Steel The Nab on the High Street to Arthurs - Photo Gallery

I had decided to walk on Sunday because of the dreadful forecast for Saturday, and it seemed to be the right decision because, when I parked at The Hause near St. Peter's church in Martindale, it was cold but sunny. I had planned a route to walk hills that I don't visit very often, but I was especially determined to climb The Nab by a route that would not break the Countryside Right of Way rules, but would defeat the pointless exclusion by Dalemain Estates of the most sensible route.

I walked round the side of the church on a muddy path and then followed the track towards Mellguards; there are Fords marked on the map on the track so it shouldn't be a surprise to find the track usually swamped by water in places, and I wasn't surprised. Although there was a clear sky it wasn't very bright and there was a strange light on the view of Ullswater beyond Howtown. I was looking for a path uphill, but I knew it wasn't going to be obvious; I recognised a stone wall from the time I descended the path a few years ago and found a not-very-obvious, muddy path heading uphill and partially hidden in the dying bracken.

It was steep and muddy, I climbed up past a fairly impressive rock outcrop, and there was even a bit of a rocky scramble to get up onto the ridge. The clear air made the best of the view of Hallin Fell's autumn colours as I walked along the undulating ridge; the view backwards was interesting too, the steepness of the ascent had become a dramatic falling away. At the start of the proper ridge is a cairned viewpoint; walking along the ridge of Steel Knotts to its summit, Pikeawassa, I had a long shadow with the sun being low in the sky.

The summit of Steel Knotts is an interesting little rocky crown, the views all around were clear and good, even Beda Fell looked interesting. It's a steep descent on grass to a dry col, but the wet ground starts as you reach a stone wall, from then on it becomes very damp for a while. I made my way over the damp, grassy shoulder of Gowk Hill; I walked around the right hand side, following a faint path, until it looked too steep ahead to carry on. I climbed upwards to avoid the steepness, but having gained height, I could see lower path and it didn't look that steep after all. I descended to the path and followed it, contouring around Gowk Hill high above the red-roofed Bungalow; I eventually reached a gully, descent was too steep even without the high fence in the way.

The gully was Mell Beck, it looked impossible to cross but as I got closer I could see a path above the opposite bank; after descending to the stream and making a relatively easy crossing, I climbed up to to the fence at the top of the bank. I found a muddy path and crossed over the fence; the path seemed to continue onwards but I decided to descend, it wasn't too steep but hard going through the swampy bracken.

I reached the banks of Ramps Gill, adjacent to a gate to the grounds of The Bungalow; it would have been easier to go through the gate and up the ridge of The Nab but that would have meant asking for permission. The gill was far too wide to cross at that point, perhaps it would normally have been possible but the recent heavy rain made it too deep and fast to even think about it. I walked for fifteen minutes upstream looking for a place to cross; I got to a bend and I could see a faint, muddy path either side of it, it was time to jump across.

After getting across the stream I followed a more obvious path, or perhaps it was an animal track, to a gap in the wall. Looking across the stream to the opposite hillside it became clear that I didn't need to descend through the bracken, I could have followed the path to get to where I crossed Ramps Gill. After crossing the wall I could have walked by the side of another wall to the bottom of the ridge or use the deer track that went steeply up the hill. I decided to use the direct route, it was steep but otherwise not that difficult; I disturbed a group of deer, I wouldn't have seen them if I had used the ridge path and was surprised that I got so close.

It became a real struggle as the bracken became denser and the gradient remained steep; I was also very aware that if there were deer the bracken would be home to ticks. After a tortuous climb up through the vegetation, I eventually reached grass on the ridge path, I still had to climb steeply uphill but it was not quite as hard. Once I climbed over the hurdle in the intake wall, I had a further steep climb uphill on a faint path; I have previously climbed the almost impossibly steep ridge but this time I was hoping to find the path marked on the map.

I found a faint path through the vegetation, contouring across the steep hillside; I was hoping to avoid having to scramble up the steep vegetation but the path eventually faded, and I had to make the inevitable all-fours scramble up the steep vegetation. To my surprise I came across a path and followed it on a much easier gradient until I reached a bend; it was not far from there to the summit of The Nab. The views Helvellyn in the clear air are as good as from any other direction.

I descended to the legendary bog, it is a muddy crossing at the best of times; after several very wet days I wasn't able to make a very direct route, there were many diversions with several leaps. After I started to ascend Rest Dodd I came to the wall, on the other side of the stile is a notice showing the Dalemain-recommended route. From there is a faint path uphill, up the steep grass until reaching a cairn on the edge of the small summit plateau; across a small depression is a cairn at the summit of Rest Dodd.

There is a path leading down to a wall that you follow downwards and across a swampy bottom before climbing uphill again, following a long straight wall up to The Knott; you do have to make sure you visit the summit for its view of Hayeswater. Rather than walk up to the Straits of Riggindale, I took a short-cut to Rampsgill Head; easily walking over grass to the summit, and then carry on towards High Raise, another summit worth the detour from the path.

It is a long walk along the broad ridge to Red Crag, following the fence to its inconspicuous summit, and beyond the fence a seemingly endless grassy, sometimes swampy, ridge. I didn't really notice Wether Hill summit as I reached it, I had to think about it after I passed it, I only realised where I was when I reached the ruins on Loadpot Hill before reaching its summit. The triangulation column at the summit of Loadpot Hill has no clues about where to go from there, even in the good light I had to take a compass bearing, and I wasn't confident the direction I was heading even then.

After descending for a while I could see the route ahead, it would not be easy in the mist to choose a direction. It was a long way again to Arthur's Pike, there were a couple of false summits along the way until I reached the obvious summit at the end of the ridge and the ground fell way suddenly beyond the cairn. I took the shortest route I could, walking towards to Bonscale Pike; after crossing Swarth Beck I made a relatively straightforward ascent on grass to the well constructed cairns at the summit.

I followed a faint path along the contours high above Ullswater where the last launch of the day made its way silently across the smooth water. I eventually found a path in a groove that helped me to get down the steep slope to the muddy track behind Mellguards; it hadn't dried out much on the path back to the car park.

© Andy Wallace 5th October 2008