Skew Gill to Lingmell - Photo Gallery
I arrived at a gloriously sunny Wasdale Head and realised that I had forgotten to bring my boots with me. Can Guy the Saleman fix it for me – yes he can, but then he’s always happy to take people’s hard-earned off them.
Walked up the valley of Lingmell Beck, crossing over as though heading for Piers Gill but carrying on up the valley until I found the path that took me to the stony start of Skew Gill.
I’ve been promising myself a walk up Skew Gill for some time and it was well worth the effort. The Gill resembles Foxes Tarn Gully at first and then Jack’s Rake with a stream running through it and finally it takes on a character all of its own. It is steep and rocky, you get yours hands wet as well as your feet and your face gets splashed. I had some doubts in places about carrying on but when it counted the wet rock wasn’t slippery and there were plenty of handholds. The last section is very steep with a final, slightly awkward manoeuvre required before a steep scramble to exit the Gill. An excellent scramble, one that I will do again, a real joy.
Out of the Gill onto the steep scree above it, with the adrenalin still flowing it didn’t cause me any trouble and I found the cairn at the top of The Band. The views were stupendous on a fabulous day in a very special place.
The next bit of the route didn’t look very obvious, but I started to ascend the steep grassy, bouldery slope where it looked as though there were some disturbed stones. This proved to be the right starting point and I soon found the broom stick way-marker, I can understand it being stuck in the ground as a marker but why would anybody carry a broom stick onto the mountain?
The steep slope ended at a platform of rock, a splendid open viewpoint, and shortly above were the tops of the Branch and Cust’s gullies. The boulder trapped in Cust’s Gully is much larger than I was expecting and it really doesn’t look as though it belongs there.
After visiting each of the three corners of the summit of Great End I followed the easy path over to Calf Cove. Then over to the summit of Ill Crag, a place I haven’t taken any notice of before, it is usually hidden by mist. I haven’t visited the summit before although I tried once on a misty day, but the two rocky outcrops are well worth a visit on a sunny day for the view alone. Then down to the col and up to the summit of Broad Crag an uninteresting bouldery top followed by an interesting scramble over boulders down to Broad Crag col to join a constant stream of people up to the crowded summit of Scafell Pike.
I walked over to the South cairn, a much more civilised place with only one other person and excellent views of Eskdale and Scafell for company. Back to the summit and down the equally popular path down to Lingmell Col for the day’s final climb to Lingmell summit, another special place with its own character and crags and its own set of wonderful views, especially of Great Gable. Descended the easy grass slopes of ling-less Lingmell except for the short steep and slippery grass-less and soil-less section.
Even the typical Bank Holiday drive home couldn’t take the shine off a wonderful day’s walking.
Andy Wallace 26th August 2002