Mountain View of Mountain View - Photo Gallery

The weather isn't reliable enough for the walk I really want to do so I'm using another of my standby routes starting from Seathwaite. Walk through the farm buildings and a signpost points the way to Thorneythwaite, go through a gate and bear left going back in the direction you came from.

The path is very unclear at first over a field but there is a line of cairns to follow, after you go through a gate in the wall there is a small path through the trees. This is a very pleasant walk, quiet and peaceful, through trees and fields until you reach a good track that takes you past Thorneythwaite Farm. It is a much better way than following the road of getting to Mountain View, a row of houses with a mountain view.

Shortly before you get back to the road at Strands Bridge a signposted path leaves the the track on the right, I should have taken the path instead of trying to be clever. However I reached the road at Mountain View where the view is Combe Door, my first objective of the day. A short distance after walking past the houses there is another signposted path on the right, across the fields to a footbridge.

After checking the map again I realised I should have taken the path I saw earlier, I don't really want to cross Combe Gill. Well I could have walked back to the path but I decided to walk across the fields to rejoin it, there were only a couple of walls in the way. At the first wall I walked up and down to see if there was a way through but there was not, up and over the loose and greasy stones in the wall isn't as easy as it looks.

At the second wall I found a gap a little way along and there was a faint path leading up through trees to rejoin the main path to Glaramara. Now I remember, the path takes you alongside Combe Gill until it begins to climb up Thorneythwaite Fell, another path to ignore because on this occasion I carried on up the valley. The valley path takes you through The Combe, a place of waterfalls and steep fell sides before you get to the wide glaciated valley bottom.

The valley bottom is full of moraines and the head of the valley is steep, corrie like but missing a tarn. I wasn't really sure where I was going to get to and a faint path took me upwards towards the base of Raven Crag, I could hear a couple of climbers as they made their way up the vertical cliff. I could see I wasn't going towards Combe Door but I thought there might be a way over to it higher up the fell.

I got to base of the crag and found a rough path, obviously a climbers route that seemed to be going uphill but nowhere near Combe Door, the way over to it looked rough and steep so I decided to go with what I had. The way up was rough and steep, plenty of rock to handle but a lot of the sloping slabs were mossy and wet. I had a couple of thoughtful moments on the way but there were no real problems apart from the steepness.

At the top of the scramble the way became steeper but this time a loose stony path up along the edge of Raven Crag. Then the gradient eased slightly and there was a stone wall following the top of the crag, probably built to stop sheep from falling over the edge. From half way along the wall I can see the summit of the crag sticking up like a thumb in front of me and I can hear the climbers calling to each other.

I fully expected to see the climbers on the crag ahead but one of them appeared below me at the bottom end of the wall, maybe the wall is closer to the edge that I thought. Then at the top end of the wall is a great big lump of rock, about thirty feet tall and too steep for me to want to climb. I chose the easier option, still steep but on grass between rock slabs until I reached a grassy plateau.

Where am I and how did I get here? There is quite good visibility all around, there is a lot of cloud but it is above the top of Skiddaw so the lower hills are all visible. Looking at the map I can see exactly where I am but one thing doesn't fit in, is that Glaramara I can see; it looks high enough and bold enough but it is in the wrong place. Glaramara doesn't fit, it only makes sense for it to be Combe Head so I had to walk over to see what it was and Glaramara itself came into view.

At the summit of Combe Head I know where I am now but I can't work out how I got up that slope, it looks impossibly steep from here, I can't see the wall on the map either but there are very many black lines quite close together. I walked easily over to Glaramara for the nice little rock scramble that takes you almost to its summit, bear right to get to the summit shelter.

There is a much more extensive view than I had anticipated, Langdale Pikes, Pike o' Blisco, Bowfell, Esk Pike, Scafell Pike, Great End and Great Gable. Most surprising of all I had a mountain view of Mountain View with Derwentwater and Skiddaw beyond.

From the summit of Glaramara there are a couple of rocky descents along the way but the undulating ridge to Allen Crags is generally just a pleasant walk. It has to be said though that the past few times I have walked the ridge I have not had any kind of a view and the conditions have not been pleasant. The summit of Allen Crags gives especially fine views of the Langdales Pikes, Esk Hause and the nearby cross shaped shelter, Great End though looks especially imposing.

The descent from Allen Crags is loose but not steep or difficult and takes you down to a wide flat area crossed by the Langdale to Borrowdale path. Turn right and follow the eroded canyon of Ruddy Gill until it turns right to become Grains Gill. Don't follow the gill but continue along the path until you reach Sprinkling Tarn, all the time the greatest end of Great End imposes its presence on you.

Just past Sprinkling Tarn there is a faint path on the right passing by the side of the tarn, there are small cairns that take you generally on the easiest route to the summit of Seathwaite Fell. In this visibility it is possible and desirable to explore the extensive flat summit, there are several small peaks and if someone has gone to the effort of building cairns you should go and visit them. There is a faint path linking the summits but generally I just used line of sight for navigating between the cairns.

The summit cairn is obvious but it doesn't seem familiar, the next peak along did bear a cairn that I remembered, it would appear that I didn't get to the summit on my only other visit to Seathwaite Fell. The northern most cairn of Seathwaite Fell gives a great view of the valley after which it is called.

I climbed up the nose of Seathwaite Fell on my last visit and I was expecting a steep descent but there are no signs of any kind of path, it looks like there may be a way down the grass to the left of Aaron crags but it looks very steep. I made my way down between rock over the steep grass, the grass was alright but just under the surface of grass are rocks that are slippery when you stand on them.

It gets steeper, down very steep grass and I have to use the full extent of my long leg stretch to get over some of the boulders. There are many ledges to avoid that I can't get down so I keep finding the easiest available route, thinking that I may have to climb back up the same way. Eventually I got to an overhang that I wasn't going to get down, I could see a way down twenty feet below but there was no way I could get there.

I had started climbing back up when I saw a possible way down if I traversed the steep slope towards a shallow gully that I could see over to the right. The traverse was across very steep ground, I was hanging on in places placing my feet between slippery rocks in muddy grass. I can see the shallow gully 20 feet below but I can't get past another overhang, the rock slab in the way is wet and mossy and the only available foothold is a patch of muddy heather.

I am now on very steep ground, below is a continuous overhang and above is vertical rock with no obvious way up. I traversed back the way I had come until I found a gap in the steep rock with fresh air showing about twenty feet up. It was a steep haul upwards with precarious muddy footholds, there is no ledge to step back onto, it is just a long way down and very steep.

I am very aware of the exposure, this is what is commonly called exhilarating, determination and upper body strength got me up over the rocks to where the gradient is safe. I am resigned to going back to Sprinkling Tarn, but I'm walking along the edge above the valley hoping for a way down to present itself.

Then there it is, a way down a shallow gully, it is still a forty degree slope but at least I can see all the way down to Styhead Gill. There are no outcrops or overhangs but it is strenuous and difficult, I have to hang on to the grass before placing both my feet down but it is safe enough, it looks a long way down and there are no short cuts.

About a third of the way down the grass is better and although it is still hard work I don't have to hang on any more and two thirds of the way down it is possible to walk almost upright.

I may climb Seathwaite Fell again directly up the nose of the ridge but it is not a way I would recommend for a descent unless you are very familiar with this hill, I can't imagine that many people know it that well.

Easy walk back to Seathwaite, a splendid eight and a half hours entertainment.

Andy Wallace 11th July 2004