Grange Fell to Sergeants Crag - Photo Gallery
As I reached the Lake District the weather was sunny and cold at -2 centigrade but as I got to Keswick it was cloudy but still bright at 4 degrees and it stayed pretty much the same as I drove along the Borrowdale road to Rosthwaite.
Starting from the National Trust car park I walked back to the main road and turned right to walk back along the road towards Grange. After about a mile the road meets the River Derwent at a place named Eelstep Brow on the map, shortly afterwards on the right is a stile at the start of a path going uphill.
The path rises through bracken and trees in autumn colours, I keep looking behind for the views of Castle Crag and High Spy and back up the valley to Rosthwaite and its fell. The path is obvious enough through the bracken, it splits in two or three places and I followed the higher path but I think all the variations join together again anyway. The path isn't that steep but on this sheltered side of the fell I became quite warm and had to take my jacket off for a while.
As the gradient eases the flat damp area of Long Moss is like a corridor between Kings How and the rest of Grange Fell, the breeze by now had enough of a bite in it to make me put my jacket back on. There is a fairly obvious path on the left that takes you through head high bracken to the rocky summit of Kings How, the views from here are outstanding for such a small fell. The view northwards over Derwentwater to mist covered Skiddaw is quite spectacular, Castle Crag is dwarfed by High Spy and Rosthwaite looks idyllic.
There is a path going around the other side of the summit and I came across the memorial to King Edward VII set at an inspirational viewpoint. The way back down to Long Moss is surprisingly rugged but an easy scramble down a small gully. The way over to Brund Fell is obvious, across the moss, cross a stile in the fence then follow a green path through the bracken.
The path is obvious, it makes its way to a ladder stile over a wall but this is where I had a rush of blood to my head and I decided I wanted to climb the steep slope in front of me. I had to climb over a stone wall and then scramble fifty feet up the steepest heathery bouldery slope I have ever climbed with only roots to hang on to. At the top of the climb it wasn't the summit of Brund Fell just an undulating pathless walk through a succession of rocky upthrusts to the real summit.
There is an obvious path that takes you to the Rosthwaite to Watendlath path, cross over it and take a path heading south that almost immediately goes through a kissing gate. The path deliberately takes you around a signposted wetland area, the path is quite obvious now, marked by posts at first until joining the path up from Watendlath. The path then is reconstructed and leads unerringly to Dock Tarn bypassing Great Crag, on the way there is a splendid view of Watendlath, Raise Gill and High Seat. I had to back track a little bit when I realised I had managed to miss the path up to Great Crag summit, there were many people on the way to Dock Tarn but no takers for Great Crag apart from myself.
The summit of Great Crag is a mixture of rock outcrops and heather, with excellent views over Watendlath, Rosthwaite and High Spy. I dropped back down to the path for a very pleasant walk to the attractive Dock Tarn. Continue to follow the path by the side of the tarn and it starts to descend towards Stonethwaite, an unfortunate loss of height.
On reaching valley level turn left until you reach a footbridge over Greenup Gill near its junction with Langstrath Beck. It looks as though there is bad weather on the way, the more distant hills are already very grey. Cross the footbridge and walk up alongside the wall at the side of Greenup Gill until you reach a wall that goes at right angles directly up the steep slope.
This is the way up to Eagle Crag, it seems easier that when I first did it it, some footsteps are now beginning to appear in the grass. As the path moves over to the left away from the wall you will come across a few small cairns and at the top of this steep slope you meet the end of the wall. The view down towards Stonethwaite is rich with autumn colours and the rain is obviously on its way.
Cross over a rickety stile and soon afterwards you have a steep but easy gully on the left to climb up and you then reach the final section of the ascent which looks impossible. The rain eventually came in at this stage and it wasn't just a shower. There is actually a path forming these days, zigzagging up grass between the crags. As the path fades, or did I just lose it, you just carry on in the same way zigzagging on grass or climbing over rock if you like to the summit platform.
No time to enjoy the view as the rain became more persistent and the wind became stronger, I could still see along the ridge to Sergeant's Crag. It is quite an easy ridge walk but by the time I got to the summit of Sergeant's Crag I had to find some shelter in order to wrap up properly against the weather.
I have not descended to Langstrath from this side before so I walked along the edge above the valley looking for a suitable way down. I came across a faint path at one stage and followed it in the direction of Langstrath but the path faded or I lost it but I continued downwards anyway. The rain stopped and the gradient wasn't too steep down the grass until I reached an edge that I bypassed by following a stream down through a rocky gully. Where the stream became a waterfall there was a grass verge that I was able to use to descend more comfortably.
Eventually the gradient eased as I got close to the bottom of the valley, looking back I realised that I had descended by the side of Blea Crag. Having found the Cumbria Way path at valley level it was a case of marching back to Stonethwaite pausing only to admire the impressive crop of huge boulders including Blea Rock. It didn't have Blea Rock stamped on it but one of the boulders is clearly the largest of the large.
From Stonethwaite follow the road back to Rosthwaite.
Andy Wallace 25th October 2003