Lake District Walks
Caldbeck Fells
Date: 5th February 2007
Distance: 10.9 miles
Ascent: 2580 feet
Time: 4 hours 45 minutes
With: On my own
Start Grid Ref: NY359316
Walk Summary:
A summit bagging expedition into the Caldbeck Fells on a cold clear day visiting Carrock Fell and High Pike amongst others.
Route Summary: Bowscale - Mosedale - White Crags - Carrock Fell - Miton Hill - High Pike - Hare Stones - Great Lingy Hill - Miller How - Knott - Coomb Height - Swineside - Mosedale - Bowscale
Pictures:
1. Looking along Mosedale towards Tarn Crags
2. The cloud inversion below Cross Fell
3. The North Pennine skyline from Carrock Fell
4. High Pike
5. Knott
6. The top of Carrock Fell
7. On High Pike with Carrock Fell behind me
8. The bench, cairn and trigpoint on High Pike
9. Brae Fell
10. The top of Knott looking to Carrock Fell
11. Hare Stones
12. Mosedale from Coomb Height
13. Hare Stones
14. Mosedale
15. The River Caldew and a distant Skiddaw Little Man
16. A wild pony in Mosedale
Walk Detail: The forecast was good but when I hit bad fog on the A66 I feared the worst. When I then got stuck in a long tail back I began to think the day was going against me. However there was a great moment when I crossed the M6 at Penrith and suddenly the car emerged from the thick fog into a glorious sunny day.
I managed to drive up to Mosedale without any problem though I parked a bit short of the village itself at Bowscale thus adding half a mile on to the days walking. This did not help my bladder because as it had taken three hours to get there I was once again at bursting point. Unfortunately there was no where to go so without much ado I headed up the steep fellside before finally taking relief about 200 metres above the village.
The climb up Carrock Fell was steep and there were numerous little trails and paths. Thankfully though I managed, with only one small brief error, to make it up to the top without any real problems. It was a red blooded climb but a good one and the top of Carrock Fell was certainly worthy of the effort and though I had read about it I was still surprised by how rocky it was.
Overall it was a better viewpoint for the Pennines than the Lakes and unfortunately it was at this time that my trusty old camera began to pack in for the second walk in a row. All I can assume is that when it fell over on the tripod the previous week on Harter Fell it has done some more damage.
The route from Carrock Fell to High Pike was made easier by the colder weather which had frozen some of the boggier ground in between the two fells. High Pike is much broader and grassier than Carrock Fell but it too had an unusual summit thanks to the trio of a nice stone trig point, cairn and memorial seat. As the cairn was also a shelter I sat and ate my lunch here before setting out for Hare Stones.
By this time I had just about given up on my camera and was using the camcorder, which I fortuitously had also packed, to take pictures. Hare Stones was a fairly innocuous bump from this approach and Great Lingy Fell was not much better though at least it had a better cairn. More impressive and distinct was Miller How and it is a shame it has now been judged to fall short of the 2000ft mark.
From Miller How the plan had been to contour round the flanks of Knott on to its eastern ridge and then return via Coomb Height. However, as I was so close, I decided to visit Knott again as that had been the summit I had not had a view from when I had stayed in Uldale. While the flanks of Knott are mainly heather the top is almost like a grass lawn and the view, though lacking depth, was as good as I had hoped it would be.
The long return along Coomb Height was very good though the top itself was as expected a bit of a let down. It did however give a better view of Miller How, Great Lingy Hill and Hare Stones so that they did at least look like separate tops. The highlight of the descent though was undoubtedly the view of Mosedale which was quite outstanding. The view into Skiddaw Forest with the Caldew in the valley was also of high quality.
The final walk along Mosedale was quite pleasant and ended with the surprising sight of ponies grazing on the fellside just outside the hamlet. This was a fantastic walk on a fine clear day.
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