry on walking along the crest of the grassy ridge and then descend to a col; Ard Crags ahead is a heathery fell and the change in vegetation happens suddenly. On the other side of the col you walk up through the heather, the path is now more obvious with being more eroded, as is always the case with heathery ground, but it is easy enough when it's not wet.

When you get up onto the ridge, there is really no hiding place and it seems to have impossibly steep sides; it is a long ridge too, the summit is much further away than you think and a couple of false tops, before you reach the real summit of Ard Crags, can be demoralising near the end of a long walk. I had decided to descend to the valley and climb up to Sail Pass but I hadn't been able to work out where and how to do it, but from the summit of Ard Crags there was a path leading downwards; it was not uncomfortably steep but it did seem unlikely, it must be a fell runners route.

As I was descending I could see across the depression, a trodden green route going upwards on grass to join the main path up to the pass. Sure enough, there was a faint, but obvious enough path upwards that led me quickly to the well-defined stony but narrow track, angled upwards across a fellside full of heather. This was indeed a surprise, I thought I might have some uncomfortable moments struggling on steep ground or ploughing through dense heather, but suddenly I was stepping up onto Sail Pass, the col in the ridge between Sail and Scar Crags.

I turned right to climb the eroded stony path up to another airy ridge; it is easy walking with occasional peat bogs, but they are easily passable at this time of year. At the summit of Scar Crags the knobbly ridge of Causey Pike is well seen, and the views all around were as impressive as they had been all day. There is a slight descent and as comfortable a gradient as you could hope for on the way to Causey Pike; the path keeps you generally on the ridge with a final rougher climb to the prominent summit lump. The summit of Causey Pike is an excellent viewpoint as you would think, given its prominent position above Keswick and its visibility from the main road as far away as Scales.

There is a pleasant scramble to be made down the rocks from the summit, it is straightforward enough, especially when dry. After the initial drop there is an easier descent than there used to be, erosion has evened out the bare rock outcrops and worn away a lot of the loose stones. The stones give way to a walk on an obvious path through fields of heather, before a slight climb to the highest point of Rowling End. You then have to descend steeply, it is mainly straightforward but there area a couple of awkward rock slabs; these can be quite difficult when they are wet but are better when dry.

You descend steeply through heather and bracken, before making a right turn at a T-junction with a plain green path. The easily angled path leads you down through the bracken, precariouly across a couple of swampy bits, and down to the road. You have to carry on in the same direction, walking along the road for a few yards until you arrive at a footpath signpost and a gate. A not-very-obvious path leads you across wet fields to the road at Ghyll Bank; a few yards to the left is the path I made a mental note of earlier, it takes you across more wet fields back to Skelgill.

© Andy Wallace 23rd August 2008