Hay Caw Lank Grike - Photo Gallery

I drove up to Ennerdale on Friday evening, as I drove through the rain around Kendal the temperature dropped to 6C, but by the time I got to the Youth Hostel at Gillerthwaite it was a lovely sunny evening. I was more optimistic about the weather for the weekend although the hostel manager told me it had been a bad day, and it had all but snowed on the tops.

On Saturday morning it was pouring down with rain and it was windy too, I walked down the track to the bridge across River Lisa at Char Dubs, and walked across the track running along the southern side of the valley. I carried on across the track on a good path at first, although it narrowed quickly as it started to climb up through the trees; the path then descended towards the gill but a fainter path went uphill. I walked on the path uphill just to make sure I didn't get lost too soon; there were cattle footsteps in the mud and it was soon obvious that I wasn't going where I wanted to be.

I turned back, retraced my steps to the bigger path, and walked down to the gill; only when I got there did I see a deliberately sturdy footbridge across a rocky gorge, this was a good indication that I was in the right place. Once I got across the bridge, the path carried on to another footbridge, but I turned right on a less obvious path up the green ridge of Tongue End. I was soon out of the dense forest and on to a pleasant green slope on an obvious line up to the high ridge. Across the valley, above the path where I made my false start before crossing the gill, I saw the wild Ennerdale cattle; I'm glad I didn't have to go past them.

There was steeper ground as I approached the col between Haycock and Caw Fell; with the weather being so bad, I decided that I might have to change my plans for the day, but carried on towards Haycock before making my mind up. I scrambled up the craggy peak of Little Gowder Crag as directly as possible, the rock has plenty of grip even with being so wet. I walked up to the stony summit of Haycock; it wasn't just the rain that caused me to turn back, it was very windy and my hands were far too cold for June.

I walked back down towards Little Gowder Crag, although I bypassed the scramble on the way down; I carried on following the wall up to the summit of Caw Fell, although if you don't get on the right side of the wall its easy to miss the summit. I walked on to the wall corner, where the normal route is to follow the wall as it trends around to the right towards Iron Crag, but I carried on to the apparently misplaced shelter cairn, and the seemingly randomly positioned, pointless cairn.

I carried on down the grassy, sometimes bouldery, ridge making a beeline towards Lank Rigg. I descended the steep banks of an unnamed gill, and walked across a broad grassy area before crossing Bleaberry Gill, it was an awkward crossing with even steeper banks on either side. I walked across more grassy ground, there was a good view down the length of Worm Gill, before an even steeper descent, an even more awkward crossing of Long Grain and steep wet banks on the other side.

I started following a natural-looking line upwards; I was going to zigzag up to the col between Lank Rigg and Whoap, but decided to head directly upwards to where I thought the summit might be. I crossed Hole Gill, there wasn't much evidence of anybody else having been there before; I then ascended indirectly towards the skyline, the direct route looked a bit steep. When I reached the ridge, I realised that I had overshot the summit by some distance, and had to walk up a broad, but not too steep, ridge to the cairn and triangulation column at the summit of Lank Rigg.

I walked what felt like a familiar route down from Lank Rigg and up to Whoap, it was steeper than I thought it would be but that is what I thought last time. It was much further than I expected it to be, but then again although I remember thinking that last time too. It was a long slog up to the summit of Whoap, at least it has stopped raining when I got there - oh no it hasn't! I actually missed the actual summit of Whoap, I had gone to too far left trying to avoid the last bit of the climb.

I headed across open ground towards the fence corner where I knew there was a gate; the walk was across difficult wet, undulating ground. I saw the first fell runner as I made my way to the gate, he was on the path I was aiming for; the second one had to wait while I crossed the slippery logs across a swampy bog after going through the gate. I walked up a wet ride through the pine trees until I reached a track; I turned left and followed the track until I had almost reached the radio mast.

I turned right to go through a gate and then up another, longer than I was hoping for, path to the summit of Grike; I don't know where they got all the stones to build that big shelter cairn on the grassiest of fells. I walked back down to the col and followed a faint path up to the summit of Crag Fell, there was then a continuous stream of runners, competitors in the Ennerdale Fell Race; the poor man on the control point at the summit had a cold day hanging around. I walked back downhill on the runners route, to the the track I had walked along earlier; I turned left on the track that ended suddenly at a gate.

I then had to walk across wet ground until I finally reached a wall by the side of Red Gill. It was a very steep descent, I was hanging onto the wire fence by the side of wall; it was wet and extremely slippery in places. It was a long way down, as are all the descents to Ennerdale; I eventually reached the lake shore path, but I still had an hours walk back by the side of the lake and back to the hostel.

I had not seen anybody until I came across the fell-runners in ten and a half hours walking, and I had trouble staying awake while eating my dinner.

© Andy Wallace 6th June 2009