There's the Steeple, where's the people - no photos today
This week’s walk started off with Yewbarrow from Overbeck car park, apart from getting caught in a heavy shower in the first half an hour, the weather is generally fine with good visibility.
This is my third ascent in this direction and the first time that I can see anything, the views are excellent and get better as height is gained.
The final part of the ascent to Great Door is up a small fragile gully, it doesn’t look very promising and I suspect that most people find a different route. As you climb out of the gully you are suddenly at Great Door, there is nothing between you and Wastwater – Wainwright calls it a thrilling moment and it was certainly that with the visibility being so good.
What Wainwright doesn’t mention is the five points of contact and looooong stretch manoeuvre required to joint the path going off to the left, it’s a long way down if you get it wrong.
The ridge walking along Yewbarrow is easy and the view all round is superb, Scafell and the Pike are under cloud and will remain so for most of the day.
The usual interesting descent down to Dore Head followed by the usual easy-ish path up to the top of Red Pike. The view from the top of Red Pike is of the mist rolling in from the west, the mist stays with me until I get to the end of the Red Pike ridge.
Now that I can see it I can get to Scoat Fell for the first time, a very interesting, rocky top with excellent all round views, but especially Steeple which is where I am going next.
An easy arete leads to Steeple and I sit at the top spellbound by the views especially of that other great viewpoint Causey Pike. The quietness, the feeling of being the only person for miles around except for those people I can see on Pillar, this is a place to come back to.
Then I went over to Haycock, another fell I haven’t visited before, the views are still good but I can’t say that there is much else to get excited about.
I chose the path along Nether Beck to descend, mainly because it is the only available route, I didn’t really fancy a 2-hour slog along a sodden valley bottom to finish the walk but it had to be done. As it happened, Nether Beck is one of the best valley walks I have done, full of interest with different views of the Wasdale mountains finally clear of mist, and with a minimum amount of bog.
Andy Wallace 4th August 2001