Mister Man - Photo Gallery
It was wetter than ever when I left home and it rained all the way up the motorway but it wasn't actually raining when I got to Grasmere. I set off up the Easedale Road and crossed the slate bridge over Easedale Beck to the valley itself. After a level start you climb upwards on a constructed path by the side of the waterfalls on what is now called Sourmilk Gill. Once you get past Easedale Tarn the going makes a sudden change from an easy tourist route to an unspoiled if rather wet valley.
I could see ahead the distinctive shape of Belles Knott at what looks like the head of the valley, it had more or less stopped raining but there was plenty of cloud on the hills. Easedale is a wet and muddy place but these days the worst of the bogs have stepping stones that are more secure than they look. The gradient steepens abruptly, a dramatic change from easy Easedale to the hanging valley of Codale. There are several streams and waterslides making their way downwards, there is a rugged path making its way upwards although the original ascent over the rock is still viable.
The path disappears as you get to a more substantial rock outcrop, the wetness of the rocks necessitates a bit of care finding footholds from which your foot wont slip out of. The path by now has completely disappeared and only because I knew they were there did I look for cairns, it would have been an awkward climb away from the cairns; as it was it was quite interesting anyway. The upward scramble is a good enough reason to walk this valley by itself, the path and its view change constantly in addition to the interesting climb. Eventually you reach the hanging valley that I regard as Codale where you are walking almost on level ground again.
After a slight rise the path splits into two, the right hand branch soon leads to an easy crossing of a stream and the apparently unassailable Belles Knott is easily climbed by a path that goes around it. Following the path would take you past Belles Knott so it does take a bit of effort to turn right up to the green grassy lump that contradicts its appearance from Easedale. The very top has a rock outcrop and the ground falls away spectacularly, its easy to see why Belles Knott looks so good from below.
As I made my way back down to the path I could see Codale Tarn its water looks very dark, it is a remote tarn surrounded by hills that are brightly colourful in autumn. There is a path across the grass mounds that disappears in the reeds and then reappears on its way towards Tarn Crag. It's a relatively easy climb to the indistinct ridge of Tarn Crag but you have to go in the wrong direction really to its rocky summit. The weather all around was beginning to close in as I set off back along the broad undulating ridge towards Codale Head.
There is an indistinct path along the ridge that eventually disappears or maybe I just mislaid it. There are rock outcrops that you have to make your way around which in the misty conditions makes it very difficult to keep on an even course. I got to a point where it was impossible to work out where I was, my compass was the only clue I had to which way to go. The rough grassy terrain is strenuous to walk across especially when walking uphill, if I'm going upwards then I must be going in the right direction.
Eventually I reached a broad flat area full of red reeds, it must be Codale Head – one of the most confusing areas even without the mist. I came to the top of a gully with a faint path, I was pondering which way to go and decided to investigate a fence post I could see up above me. I found a good path with cairns, this was exactly the place I had to return to on my way down. I started to follow the good path but I knew it would take me to High Raise, when I reached a faint path branching off to the left I followed it confident that it would take me to Sergeant Man.
I felt that I was going a long way around, there are many reedy tarns at slightly different levels but all looking the same that you have to bypass. On drier ground the path seemed to be going in wrong direction and I decided to head up to another fence post that I could see on slightly higher ground. I found some fence posts on higher, rockier ground where the ground fell away to the south but there were no other clues. I wasn't lost, I just didn't know which to go to find Sergeant Man. After a few minutes of indecision I returned back to the path I had left, I followed the path whether it was going in the wrong direction or not, I had to find something on which to get a bearing.
It was of course the path towards Sergeant Man, I recognised the crossing place of a stream where the dark familiar shape loomed ahead. After a brief visit of the summit I started to descend and the mist began to clear, a good view of the featureless tarns and the start of the path back to Codale Head. I could see a small group of walkers on the top of an outcrop, did they think they had got to the summit of Sergeant Man? As the mist came back again I recognised the path where I left it earlier but soon afterwards it became indistinct between the tarns and boulders.
I got to a point where I was obviously in the wrong place and I wandered back and forth until I decided I hadn't got far enough and walked over rough grass until I reached some rock outcrops. I decided to descend gully here, is it familiar and am I descending too soon? On reflection I think it was the place I arrived at on my up from Tarn Crag but I didn't want to be wandering around for too much longer, there is a limited amount of daylight at this time of year.
I descended a shallow gully where a stream developed and I joined a path I could see, I was on a ridge that was unfamiliar without landmarks. I knew I was going down generally in the right direction and after a while I could see Codale Tarn – I was on my way back down the ridge of Tarn Crag. It is an easy undulating ridge at first until you get back to the cairn-less summit then there is the first steep descent, looking back Tarn Crag is an impressive bulwark of rock.
This is not a quick descent, it takes at least a couple of hours to get down from Sergeant Man this way, there are another couple of steep sections around named crags. It is possible to get across Sour Milk Gill for a more direct descent to Grasmere but there is a less precarious stream crossing if you go down to Stythwaite Steps, now a wooden footbridge, to descend Far Easedale back to Grasmere.
Andy Wallace 3rd December 2005