There was plenty of rain around as I drove up to the Lake District but it had stopped by the time I got to Seatoller, although it seemed like more of a pause between showers. I walked back along the road and turned up the little road towards Seathwaite; at Seathwaite Bridge I passed through a gate to get onto the path running parallel to the road. After passing a healthy looking Yew tree I just happened to look upwards; well, I was really wondering where the Borrowdale Yews were supposed to be and I saw some kind of notice a short way uphill.

After climbing up the steep, wet slope I came to an enclosure with an information sign; these were the Borrowdale Yews that were marked on my map but there weren't as many as there used to be, the Fraternal Four had become three. The ancient trees had rotted away in the middle so that the trunks were just shells in the midst of a mass of branches and greenery. Only one of them was still recognisable as a tree and one was just a large hollow stump – most of the tree had fallen off at some stage and only the bottom part remained; it was still alive though and growing branches from the base.

I returned back down to the path and I got to thinking about the old Plumbago Mines on the fellside above me; I had wanted to visit them for some time but hadn't really worked out a route, maybe I should just go for it. The fellside was steep and densely wooded and I was thinking I might not find a way up but as I got close to Seathwaite there was a gap in the trees at the side of a wall. I walked over wet ground towards the wall and found some signs of a path going uphill; it looked just the job.

Even though it was a path it wasn't easy; the ground was rough with boulders and tree debris that you would expect in woodland and the gradient increased the higher up I got until it was really quite steep. Once I got above the tree-line the slope was at its steepest but the path started to follow the contours and took me in the direction of the spoil heaps. One good thing about walking up steep hills is that you get good views; Seathwaite and the surrounding slopes were clothed in every variation of colour from green to brown and there are plenty of bright red berries on the trees this year.

Then all of a sudden was the first sign of industrial activity, a small, walled enclosure in front of a shaft almost hidden under the trees; this is just the tip of the iceberg if you'll forgive the comparison of unlike objects. There was a narrow line of scree, maybe a part-time stream and maybe a path; anyway it was the only likely looking way up the rough fellside, this is not really walkers' territory but good for explorers. The scree was probably spoil that found its way down the bed of a small stream and in making my way upwards I came to the parent spoil heap.

The spoil material was very wet so it wasn't loose and slippery and there were signs that others had trodden a more stable path up the steep waste heap. At the top of the pile was another heap to climb up; the material on the higher heaps was larger probably because the smaller particles had slidden downhill. Eventually at the top of the spoil I reached a grassy platform where there was a much bigger shaft, and slightly higher up hidden under a holly tree was a bigger opening still.

By now there was a faint, but more visible path that I followed uphill that led me to a stream in a rocky gully; on one side of the stream there were a number of shafts in a large rock outcrop. This must have been an exceedingly busy place at one time but apart from from the shafts, and the spoil heaps of course, there is no obvious sign of anybody having been there; it is a very rough, wild fellside. As I carried on uphill the mist came in for the day; I followed the small path through a large area of what must have been mainly opencast working with the occasional hole fronted by the usual spoil heap.

I reached a broad plateau in my favourite navigating conditions; I was on an unfamiliar hill with no path and no visibility. Firstly I had to estimate my position on the map and then work out a bearing; I didn't want to have to tackle the climbers territory around Raven Crag. You have to trust your compass in those conditions; take no notice of the terrain apart from avoiding crags and swamps, just follow the bearing. Whilst I am always apprehensive about wandering around in places that nobody else would ever dream of going I haven't managed to lose myself yet.

Eventually I came across a fence going uphill almost at right angles to the direction I was walking; I had found the path to Grey Knotts coming up from Honister Hause. I was hoping I might be a little higher up than that but I was glad to know where I was. There wasn't much to see when I got to the summit of Grey Knotts and I had some more navigating to do; there is a new fence to follow in the direction of Brandreth. I was on the wrong (right hand) side of the fence to start with but it kept parallel to the path on the other side until I was able to climb a stile and get onto the path.

Again with the reassurance of my compass I left the new fence and followed the line of old fence posts in the direction of Brandreth. It is difficult to say which of the many cairns on the broad, rocky summit platform of Brandreth is actually the highest point so I always visit a couple of the more likely looking ones. From Brandreth you can follow the fence posts again but there is another path that takes you to the collection of tarns at Gillercombe Head. Carry on past the tarns and you start to climb a rugged path; this is the way to Green Gable and as the gradient eases so does the ruggedness, for a while anyway.

For a while you are walking on a lawn-like surface before you join the path coming up from Gillercombe; this has become one of the wide, well-cairned paths where you usually have plenty of company. The path does get a bit more rugged as you approach the summit of Green Gable; the visibility was so bad that you wouldn't have been able to tell that bulk of Great Gable is just across Windy Gap. The steep descent to Windy Gap is followed by a steep climb; one of Great Gable's delights is the nice scrambling ascent on this side of it.

When I got to the summit of Great Gable there were only two other people there, it isn't usually as empty as that. I descended the Breast Route to Styhead and decided I didn't have time for my planned walk having spent so long exploring on Seatoller Fell. By the time I had descended to Seathwaite the mist had all gone, typical good visibility from 3pm onwards when most walkers have left the ridge.

From Seathwaite I took the path to Allerdale Ramble past Thorneythwaite Farm to cross the road at Mountain View; I followed the path to Folly Bridge and after crossing it turned left back to walk back to the car park at Seatoller.

Andy Wallace 4th November 2006