The Far Western Fells

Day 36 – Wednesday 29 April. Philip Bailey got up early and made an heroic drive to meet us near the Kinniside Stone Circle at Ennerdale Bridge. The heroic bit was the last five miles over the Cold Fell road which at that time of the morning is used as a rat-run by hundreds of Sellafield workers. How his wing mirrors survived we’ll never know!

Today was to be another long walk. After 15 sodden miles yesterday we were promised another 15 today, and were hoping that the rain would keep off. The early sunshine didn’t last long, and by the time we reached the summit of Grike (1596’) the chances of another soaking looked high. After the nearby Crag Fell (1710’) - where we congratulated ourselves on two summits before 10 am - and a brief encounter in the pine forest with a local training his Hound Dog (looks like a fox hound but they race over the fells. Nothing to do with, uh, Elvis as far as I know), we started a long, long plod, following a stone wall which runs all the way to Haycock and beyond. Not only is this wall taller and generally more massive than the average, it’s superbly built – months and months of hard work must have gone into it.

It’s nearly 3 miles to the top of Caw Fell (2288’) where it was feeling decidedly bleak and remote as we dined on tongue sandwiches, and a further mile to the highest point of the day and my last 2500-er, Haycock (2618’). The stony top was so cold and windy that there was no chance of lingering to admire the view.

We retraced our steps over Caw Fell and continued down the western ridge where it became clear that we would have a long descent (although the gradient was easy, the ground was surprisingly rough and bouldery, making progress slow) before our final ascent, to Lank Rigg. Worm Gill Beck was too big to cross, but just upstream was the confluence of three streams and by fording them (well, tippy-toeing over boulders) one at a time we managed to get across with dry feet. It was a steep slog up to the summit area but finally we were at the 1775’ trigpoint for the final top of the day.

A long walk out followed over easy ground; once back at the cars we had to contend with the Sellafield traffic in the opposite direction before reaching the safer main roads and a long journey home for a final day off. The rain had held off and today’s 5 brought the total to 206, with 8 to go. But the weather forecast doesn’t look good…

Photos: 1. Ennerdale Water, Pillar and Steeple from the summit of Grike, where 2. Mike and Philip pose for the camera; 3. Lonely Caw Fell with Red Pike (Buttermere) behind; 4. Lank Rigg, included because I wouldn't be surprised if no-one has bothered to take a photo of it before.