Sandal to Silver - Photo Gallery
It wasn't wet when I got to Grasmere but there was plenty of thick mist on the tops of the hills; there was just a hint of autumn coolness in the air too. I walked with John and his dog Bob up the main road towards Keswick, past the last of the houses at the north end of the village until we reached the start of a footpath on the right hand side of the road. The footpath to Patterdale starts as a walled track at an easy gradient; after a few minutes you pass through a gate and the open fellside lies ahead. You have a choice of substantial stepping stones or a footbridge to get across Little Tongue Gill; it was shallow enough to just wade across at the time but I suspect it isn't always that easy.
The map suggests that you can follow Little Tongue Gill but it didn't look possible to squeeze between it and the wall that runs by the side of it. There is a fairly obvious looking path that appears to be heading up the front of Great Tongue but without really noticing how it happened the path soon crossed over the gill and began to ascend Little Tongue. There was still plenty of mist on the hills and it wasn't showing any signs of moving away.
It is about the time of year when sheep are brought down from the hills and on the other side of the wall the sheep seemed to be grouping together as though anticipating the round-up. The route up Little Tongue is a broad, lawn-like path through the surrounding bracken at an easy gradient until, after about a mile, you get close to Grisedale Hause. The path levels off as you approach the hause, I know Grisedale Tarn lies on the other side of it but the great hollow of Hause Moss on this side looks as though it would have contained a tarn a long time ago.
We made the short climb up onto the hause where a crossroads of paths overlooks Grisedale Tarn and Dollywaggon Pike; it is itself overshadowed by the mass of Fairfield rising up on the right hand side. The clouds started to melt away from the tops of Fairfield and Dollywaggon Pike and there was sun on our backs as we started to climb the steep, eroded path on Seat Sandal. We started off on the right hand side of the wall but somehow managed to stray onto the left hand side; not that it made any difference, it was equally steep and rough on both sides.
As we gained height the view behind opened up; through the gap where the slopes of Fairfield and Dollywaggon Pike meet at the mouth of the tarn you can see along the length of Grisedale all the way to Place Fell. Fairfield itself looks awesome; the ruined wall and the paths across the scree disappear into the mist that had returned for a last visit to the summit. Once we got onto Seat Sandal's summit plateau I had to put my jacket on to keep out the strong, cold breeze. We followed the wall to the big summit cairn and then made out way over to the cairn at the other end of the plateau, just in case that one was the summit.
As it happens the cairn nearer to Fairfield is the summit but you can descend easily enough from the other one too; point yourself in the direction of Dollywaggon Pike and start walking. It is actually easier to descend from the summit but I decided to just go from where I was; the tussocks of grass are awkward to walk across, there were swampy areas to be bypassed and I put my foot down a hole and got wet up to my knee. The gradient is easy until the very last few feet where you drop down to Raise Beck, it is steep as well as extremely soggy.
I like Raise Beck, it is full of interest whether you are climbing or descending; it has a rugged path, several waterfalls and there was a splendid, sunlit view of Steel Fell. About two-thirds of the way down there is a wall built alongside the beck but it doesn't strike me as a boundary wall, it is too sturdy and holds up an embankment at one stage. The strangest thing about Raise Beck is that as you get towards the bottom the stream bed and the banks become very bouldery and the stream just disappears.
We crossed the road at Dunmail Raise; we did of course pay our respects at the alleged resting place of the last king of Cumberland. Once across the busy dual carriageway you walk towards Thirlmere and after a few minutes there is a gate in the wall that gives you access to a path on the inside of it. By then it was a lovely, sunny day and as we were walking towards Steel End there was a fine view of the white waters of Birkside Gill on Nethermost Pike with green conifers to one side and the autumnal brown of dying bracken on the other. Before you reach the farm buildings at Steel End you reach the bottom of a steep, green ridge; there are indications of a trodden route that you have to follow up the grassy slope towards Steel Fell.
The consolation for this steep trudge is the view; behind you is Thirlmere looking blue under the clear sky and as you gain height the view along the length of the lake opens out. Once you pass through a gap in the wall the slog really begins as you climb up the northern ridge of Steel Fell. This is a real head-down plod, the view upwards of how far you still have to climb is very discouraging so it is best not to look; just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Even Bob found it hard work, he was walking instead of running.
When you eventually reach the summit plateau a faint path appears and soon you will reach a fence that you cross using a stile; follow the fence all the way to the summit. There are at least a couple of cairns around the summit, any one of which could be the highest point so it is best to visit them all. There is a visible path now heading in the direction of Calf Crag that follows an old fence at first, before making its own way high above Greenburn Bottom; that is an interesting place that should be visited. The flat area between Steel Fell and Calf Crag traps water in several tarns, and the parts that are not actually water are usually under water or churned into wet mud.
It's difficult to know where Calf Crag starts but there is no mistake about the summit after a short climb up to it. The descent to the top of Far Easedale is fairly interesting but quite sticky in places, although the fact that you can see the stepping stones sticking out of the mud suggests that it can get a lot muddier. At the top of Far Easedale there used to be the remains of an old fence but it has either gone or my eyesight is getting worse. The most popular route from here, apart from descending to Far Easedale, is the squelching wet route across the unlikely named Flour Gill before climbing up to Greenup Edge.
The most obvious route runs across the head of the Far Easedale in the direction of Codale Head; firstly you walk by the side of Mere Beck where the paths disappears into the wetness and then reappears as you walk above Deep Slack. I have always thought that Deep Slack is the ttractive steep sided gully that you pass by; it must be locally famous because it isn't really that significant to deserve such an impressive title. Anyway, it is a good, quiet route, far superior to the swamps and peat hags on the way to Greenup Edge. As we were walking up we heard shouting and barking; the time had indeed come for the hill sheep to be rounded up but you never hear booming curses and expletive instructions to the dogs at sheepdog trials.
You reach a point above Deep Slack where the path just disappears into the greenness of High Raise's broad flanks. As we got to this point we met another couple of walkers coming down who were excited about seeing a fox up on the crags above Deep Slack. John said it was big for a fox, I say that the shepherd's furious shouting would frighten away every mammal for miles around no matter how big they were. In the past I have headed up over grass towards Codale Head and toiled through swampy ground to reach more swamps near Sergeant Man. I decided on this occasion to cross the stream and climb diagonally across the shoulder of High Raise up to the skyline.
We reached the summit plateau of High Raise, the biggest, plainest and flattest of the Lake District tops. Rather than make a beeline for Sergeant Man across the rough and potentially wet grass, we kept to dryer ground heading towards the summit. As I expected we came across the path to Sergeant Man; turn left and within a few minutes we were sitting on the rocky summit. It was quite a warm afternoon but not that warm; the view of Pavey Ark and Harrison Stickle was hazily reminiscent of a summer's afternoon but it was too cool to be summer.
We descended from the summit in the direction of Blea Rigg; this hill is all ridge as its name suggests and a fairly lengthy ridge at that, but it was pleasant enough walking in the sunshine. There are plenty of paths too, criss-crossing the ridge trying to lead you off in all directions; some of the routes can become quite muddy. The other thing that Blea Rigg isn't short of is summits with cairns; after climbing one false summit we found the real one, only a single stone remains of the cairn that used to sit on top of the summit rock.
We carried on towards Silver How; how do you tell where Blea Rigg finishes? The broad ridge carries a path almost all of the way that diverts around the wettest ground and avoids climbing the summits. Eventually we reached the biggest, widest flat area; the grass was an attractive reddish-orange colour showing that the whole area was potentially very wet. We picked a path that got us across the flatness and past a tarn without getting our feet too wet; making as direct a route as possible towards the distant summit cairn.
We eventually reached the summit, the busiest one we had seen all day; it was very pleasant to sit in the warm afternoon sun. John reckons the steep, eroded descent from Silver How has been ruined because a new reconstructed path has been built; a character assassination indeed. It soon got cold as the sun went down as we walked back to Grasmere.
Just out of interest, this is the only walk I have done that really needs all of the four Explorer maps that cover the Lake District; on a misty day you would need to take them all with you.
Andy Wallace 14th October 2006