To Haycock and back - Photo Gallery
I’m hoping for reasonable visibility today as I explore a corner of the Lake District that I have not been to before. I parked the car on the side of the road at Greendale on the road to Gosforth from Wastwater, I set off along the road looking for the start of the path to Buckbarrow. If you get as far the lane leading to Windsor Farm as I did then you have gone too far, you should back track a little bit to the Wasdale side of a conifer plantation where a stream comes down from the fell to the roadside, almost opposite The Ghyll.
The path, indistinct at first follows the gill for a while and then heads half right up the grass towards the crags of Buckbarrow. It’s nowhere near the steepest of ascents but I don’t feel as fit as usual and it is hard going, regular viewing of the scenery is required.
The recommended viewpoint at the top of the crags is as good as AW says it is looking down over Wastwater and across to the scree. There is a slightly undulating walk over to the summit of Buckbarrow, somebody has built a reasonably sized cairn since AW was here, no problems finding it. It’s hard to tell where Buckbarrow ends and Seatallan starts, between them is a large undulating grassy area, I set off in a bee line for Seatallan trying to avoid any unnecessary ups and downs but I had to go and visit the distinctive cairn at Glade How. I followed an indistinct path in the direction of Seatallan, navigation is easy when you can see what you are aiming for.
The path, probably a sheeptrod, seems to be going nowhere I head upwards, over pathless grass to try and find the ridge. There is a faint path on the ridge, because it’s my first time up here I followed the path to the left away from Seatallan to see where it goes, and the ridge ends abruptly at another distinctive cairn, this is Cat Bields I presume. Retrace my steps in the direction of, and then all of the way to the summit of Seatallan, the easy walking on grass does get a bit tedious after a while. As I reach the flat top of the summit the mist finally rolls in, hiding the interesting bit of the fell, a vast grassy fell is suddenly capped with an area of loose rocks, the large cairn and triangulation point is the only view.
Head NNW down grass, keeping just to the right of the steep drop downwards, the mist clears and I can see the great green expanse between here and Haycock. Keep to the left on the Blengdale side to avoid any unnecessary loss of height and head towards a grassy slope amongst the steep scree slopes until I find a cairn at the bottom of the green ascent.
The steep green ascent isn’t anywhere near as bad as some but it’s hard work, I feel drained of energy and keep having to rest in between short spurts up the hill until eventually the top of the slope is thankfully close to the summit. That hurt!
As I arrived at the summit, another walker also got there, the only person I met all day.
Haycock’s summit is also very stony, with a stone wall across the top providing infallible directions to Caw Fell and Scoat Fell that has a substantial cairn on either side. The mist is playing strange tricks, mainly thick and impenetrable in most directions but the summit seems to be in a clear tunnel and I can see Ennerdale Water clearly down below.
Back down the grassy slope, now easy, for a view all of the way down Blengdale, cross over mainly pathless grass to the foot of Seatallan and surprisingly find a path contouring around to the left of the fell towards Middle Fell. The views into Nether Beck and over to the mist shrouded high fells are excellent, one of the best aspects of walking is seeing familiar places from an unfamiliar angle.
Followed the faint path, I thought it must be a sheeptrod until I came to an ancient cairn at the gap between Seatallan and Middle Fell. Crossed over to Middle Fell and immediately I started to like the fell, curious rocky outcrops, one of which resembled a man made Chapel that I had to go and take a closer look but it was just a natural outcrop. Climbed up the interesting fellside until I found the ridge complete with path, the views were terrific even in the gloomy conditions. I love this fell, lots of interest in itself, the views, a gem of a summit, followed by an interesting descent including a couple of decent scrambles down over rocks.
Best of all, the path finished right back at the car.
Andy Wallace 6th July 2002