Wansfell, wall to wall to Caudale Moor - Photo Gallery

It had been a stormy night and although it had stopped raining by the time I left home it was still quite windy. When I parked at Troutbeck it was a bright and sunny day although it was probably going to be windy on the tops. From the small parking area near the church I walked up the hill into the village and turned right at the top of the hill. Troutbeck village itself is well worth a visit, there are some interesting looking buildings, even the ones used by animals.

I was looking for the start of the track called Nanny Lane, I have come down from Wansfell that way before but couldn't quite remember where it joined the road. By the time I reached the Mortal Man hotel I knew I had gone too far, I had passed a signposted footpath going downhill and having looked at the map I retraced my steps to find it again. Sure enough the path I was looking for started opposite it across the road, there was just a yellow waymarker arrow on a gate between farm buildings to show the way.

Once through the farm buildings Nanny Lane reveals itself as a wide, walled track rough to walk on but at an easy enough gradient for a pleasant walk on a sunny day. I was hoping I would recognise the right place to turn off for Wansfell but even I couldn't fail to notice the “Footpath to Wansfell” sign at a wide metal gate. This is definitely the easier way to climb Wansfell, nothing spectacular but a good view along the length of Windermere as you walk easily to the ridge.

Just below the ridge you get the best view of Windermere but I could hear the wind noisily rushing over the wall above. As you reach the ridge around the summit of Wansfell Pike part of the wall has been replaced by a fence and the wind swept strongly through the gap making it difficult to keep still enough to take photographs. I turned right to walk along the ridge accompanied by a stone wall and the strength of the wind subsided or at least I was out of its way.

There were good views along the ridge, over to Kirkstone Pass and the Ill Bell ridge but there was an ominous looking shower obscuring the Coniston fells. The shower missed me on its way past but I felt some of the cold, sleety rain blown in by gusts that were still making it difficult to keep still whilst I was taking photos. After a while you will see a small cairn on a rise a little bit away from the wall, I did think this might be the summit of Wansfell but there isn't much to go on and my route was taking me further along the ridge anyway.

Just before you get to the real summit of Wansfell, named Baystones on the map, there is a wet depression and I remembered being here once before. The ground cover of reeds over wet ground is a familiar one but this is very different, a tangled mass of vegetation forms a trampoline like surface that bounces you with each footstep. There is no way round, you have to go across and hope that the vegetation holds your weight, there is no way of telling how deep the water is below it.

A final short climb takes you up to a cairn, this is the highest part of the ridge and obviously the summit, it's all downhill from here. The views and light are still good all around but there are some ominous looking clouds beyond Red Screes in the distance. The path from this point is much less obvious but it is there, a line of flattened grass keeping to the ridge for the most part. Then I got to the first of the walls, standard height stone wall with supplementary wire fence along the top that I was never going to climb over.

I turned left to get to the junction with the ridge wall where it was possible when I took my rucksack off to squeeze between the top fence and a small man-sized eroded section of stone. There is still a faint path flattened into the rough grass by the side of the ridge wall and at the next wall there is another eroded section at their junction that can be easily climbed over. The ground was becoming wetter as I approached the next wall, the last before the road, and this wall was not eroded at all.

I turned right alongside the wall, following some signs of muddy flattened areas, and I found a gate sized gap in the wall and a fairly obvious looking path leading to the road. The ground was getting very wet at this stage, the path kept getting lost in more extensive wet areas. There were other paths going across to try and confuse me but I kept going straight ahead and of course there I found a gate that got me onto the Kirkstone to Troutbeck road.

All I had to do now was get across the wall on the other side of the road. I turned right along the road and almost immediately got to a gate which was fastened shut. The ground on the other side was waterlogged anyway so I carried on for a few more metres and after a junction of walls I found the roadside wall was eroded enough for me to climb over it. The only trouble was I was on the wrong side of the wall heading up Broad End and as I followed it I had yet another wall to climb over, with another eroded section of course.

Now I had to get over to the other side of the wall, this one wasn't eroded but there were step stones for my feet and the parapet was strong enough to support me. Now I was on Broad End, just go north to get to Caudale Moor, and of course up a steep grassy slope that would be impossible if the bracken was alive. There were rare views of Pets Quarry and Ill Bell from this angle until another shower came in, this one serious enough for me to put my waterproof trousers on.

The shower came and went, I got to the top of the steep bit and had a lovely walk over rough moorland and yet another wall until I reached the massive cairn overlooking Red Screes. This cairn marks the point where you can descend to Kirkstone Pass but today was the start of the long walk to Caudale Moor. Almost as soon as I started following the wall above St Raven's Edge the next shower hit me but this was snow and driven by strong winds, a blizzard if ever I saw one.

By the time it stopped snowing I had almost reached the broad summit plateau of Caudale Moor where the wind was getting stronger making it difficult at times to walk. Red Screes had a topping of snow it didn't have half an hour ago and the ground underfoot had a covering on snow, helping the wind to try and knock me off my feet. At least the visibility was good again as I walked in the direction of Thornthwaite Crag, I could see the beacon even without my glasses. I decided that I wasn't going to climb any more hills today, the wind was becoming more troublesome as the day went on.

There is a rough, steep descent to Threshthwaite Mouth, it is a good scramble but you just need a bit of care going down when the rocks are wet. At Threshthwaite Mouth I followed the faint path in the direction of The Tongue, this looks a lovely green valley, I'm surprised it isn't more popular. At first the grass is quite steep and slightly slippery with being wet but after passing the boulder field and crossing the youthful Trout Beck the gradient eases.

Now I remember why this isn't a popular valley, it is the longest, wettest, muddiest valley I have ever walked, there is no respite. There is a path of sorts but if frequently disappears into watery bogs any of which are deep enough to fill your boots. In spite of the wetness it is a lovely valley, the sheep here should have webbed feet. There is an ancient sheepfold half way down and a strange kind of wooden gate that doesn't open but is held in place by a post passing through a slate slab with a hole drilled in it.

Eventually I got across the extensive wet meadow, I decided to follow the beck rather than go over The Tongue, it is a wet climb. The path here is worse than ever, soft wet mud and more soft wet mud culminating in a wet area that you have to cross to get to the footbridge across Trout Beck, a substantial slate bridge across a substantial stream. Even then the mud continues getting worse and less avoidable, it's a relief to get the the farm buildings at Troutbeck Park where Ing Lane takes you most of the way back to Troutbeck.

I'm not sure what I enjoyed most, last week's seventy minute road march or the two and a half hour squelch along the valley.

Andy Wallace 12th February 2005