Whinlatter Pass - No photos today
As I drive up the M6 through the heavy rain I am expecting a very wet day, after Junction 35 after reaching the crest of an uphill section I can see the fells in the distance, covered in snow and bathed in sunshine.
I parked the car at the start of the Spout Force footpath a couple of miles west of the Whinlatter visitors centre. I couldn’t find the footpath I was looking for so I walked down to Scawgill Bridge to climb Graystones by the route that Wainwright described as hardly worth the effort, by which I presume he meant that there was a lot of effort involved in getting up the steep grassy slope.
Towards the top of the steep slope the day’s first hail shower deposited a layer of hail over the grass and made the scramble over a rocky outcrop a bit more interesting, I could have gone around it but that wouldn’t have been me would it?.
The hail had stopped by the time I reached the first cairn, on the summit is a cairn built since Wainwright was here. There was an unexpected view of Cockermouth, and also of the Scottish coastline with Criffel in view below the clearly defined cloud base. All around the high fells were covered in mist and across the plains I could see individual showers making their way inland from the sea.
Followed the wall towards Wythop Moss, crossing over a fence as it joined the wall, I zigzagged across the moss to avoid the worst of the wet ground, it really wasn’t too bad considering the amount of rain that had fallen in the previous 24 hours. Wythop Moss is a marvelously secluded place, I was alone in an unspoilt (if you ignore the fences) wilderness.
From a distance the slope of Ling Fell looked too steep to climb, another steep green ascent, the new fence built on top of the old wall provided a reassuring hand-hold at times. At the crest of the slope I turned right and followed the undulating ridge to the triangulation point at the summit.
Straight down the other side of the fell to find a track, labelled Corpse Road on the map but with a puzzling lack of start and end points. The track led down to the road, turn right along the road then first left and right towards Kelswick, after passing through the gate to Kelswick Farm on the left is another steep green climb by the side of a wall.
From the crest of the slope turn right to follow the ridge towards the summit of Sale Fell. The undulating plateau surrounding the summit and subsidiary hillocks is like a lawn with occasional outcrops of white quartz like rocks, very neat and tidy. From the summit cairn down the other side of the fell to meet a wall, follow it down to the right eventually meeting a track down to Kelswick, turn left along the metalled road and shortly afterwards turn right along the signposted footpath across a wet meadow to Old Scale.
At the road turn right and shortly afterwards go through an old gate on the left for another steep green climb up towards an electricity pole, then walk over grass towards a small valley which leads up to a pair of metal gates. Through the first gate follow the fence over wet ground towards a small pine tree plantation, keeping it on my left until reaching a wall that I climbed but looking back there was a gate further along that I could have used.
Then a lengthy climb up grass, thankfully not as steep this time, up to the substantial cairn at the summit of Broom Fell, the cairn made a better shelter from the cold wind than the shelter itself. Then across the ridge to Lord’s Seat, the first fell today that I didn’t have to climb from the bottom, the single metal fence pole at its summit didn’t do a very good job as a wind shelter.
A straightforward walk over to Barf, crossing some very wet peaty ground to a splendid summit. Barf revealed its view of Bassenthwaite Lake that it had been hiding, and also of the buildings on the lakeside that appeared to be directly below – quite a steep drop on that side.
Then back towards Lord’s Seat to try and find my way over to Whinlatter. From the stile in the fence below the summit I had a 45-minute walk along forest roads and then found myself back at the same stile, I am still baffled as to how I managed to do this.
I have apparently missed my way in both directions, it’s too late to try again so it’s route one again, down the steep green mossy slope that wasn’t designed to be a descent and steeply down through a nursery of pine trees to the forest road. To my surprise it was only a 20-minute walk back to the car, eight hours after a day of showers the rain finally set in for the evening.
Andy Wallace 27th April 2002