Having successfully negotiated
the Dodds two days earlier, the second ghost we had to lay to rest
from our trip in July was the High Stile Ridge. Last time there
had been a heat wave, and after missing the track to Gamlin End,
we were too hot and tired to turn round and continue the walk, so
in the end we had not climbed any peaks that day, but this time
we were determined to be more successful...
As before, we parked in Buttermere village, and
started the walk by taking the path through Burtness Wood to the
start of Scarth Gap Pass. |
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Walking through burtness wood |
| The weather forecast was not good,
with rain and cloud forecast for later, but as we walked along Buttermere,
the clouds were high and all the fells to the north were bathed in
sunshine. |
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buttermere with robinson behind |
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buttermere with grasmoor in the background |
| Looking towards our first peak of
the day, High Crag, the cloud was gathering a little, but it was still
in sun. |
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looking towards high crag |
| As we started to making our way up
Scarth Gap Pass, we agreed that the weather today was much more suited
to climbing mountains than it had been on our previous visit. |
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the lower end of scarth gap pass |
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further up scarth gap pass |
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fleetwith pike from scarth gap pass |
| Scarth Gap Pass starts off as a proper
path of stones, but higher up it becomes less well defined. It is,
however, always easy to follow with very little chance of getting
lost. |
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scarth gap pass |
| We knew from last time that we had
to leave the pass at the wall, and get onto the track leading to Gamlin
End and High Crag, so when we reached the wall, we followed it, until
we could see where the path became clearly defined a little higher
up. |
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Leaving the pass by the wall towards gamlin end with
high crag behind |
| There was still sun over the Northern
Fells, although the occasional dark cloud could be seen. |
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Looking towards the grasmoor range |
By the time we reached the start
of the zigzag path up Gamlin End, we had a clear view of Haystacks.
Behind Haystacks, clouds were gathering over
the Gables, and anyone walking there today would have been wise
to be getting their waterproofs out.
Looking towards Pillar was much the same - clouds
were gathering fast and even as I took a picture, it was beginning
to disappear into the lower clouds. |
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pillar from gamlin end |
| Meanwhile, the path up Gamlin End
and the summit of High Crag were still clear, although we could feel
a bit of rain in the air, so we decided to stop and put on our waterproof
tops, just in case. |
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Gamlin end |
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Haystacks from Gamlin End |
| By the time we reached High Crag's
summit, Pillar was completely in cloud, and it was getting very dark
overhead, so we got our waterproof trousers out as well, just in case. |
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David putting his waterproofs on at High crag's summit
with pillar now completely in cloud |
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David at the Summit of High Crag |
But as we stopped on High Crag,
it was still dry and although all the fells to the south and east,
including Pillar and Great Gable, had now more or less disappeared
in rain clouds, to the north the sun was still out.
It seemed that the High Stile Ridge was right
on the border between two completely different types of weather,
but we were not sure which of the two would prevail. |
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Grasmoor and Crag Hill from the summit of high crag |
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robinson from high crag |
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the dale head range from high crag |
| The summit of High Crag is very bouldery,
but it is not unpleasant walking. The other advantage of a ridge walk
is that it is quite difficult to get lost, even in mist. But for now,
we did not have any mist. In fact, High Stile itself was quite clearly
laid out before us, as we followed the path along the ridge. |
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high stile from high crag |
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On high crag, looking back to the summit |
| The ridge between High Crag and High
Stile gets quite narrow in places, but never uncomfortably so. |
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walking towards high stile |
| And although we were missing out on
views on the Ennerdale side of the ridge, the views to the north of
the Dale Head and Grasmoor ranges were stunning. |
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looking towards the grasmoor range from the ridge
between high crag and high stile |
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pillar in cloud |
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still sunny over buttermere from above birkness comb |
| Along the ridge is an old fence line,
which in misty conditions would have made it a lot easier to follow
the path. However, we were still fortunate that although the rain
occasionally starting spitting a little, and the clouds occasionally
got very dark overhead, the whole ridge was still clear and the rain
never came to anything. |
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walking towards high stile |
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High Stile |
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grim weather over the gables and kirk fell |
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the sun is still shining on robinson |
High Stile is the highest summit
on the ridge, and there is quite a climb to its summit from High
Crag. The summit itself is rocky, just like High Crag, but with
the added confusion that there is in fact two summits.
I had read several books before our walk, and
they did not seem to agree on which one was the true summit, so
to be on the safe side, we visited both, and David had his photo
taken each time. |
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on high stile |
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High stile's summit at grey crags |
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High crag from high stile |
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High Stile |
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a beautifully clean swaledale on high stile |
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Looking towards Scoat Fell and Haycock from High Stile |
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crummock water and grasmoor from high stile |
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high stile's other summit at chapel crags |
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david at high stile's other summit cairn |
| From High Stile the the views are
splendid. The Grasmoor range looks splendid and Bleaberry Tarn is
set into the side of Red Pike, clearly visible below. |
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bleaberry tarn from high stile |
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bleaberry tarn and crummock water with Grasmoor behind |
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Red Pike from High Stile |
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bleaberry tarn with dodd behind |
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Pillar from High Stile |
| On a clear day, I expect the Ennerdale
Fells are similarly splendid, but today the cloud kept dropping down
and covering them, and even when it lifted, it was so dark that we
did not get any particularly good views in that direction. |
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rain over Steeple, Scoat Fell and Haycock |
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Haycock and Caw Fell |
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Towards Lank Rigg and Kinniside |
| Red Pike is quite different to High
Crag and High Stile, being much smoother, and even a little boggy
in places. |
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On Red pike |
| It is also lower than High Stile,
and although there is an ascent again after the descent to the ridge
from High Stile, it is quite steady and not particularly high. |
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walking towards red pike's Summit |
| It is quite clear to see why Red Pike
is so named! |
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Pillar from Red Pike |
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david on red pike's summit |
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crummock water and Grasmoor from red pike |
| We had considered coming down to Bleaberry
Tarn from Red Pike, but it did not look a very pleasant descent back
to Buttermere, and we were not particularly tired, so we decided to
continue a bit further. |
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buttermere and bleaberry tarn from red pike, with
the Dale Head Range behind |
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The grasmoor range with dodd in front |
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high stile from red pike |
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Mellbreak and Loweswater |
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Loweswater, Mellbreak and Crummock Water |
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David on Lingcomb Edge |
| Instead of coming back down via Bleaberry
Tarn and Sour Mill Gill, we descended from Red Pike to Ling Comb -
a fairly steep, but quite easy descent - and followed the ridge along
Ling Comb for a while until we reached a large cairn. |
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red pike from ling comb |
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Buttermere, with High Snockrigg and Robinson behind,
from Lingcomb Edge |
| From here, we followed a small path
down to the wall about halfway down, and then through Burtness Wood
back to the main path to Scale Bridge. |
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Far ruddy beck |
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Crummock water |
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buttermere village |
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crummock water and grasmoor |
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High Snockrigg and Robinson from Ling Comb |
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Red Pike disappears behind Dodd and Lingcomb Edge |
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descending from ling comb |
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walking towards scale bridge with Fleetwith Pike in
the distance |
| From Scale Bridge, we followed the
main path back to Buttermere Village and our car. |
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looking back to ling comb |
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arriving back in buttermere village |
