Red Pike to Mellbreak - Photo Gallery
It was bright and breezy when I got to Buttermere, but the heavy mist on the hills suggested that the forecast of rain and strong wind was going to be correct. From the National Trust car park I went through the gate in the corner through to the small wood of Long How; I was looking for short cut to the lake without walking all the way through the village. I was surprised to see a Buzzard flying about twenty feet in front of me, it was low enough for me to see the reddish brown plumage on it top side. A faint path turned off to the left, taking me down to the fence at the edge of the Syke Farm camp site; after crossing the fence I made fairly perilous stream crossing on the slippery stepping stones. After walking between the camp site and its car park I ended up at the Fish Hotel; it wasn't much of a short cut after all and I continued on my usual route to Scales Bridge.
After crossing the bridge I turned right and walked along the uneven path by the side of Buttermere Dubs; I crossed Near Ruddy Beck, recognisable by its substantial flat red stepping stones, and walked on until I reached two hawthorn trees on the right hand side of the path. This was where I found the secret start of the path up to Ling Comb; looking past another tree, uphill on the left, you can see a swampy, grassy gap rising up through the bracken. After splashing up through an ankle-deep swamp you get to drier ground, there is a small path that carries on steeply up through the trees.
As I plodded steeply up through the trees, I heard a buzzard somewhere close and heard another more vocal bird, noisily squawking its disapproval at the presence of the buzzard. I looked up through a gap in the trees and saw the buzzard gliding directly above me; a smaller hawk went for it, feet first and the buzzard turned effortlessly to return the feet-first greeting.
I carried on up through the trees, stumbling over tree roots and fallen branches, slipping on greasy rocks and sliding on the eroded, stony ground. It is a long, steep haul but I much prefer it to the Bleaberry Tarn route, where the reconstructed path is one of the least walker-friendly I have ever used. Eventually I reached the edge of the trees, the gradient eases for a walk through bracken where I always lose the path; it seems to disappear in mud and swamp but it always looks so obvious when I find it again just before reaching the wall. The wall follows the contours out of sight on both sides; it forms a barrier between bracken and heather, did the two become separated by the wall or did the wall grow in the gap between them.
After crossing the wall I started to climb up into Ling Comb, it is well named because there is very little spare ground for anything else to grow there; it was not too steep but there were some swampy sections, when heathery ground gets eroded it gets muddy. As I reached a small cairn the path turned left, it was an easier gradient following the contours for a short distance; there was a first glimpse of Red Pike but it wasn't really recognisable as such. There was a short eroded climb up a steep heathery bank to reach the easy path leading round to the front of Dodd; somewhere around there is an imaginary crossing to the rest of the path to The Saddle and the usual route to Red Pike. I made a beeline in the direction of Dodd and I found a reasonable route uphill; it probably looked smaller than I thought it would be.
After the first rise I saw it was much bigger than it looked; I was able to find a grassy route between the boulders, except for the the places where I found an easy clambering route to avoid a wide detour around the rocks. Apart from being a bit further than I thought it was no trouble, and not as daunting as the view downwards from its summit; I found a faint path near the top leading to the cairn with great views of both Buttermere and Crummock Water. I walked the short distance up to the summit of Dodd; the wind and rain that had been forecast started and it was threatening enough to get into my waterproofs. I descended the easy slope to The Saddle and walked up the steep, eroded red path to the summit of Red Pike; I could barely stand up in the strong wind and it was raining properly, I didn't hang around.
I descended westwards on an obvious eroded path close to Lingcomb Edge; as I got to level ground I took the left hand branch when the path split into two. In the rain and cool wind I settled into a head-down trudge; insulated against the elements, I made my way across the shoulder of Little Dodd and made the straightforward climb to the metalwork summit cairn of Starling Dodd. There is a little bit of a steep grassy descent and then the path isn't quite as obvious, but you soon reach a double fence you have to follow across moorland-like terrain; I was glad the wind and rain were on my back. There is more level walking and you have walk around the edge of a fenced-off conservation area, before making a short climb, and then a long slog by the side of a fence. Eventually, the fence and the path turn right for the final climb to the bouldery summit plateau of Great Borne; there is no clue about the position of the summit, at the crest of the path just turn left, and get yourself to the slightly higher ground to find the shelter cairn and trig point.
After a brief visit to the summit, I walked back down to the fence in the pouring rain; I paused to check the map to make sure I wasn't getting myself lost, and told myself that if it kept raining as hard I would cut short the walk and descend as soon as possible. It is a steep descent by the side of the fence down towards Floutern Pass; a stile at the bottom saves climbing over a barbed fence and walking across a swamp. You have to walk diagonally right, to find a cairn, to get over the barbed wire on the other side of the enclosed sheep pasture. You just carry on then over rough grass to find the Floutern Pass path, it isn't as obvious as you might think. The rain stopped suddenly, maybe I would finish my walk after all; Floutern Tarn appeared briefly as I walked along the path, it is cradled in an unexpected corrie at the back of Great Borne.
After leaving Floutern Tarn a short way behind, a faint path bears left where a waypoint arrow points right, showing the way down to Scales. After turning left, you walk past an ancient Pit Circle; carry on along a faint path that disappears just before you reach a fence. After climbing over the fence, there is a path going left that seems to not be going anywhere near the summit; you need to go straight uphill on grass and then bilberry. There are occasional signs of a path, and once you get on the ridge the path is more obvious; there is a final steep climb up to the summit of Hen Comb. It was still not raining but there were dark clouds on the higher hills and heavy showers in the valleys.
There is a straightforward looking descent, steeply down a green slope at first then a broad, gentle ridge. I tried to avoid walking all the way along the ridge, and was looking for a more direct route, but ended up following indistinct gaps and trails through dense, almost fully grown bracken. I eventually got down to the path leading down to the crossing of Mosedale Beck; the stepping stones are not to be trusted but the water wasn't too deep anyway. I climbed up the bank on the other side, went through the old metal gate, and turned right on a track to the end of trees; I turned left on to a small path on the other side of trees, Mellbreak was right in front.
I carried on along the path until I reached a track that goes downhill to the left; you turn right at that point to go uphill towards Mellbreak. The climb is similar to Grasmoor, an initial slog up grass before you get to lighter lines of scree indicating a path rather than just erosion. The path is quite obvious at first on flattened scree; you bear left at first and pick from several indistinct zigzags on the right to pick up a more obvious route. There is steeper gravel and there are slate rock scrambles; erosion abounds until you arrive at the first sudden viewpoint.
From there you scramble up to right, up the short rocky ridge if it is dry but there is an easier path if the rocks are greasy. There is less scree at first, but it is just as steep, then another scree path, still steep, takes you up to the second viewpoint, a delightful grassy lawn. There is more steepness to go, the path is less obvious through heather and there are more slatey scrambles; are we nearly there yet? Not quite there, you reach another ledge but there is more climbing to do; this time the gradient eases and a less steep walk through the heather takes you to a cairn. The other cairn you can see looks higher until you reach it, and as usual the first cairn then looks to be the higher point.
You then have an undulating walk through heather, on a surprisingly wide and long ridge; you descend to a saddle then climb up to the south top, it is slightly higher than the more attractive north top. Then there is a steep grassy descent, at least a path exists these days; you cross over a fence when you reach it and keep going down to Scale Beck. After crossing the beck you climb up the rise towards Scale Force, there is a bridge to walk across where you can stop and admire the waterfall, although there was only a trickle of water at the time.
There is a short climb up some red steps then a gate to go through, make sure you keep to the higher level path for a reasonably dry route; you will eventually reach an obvious descent to rejoin the lower path to walk back to Scales bridge.
© Andy Wallace 5th July 2008