Rosthwaite to Rossett - Photo Gallery

If you want to park your car near the phone box, the only parking space in Stonethwaite, you have to be there fairly early because there isn't a lot of room. It looked like the weather might be OK so I took a chance on wearing shorts again although I had my big jacket on as I set off in the direction of Langstrath. After you pass the Langstrath Country Inn you have the option of a footpath across a field but keep to the tarmac, it soon becomes a track. After a few minutes walk the track crosses two streams and the you should look out for a metal gate on your right hand side.

From the parking place in Stonethwaite the hills rise quickly to a craggy skyline and to the right there is a bit of a dip where Stanger Gill passes between Hanging Haystack and Alisongrass Crag. If that description doesn't make you want to be there then this walk will be too hard for you. Go through the metal gate, three different paths make their way into the woods, you will be following the gill so it is probably best to take the right hand path and make your way towards it.

There is no path marked on the map, Wainwright describes an indistinct section, an awkward stile and a wall to be climbed so I was expecting a hard morning's work. The climb by the side of the gill is steep but there is a reconstructed path, it seems to be well established but seems to be infrequently used and as such the stones are mossy and damp in places. This is quite an interesting walk through a pleasant deciduous wood, the path is good in spite of the steepness and it just feels like a nice place to be.

As you get higher there is more tree debris to get past, a couple of interesting looking walls to cross and an intriguing mini canyon as you get out of the trees and make the final climb to the start of the ridge. On either side of the gill are steep crags, this is a wild and beautiful place, this is where I would bring someone to show them what the Lake District is really all about. As you reach the skyline you reach a flat grassy plateau quite unlike anywhere else I have seen, one day I will come and investigate what is on the other side of the fence that surrounds the area.

The going now is easier but it is still a good place to be and after a short walk you get to a rock outcrop where the stream looks impassable, but there is a reasonable way across. Once across you can then see the attractive little waterfall that marks the change from interesting to a sensible path. You seem to join a reasonably obvious path coming up from somewhere on its way to Bessyboot, you cross flatter and wetter ground but there are some interesting looking peaks and pinnacles on the skyline.

As you reach the source of Stanger Gill you can see an obvious peak, much higher that the surrounding area but the path seems to go around it, the direct route is too interesting to ignore. I started to walk up a ridge, rough grass in between slabs and boulders heading for the obvious peak but what did became obvious was the peak I was climbing towards had obscured an even more obvious peak. Once I saw the real summit peak I started to walk towards it, losing as little height as possible without getting onto ground that was too steep in order to bypass the smaller peak I had started to climb.

The final climb up rough grass between boulders was finished off nicely with a scramble over slabs as I reached the summit of Bessyboot by the back door. It was a nice warm day but the fresh breeze meant I needed my pertex jacket, it was a wee bit too fresh just for a tee shirt. The views were extensive but quite hazy, the most striking object being the profile of Honister Crag with the distinctive shape of Skiddaw beyond it. Rosthwaite Fell also revealed its true extent, it was difficult to tell where it ended and where Glaramara started.

I descended from the summit by the front door, still steep but not quite as much rock as on the ascent, past the delightfully named but slightly boring Tarn at Leaves, only the sun reflected off its surface made it look any more than ordinary. Then you start to climb the second half of Rosthwaite Fell, the ground has a much rougher and wetter consistency than Bessyboot. I got to a point where having seen it through the other minor peaks I knew I had to leave the path and make my own way to Rosthwaite Cam. After a wet depression the ground is better, more like Bessyboot and then suddenly Rosthwaite Cam was in front of me, it looked like a giant plug of rock from this direction about 6 metres high and twice as wide.

Wainwright wrote that agile walkers could get to its summit from only one place but when I walked around to the left hand side there was an easy scramble onto the summit platform. It is obviously quite a lot higher than Bessyboot, it is a puzzle that Rosthwaite Cam is not the summit of Rosthwaite Fell. From here I tried to work out my route to Glaramara, there are signs of footpaths across the wet depression ahead. I think as usual this route has to be made rather than found, at least I can see where I am going today, I have been here only twice before in very poor visibility.

Keeping generally to the Langstrath side of the broad ridge and as high as possible until you decide to turn right, south east if you head for Combe Head or cross over the highest part of Stonethwaite Fell and head east directly towards Glaramara. In this visibility there is no problem with navigation so I chose to try getting past Stonethwaite Fell first before heading for Glaramara. There is a lot of flat, wet ground with a vague footpath that disappears in the wetter parts but on the whole I think the route I chose was a bit drier than my previous attempts but the day was a whole lot drier this time.

As you get closer to Glaramara you skirt around the boulder field looking for a much more obvious path to take you to the summit. On one damp and misty day I climbed up the boulders and got to the summit which is why today I was looking for the path. Sure enough I found the path, the main route from Mountain View, a nice rugged path going up through boulders to the final climb to Glaramara. There is an easy, interesting scramble up a cliff but the angle isn't difficult and there are plenty of good hand and foot holds. The only trouble was I was facing into the bright sun and couldn't take any photographs of the rocky scramble.

The reward for that last bit of effort is a fine rocky summit with excellent if hazy views, Great Gable and Pillar looking like a couple of book ends being the most interesting. You can find a way off to the left avoiding most of the rocks and the second summit but why would anyone do that when you can make a beeline for Looking Steads. There is an easy scramble down to a faint path along the ridge to the slightly lower peak, a fine summit and viewpoint in its own right. Leave the summit in a southerly direction over rocks and boulders and head for a col, you will soon find a more obvious path heading towards Allen Crags.

There are a couple of undulations on the ridge until you have a steeper descent on grass and then over boulders past a large rock outcrop to finally leave Glaramara, cross the col and start to climb up onto the ridge of Allen Crags. This is a pleasant and interesting undulating ridge with several peaks, many tarns and extensive hazy views. The final climb is steeper and more rugged and takes you to an obvious summit with plenty of cairns and good views of Great End and Great Gable. There is then a fairly short descent towards the cross shaped shelter below Esk Hause, there is a good view of the Hause and the various paths radiating from it.

I cut the corner once I got off the scree walking over rough grass to join the path down to Angle Tarn accompanied by plenty of other walkers. From Angle Tarn I walked up to Rossett Pike, feeling guilty about having got so close last time and not making the effort to visit its fine rocky summit with one of the finer views of Pike o' Stickle. Then I headed north eastwards in the direction of Stake Pass but keeping to the ridge rather than walking along the wet path lower down. Eventually though you meet the main path, you have to use it to get across the swampy ground using the many stepping stones.

Then there is a bit more climbing to do when I wasn't expecting to over the top of Mansey Pike before turning right and crossing the wet muddy ground I remember until getting to the path at Stake Pass. I turned left to get down to Langstrath but there is still quite a lot of walking to do, the path is obvious and very eroded in places with knee high peat in places. Stake Gill is surprisingly rocky with many rocky waterslides and waterfalls, it must be spectacular on a wet day but the path would be more awkward when wet.

Eventually you get to valley level, crossing over a footbridge and follow the path which is surprisingly unused but not surprisingly wet and muddy. Langstrath is an enjoyable low level walk although a little bit too far for comfort at the end of a day's walk. Blea Rock is an interesting large fallen boulder proudly sitting above and looking after its smaller brothers and sisters. Smithymire Island is an attractive rocky watersmeet and tells you there isn't much further to get back to the car at Stonethwaite.

Andy Wallace 2nd Apr 2005