Mosedale of Mungrisdale - Photo Gallery
It was dark when I left home but I could tell it was going to be a cold, grey day with no repeat of last weekend's sunshine. As I drove along the Mungrisdale Road behind Blencathra there was a light covering of snow on the road and when I got out of the car at Mosedale Bridge there was a wicked wind to make me feel cold before I started walking. I walked back down the road to Mungrisdale, the phone box that Wainwright mentioned is still there but it probably didn't offer email and text message facilities in his day.
I followed the track past the phone box and between houses where once you pass through a gate the view opens up unexpectedly. The Tongue is an interesting looking object immediately ahead with the ridges of Bannerdale Crags and Bowscale Fell either side of it in the distance. The steepness of the outline of The Tongue doesn't look as bad as the tightly group contour lines on the map suggest but the faint path I can see does seem to take a more direct route. The broad track heading up Bannerdale seems to be incompatible with the single plank footbridge across the River Glenderamackin.
Shortly after crossing the river you reach the base of The Tongue and you can see a faint path going upwards, close to a surprisingly abrupt tip of The Tongue. The path seems obvious because the light snow has gathered in the small indentations caused by walkers' feet but I suspect that is wouldn't be quite so obvious when the bracken is high in summer. My suspicions about the steepness of the slope were confirmed, it is quite possible and indeed preferable at times to use your hands to support yourself to get up the steep vegetation.
There is a way straight up the grass but the covering of snow and lack of any real footholds make it seem a daunting climb. The alternative route is close to a very steep drop but there are rocks and boulders so at least there is something to hang onto. However, the greasiness of the rocks and the steepness of the slope are not what I would have chosen so close to a very steep drop. After you get past a large rock outcrop the gradient does ease but not by much and there is only grass until you reach the crest of the ridge. It would be a good view on a clear day but it is obvious that the weather is about to deteriorate.
Once you get up to the crest of the ridge it isn't far before you reach a small cairn at the summit of The Tongue. On the ridge I was no longer sheltered from the wind, it feels bitterly cold in the strong breeze and I needed a fleece hat, neck gaiter pulled up to my nose and my jacket hood up to keep most of my face warm. The steep climb did however warm my hands up and I was glad that the navigation was straightforward so I didn't have to take my gloves off and struggle with the map being blown around. Once you get past the cairn there is no evidence of any ridge path although a few paths or animal tracks go across the ridge.
It is a bit of a plod through the tussock grass but I was glad the ground is frozen – walking over marshy ground that couldn't be avoided would make it even more strenuous. Eventually I was on the final ascent of Bowscale Fell and reached a big cairn on an obvious path where I turned left and found the summit about a hundred metres further ahead. There is an obvious path leading downwards from the big shelter cairn at the summit but I did struggle with my map in the wind just to make sure it was going the right way. It didn't help that the next part of the walk is on the reverse side of the map, you could easily get into a flap in this wind.
As I was walking downwards on my way to Bannerdale Crags there was a break in the clouds, the sun came out and there was good visibility - back to Bowscale Fell anyway. My sudden surge of optimism didn't last long as I headed into the mist again, the cold wind still in my face as I walked on the grass just above the icy path on the edge of the crags of Bannerdale. The edge of crags might not seem the best place to be but it is the most reliable navigational aid, as long as you don't fall over the edge you get where you want to be. Where I wanted to be was the viewpoint cairn on Bannerdale Crags, close to the edge overlooking Bannerdale - I couldn't see the edge never mind the valley below.
It would have been prudent to check the map again but it was too cold and too windy, I was relying on memory when I followed the path that led to the summit cairn in less than five minutes. I was again relying on memory and my mental picture of the map as I left the summit of Bannerdale Crags, it's easy to follow the only path (which is not shown on the map) but when the mist is down there is always a doubt in your mind. I knew I couldn't go wrong because the wrong way would have been obviously too steep and I eventually reached a junction of paths, the biggest and most obvious of which was going straight ahead.
I was expecting this junction and I knew I had to take the less obvious path which goes half right, it is marked on the map until it disappears in the middle of Mungrisdale Common. The path is quite obvious but I knew it wouldn't last, the wind had subsided here in the shelter of Blencathra so I had a look at the map but it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. After crossing the head of a couple of gullies the path just disappeared, it does start again and in these conditions I would have preferred to have found it. The only other option is to keep heading west, if I start to descend then I know I will have missed the summit.
The ground is rough and wet, once again I was thankful for it being frozen meaning I didn't have to make detours around the swampy parts which increase your distance travelled and interfere with your compass bearing. Eventually I reached what seemed to be the head of another gully and after referring to my memory map I decided I was too far north. I started walking south and I did seem to be getting to slightly higher ground when I came across a path running east to west. I decided to follow the path westwards and shortly afterwards I saw a small dark object on the shallow horizon, the small summit cairn is quite obvious on this featureless plateau.
The summit cairn of Mungrisdale Common is at the hub of a few paths and the faintest of these goes off in a north-north easterly direction which just happened to be going my way. I kept a compass bearing anyway and the path gave up as I got to some frozen peat hags, I was now in untrodden territory on a featureless hillside with no visibility, at least there were no distractions to my navigation. After a while I came to a point where the ground fell away steeply, this is just the kind of feature I was hoping for, it was Blackhazel Gill. All I had to do now was follow the easy slope downwards, easy except for the rough grass, reeds and generally swampy ground until I reached the bottom of the gill and its junction with the River Caldew.
I had forgotten about the river, it is hidden on the map by a big purple line and County Parish boundary. The river isn't that deep but is over five metres wide, the stones on the bed are slippery and not dry or reliable enough to step over the deeper, fast flowing channels. After walking downstream and upstream without seeing an obvious place to cross without getting my feet wet I decided I was going to have to go for it anyway. I put on my Verglas gaiters that Santa had brought me and picked the narrowest place I could find. In finding a secure footing my feet were in the water up to my calf muscles and with half a dozen careful steps I was across without getting my feet wet.
Once across the river there is more swampy ground to cross, I found a wet spot and my leg went in upto my knee but still my boot didn't get flooded. I was then on the Cumbria Way path, I made quick progress along the good track, I had spent a long time at the river and was beginning to think I wouldn't have enough time for my planned route. It was after three o'clock when I reach the Carrock Mine road, I had planned to climb Carrock Fell and make the descent before it got dark. I walked up the mine road just to see how long it would take, the going was quite quick until I reached the mine area and the track then became steeper and rougher. By my calculation it would have been six o'clock before I got back to the car and defeated the the object of the exercise; I decided it was better to leave it for today.
On the way back down the mine road it started to rain, even the fell ponies lower down the valley were sheltering from the driving rain and I must admit to not being sorry about not being on the ridge.
Andy Wallace 11th February 2006