Carl Sprake MA(Oxon), ICTP, MCT

Approx 10 miles.

Click here for a map and here for photos.

Starting and finishing from the car park at Christmas Common (709 936) the aim of this walk was to to try out various pieces of kit.

I have a pair of Mountain Equipment G2 Ultimate Mountain Pants and a The North Face Valkyrie jacket, both of which are essentially soft shells but I wanted to see how much rain they could withstand. I had also recently purchased a pair of Karrimor Bodmin walking shoes and Lowe Alpine air zone 35 rucksack that I wanted to try out.

The walk started with a constant, steady rainfall. Not a huge torrential downpour like you get in a storm, just the continuous rain that is typical of an English November day. The effect of this rain was mitigated slightly when I got into the wood but by this time my jacket and trousers were soaking wet on the outside. The rain water had not, however, penetrated the material and I remained dry inside. So, while I don’t think I would like to rely on the soft shell in a torrential rainstorm they are fine for some fairly serious precipitation – which is good news (it may mean that I think twice about taking waterproofs with me on day walks).

The Karrimor shoes were great – well worth the £18 I paid for them! Comfortable, with fantastic grip in the mud and wet grass they kept my feet completely dry.

While the Lowe Alpine rucksack was comfortable, I missed the belt pockets of the OMM 25l, so I had to keep stopping to get food out the front pocket of the rucksack. The airzone back means that packing is a bit of a pain as the back panel curves into the body of the sack. Also, while a pocket on the inside of the lid is a great idea, it could do with being bigger.

OK, so back to the walk itself. I parked the car at Christmas Common – up the hill from the centre of Watlington. Turning right out of the car park I walked up the road to the junction and turned right again. As the road forked I headed left and just before the road curved further to the left I took the track straight on, that was signposted to Stonor. Rather than following the track straight ahead I turned off the track after a few hundred metres and followed the Oxfordshire Way into Queen Wood. The path headed down hill and turned to the right, coming eventually to a cross road of tracks in the middle of the wood. The Oxfordshire Way headed off to the right but I carried straight on following a path / stream down the hill. (I think it would normally be a path, but all the rain had turned it into a fast flowing stream). After another kilometre or so the path emerged from the wood to connect with a track that curved sharply round to the right and led to some farm buildings (735 911).

I walked past the farm buildings and the road to Turville Park on the left, and picked up a bridleway that twisted and turned along field boundaries to emerge onto a minor road. (735 896). Turning right onto this road I followed it for a short while before turning left onto the B480. After passing the entrance to Stonor Park on my left I went through a kissing gate that led into the corner of Stonor Park. As I went through the gate I spied a couple of deer grazing on the hill a few hundred metres in front of me. As I knelt down to get my camera out I realised there was a whole herd of deer:

I think some of the deer must have seen me because they started to head up the hill to my left.

Amongst them was a Stag with some rather fine antlers:

Once the deer had disappeared from sight I continued up the path. This followed the edge of the estate and offered great views of the main house to my left.

Reaching the far side of the estate I passed through another kissing gate and into a Balham’s Wood (747 984). I continued to follow the track up the hill and through the woods before emerging onto the road at Southend. Turning left I followed the road to the village green before turning right down a track on the other side of the green and taking the footpath through the hedge to head towards Summer Heath. As I followed this path there were three Red Kites taking off and landing from the fields on either side of me, and crossing the corner of the field on the edge of Summer Heath I saw a Red Kite land in the high branches of a tree – and immediately disappear from sight – its camouflage was that good.

As I walked through the wood of Summer Heath the path became a bit indistinct. I knew I needed to head North, so I kept trying to veer right and eventually emerged onto the road, near the junction at 746 907. I turned left and walked past a few houses until the woods began again on my right hand side. Here I followed a footpath down to Turville Grange. I walked down the track that led past the grange and other houses on my right hand side until I reached the bridleway that headed down hill.

I’m not sure if there is usually a stream here, but the recent rains had washed a way through the leaves (see below).

This stream / path led all the way down the hill and through the woods, before the stream eventually disappeared into a field on the right of the path.

The bridleway leads onto the road, but just before reaching the road I turned left onto a footpath and followed this through the woods, with the road (in a deep cutting) on my right and a field on my left. The footpath joined the road just to the East of Northend (739 922).

I turned left on to the road and followed it for about two miles back to the car park at Christmas Common.

Along the road there was a large house set back from the road on the right hand side. Through the tall hedge I could just make out a small herd of deer lying on the grass. The adjoining wood was surrounded by a tall iron fence and just back from the fence was the tree shown below with a plaque that reads.

Friend, when you stray and sit or take your ease,
On moor or fell or under spreading trees,
Pray leave no traces of your wayside meal,
No paper bag no scattered orange peel,
Nor daily journal littered on the grass,
Others may view these with distaste and pass,
Let no one say, and say it to your shame,
That all was beauty here until you came.

Saturday 10th October

The map of this route is on my Google Maps site and the photos are my Flickr page.

Having abandoned our wild camping plans the day before, we needed to find some other routes to fill our days. Denise came up with the route for this walk up Glenridding Beck to White Side, across to Raise and down via Sticks Pass.

As with our ascent of Helvellyn two days previously, we left the campsite and headed up the track. However, at the first junction we too the track to the right, towards Greenside Road. Crossing Glenridding Beck we climbed the far bank and joined the road.

Glenridding Beck

Looking up Glenridding with White Side in the centre.

We followed the road up the valley to the Youth Hostel at the site of the old mine. The beck, flowing through the valley, with the coniferous plantation on our left made me think of the American Rockies, or Canada, and when a brown sheep moved in the undergrowth just for a moment I thought it was a bear!

Just beyond the youth hostel the maze of paths can be a bit confusing. Luckily there are a number of sign posts, and by a process of deduction we found the correct one. (We didn’t want to go up Sticks Pass and we didn’t want to go to Helvellyn).

We continued to follow the easy path up the side of Glenridding Beck until we drew level with the lower slopes of Catstye Cam to our left. Here the old path continues to the dam at the bottom of Keppel Cove, but the path we wanted headed up to the right and started to zig zag up the side of Glenridding Common. Up to this point the weather had been bright and sunny. However, cloud was pouring over the summit of White Side and we stopped to don the soft shell jackets as the cloud came down and it started to rain. By the time we reached the top of the path above Red Screes visibility was very poor. Fortunately the path to the summit was fairly clear and a short steep section soon bought us to the top of White Side.

  Cloud coming over the top of White Side as we climb the zig zag path.

I’m sure that on clear days the view from here would be stunning. Unfortunately we were only able to see a few metres in any direction!

Descending from the summit we we came we kept a look out for the path across to Raise. It was a bit unclear but a bit of compass work soon had us heading in the right direction. After an easy walk across open land we were soon ascending slowly across a more rocky area. Uncertain as to whether or not we were near the summit I consulted my Suunto Core to check the altitude. The watch suggested that we were still below the summit so we kept heading in the same direction and sure enough the ground started to rise again and we were soon at the cairn on the summit of Raise.

On the summit of Raise.

We left the summit of Raise and descended North West across a rock strewn slope and turned right onto Sticks Pass at a small pile of stones, just before the ground rises again towards Stybarrow Dodd.

As we descended Sticks Pass we could see the snow lift and snow hut to our right – it must be very keen skiiers who make the effort to get all the way up there to ski. And with so many steep drop offs around the area I wouldn’t want to try it.

Sticks Pass is another path that is undergoing a lot of work, as evidenced by all the bags of stones and various tools that were lying around the path. In places the path was really good and easy to follow, while in others it was practically invisible or very steep and slippery.

Descending Sticks Pass

The path leads to the North side of a very flat open area above the old mine (I would have got away with it if it hadn’t been for you pesky kids) and the abandoned workings and slag heaps give a very odd sensation.

Sticks Pass with Sheffield Pike ahead

The view from the end of Sticks Pass towards Glenridding.

From the top of the mine, opposite Lucy’s Tongue the path descends steeply to the Youth Hostel, from where we retraced our steps back to the campsite.

Friday 9th October 2009

A map of this walk is on my Google Maps site and photos are on my Flickr site.

Having walked up Helvellyn and Catstye Cam the day before the next part of our plan was a three day walk, with two nights wild camping, to take in St Sunday Crag, Fairfield, Seat Sandal, Dollywagon Pike, High Crag, Nethermost Pike, Helvellyn, White side, Raise and possibly Stybarrow Dodd.

So, we set of from Gillside campsite at Glenridding with our packs full of tents, sleeping bags and food for three days.

We headed East from the campsite, following Glenridding Beck to Westside (384 168), where we turned South and began climbing up through the woods. The path follows the edge of a wood until it meets a wall and a junction with another path that leads back towards Mires Beck (382 165).  We headed South East around the contour and then down the hill, with the wood on our right, coming to a gate that lead into the wood around Lanty’s Tarn.

Thornhow End and St Sunday Crag from the path leading away from Lanty’s Tarn

We followed the path past Lanty’s Tarn and then down the hill and followed the fence line. Although a path continues up Grisedale we turned left (382 159) and followed the path down hill until it met the tarmac road that leads to the kennels. We followed this track until the junction with the road at 383 157, where we turned right through a gate and then left the road to climb up the hill next to a derelict house. It looks like they are doing a lot of work to improve the path here as there were bags of large stones everywhere. Once above the house we picked up the path and turned left through a partly wooded area. A conifer plantation was on the left and at the end of this the path leads into an open field. However, by heading to the tree line to the right we were easily able to pick up the path that leads up Thornhow End.

We stopped for a break at the point the path crosses the wall that runs below Black Crag (385 153) before following the path over the rocks and around to the North of the summit of Birks. As we climbed higher so the wind got stronger.

Denise heading towards St Sunday Crag with the slopes of Birks in the background.

As we reached the summit of St Sunday Crag the wind was blowing really hard from our left – the South. Our plan was to descend to Deepdale Hause and then ascend Cofa Pike and thus to Fairfield. As we came off the summit on to the ridge the wind was even stronger. At some points I had to brace myself against both poles and lean into the wind at about 45 degrees just to keep my balance. If I let go of one of the walking poles the wind would blow it sideways, so that it fluttered horizontally like some useless, damaged Dalek appendage. In his pictorial guide to the Eastern Fells, Wainwright describes the path from St Sunday Crag thus:

From here, Cofa Pike looks quite formidable, but a plain path climbs steeply up the stony slope to the interesting crest of the pike. A loose scree slope is then climbed to the grassy shoulder above and the summit cairn is just beyond. In mist Fairfield is a dangerous place to strangers.

Fairfield from St Sunday Crag

The view from St Sunday Crag, with Fairfield to the left and the Helvellyn range to the right.

With the wind howling across our path and the cloud gathering en mass over Fairfield we were not looking forward to ascending a loose scree slope, especially with large, heavy packs on. We therefore decided to abort our attempt on Fairfield and leaving Deepdale Hause (362 167) we descended South Westwards towards Grisedale Tarn.

Reaching the Tarn we found it to be almost as windy there as it had been up on the ridge. In addition, the nice flat bit of ground to the North East of the tarn was all really marshy. We had intended (or rather I had planned) to make our first night’s camp at the tarn. However, it was still only around lunch time and therefore too early to think about camping. Yet to push on now would mean having to find somewhere to pitch on the ridge which wasn’t going to be fun, and hanging around the tarn all afternoon would be cold, boring and a waster of time. We therefore decided to abandon the wild camping plan and head back to Gillside campsite.

Grisedale Tarn with Seat Sandal behind.

Looking down Grisedale

So, we headed down the path to the North of Grisedale Beck, stopping for a rest (and some chocolate muffins) at Ruthwaite Lodge (the climbing hut – 357 137). As the valley widened and the ground levelled out a bit we crossed the beck (near the Sheepfold) and continued along the track on the south side of the beck, passing Crossing plantation on our left and then Elmhow plantation on our right. After a time we came to Thornhow and the derelict building we had passed earlier. Here we rejoined the tarmac road that leads to the kennels and retraced our route back to Gillside campsite.

Thursday 8th October 2009

A map of this walk can be seen on my Google Maps site and more photographs are on my Flickr Site.

Leaving the campsite at Gillside we turned left up the hill and followed the road until it came to a gate. One path, to Greenside Road, heads off to the right but the path we wanted carried on into a field. In the field the path angled to the left, towards the corner of a wall and an old track. A footpath angled off to the left and a track marked private carried straight on. The path we wanted angled back to the right towards the corner of the field. Crossing the field, we followed the path alongside a wall to our right until we came to another stile over a wall. Here the paths led left or right. The one to the right follows the contours around the edge of the National Park boundary up Glenridding Beck. This would be the path we would return on later. Our path was to the left, over a wooden footbridge and then curving up to the right to follow Mires Beck (376 166).

Looking back towards Glenridding with Glenridding Dodd on the left and Ullswater.

Following the well worn path up the slope we soon came to the ridge and the wall that runs up from Brownend Plantation. One option is to cross the wall here (372 160) and follow the contour across towards Grisedale Brow before angling up to the Hole in the Wall. However, we had missed the stile across the wall and so angled up to our right and followed the wall up to the summit of Birkhouse Moor (365 161). The climb up to this point had been hard work and we were quite warm, even in just our base layers. However, the wind seemed to be on the increase so we stopped just below the summit to don the soft shell jackets.

As we followed the wall around the corner at the summit of Birkhouse Moor we had our first view of Helvellyn and Catstye Cam.

We followed the path, with the wall to our left, until a bit of a scramble took us over the rocks at Hole in the Wall and we saw Striding Edge leading off towards Helvellyn.

While I tried, as much as possible, to walk right along the ridge of Striding Edge, Denise took the more sensible approach and followed the path that runs along the North side of the ridge.

		The view along Striding Edge
Striding Edge, Helvellyn, Swirral Edge, Catstye Cam and Red Tarn

The drop to my left                             and the drop to my right

Towards the end  of Striding Edge there is a steep section that is a mixture of scrambling and walking on very loose earth. This seems to go on for ever and it was huge surprise for me to look up one moment and not see more rock above me but the summit plateau of Helvellyn.

After a brief stop for some food at the shelter on the summit we headed North West along the ridge before descending to the North East down Swirral Edge. This was steep and rocky but not too bad going and we were soon walking up the steep but easy going ridge towards Catstye Cam.

The view from Catstye Cam, looking NNW. On the far right is the zig zag path we would use on Saturday to ascend White Side, which is the obvious summit about a third in from the right.

While the South West Ridge that we had ascended was very easy (if a bit steep) the view from the top of Catstye Cam suggests that the Northern approaches are a lot more difficult and rocky. Fortunately for us there is an easy descent along the North East ridge which then descend to meet the path from Red Tarn (350 158 to 354 157).

Red Tarn Beck meets Glenridding Beck at a sheepfold and the easy to follow path continues on the south side of the beck, past the youth hostel at the old mine before returning to Glenridding, as mentioned earlier.

Red Tarn Beck with Catstye Cam in the top right.

Smooth erosion patterns in the rocks of Glenridding Beck

Heading back to Glenridding with Glenridding Dodd on the left, Ullswater in the middle with Place Fell on the horizon.