Snowy Fellbarrow & Low Fell - Hunting for Whin Fell

Its been a while since my last blog, one or two things got in the way and by the time things had returned to normal I was out of the habit of posting! As the months rolled by I vowed to resume 'normal' posting as a New Year resolution; ok I know its a bit late but its still January and 2015!!

The forecast for today was for a 90% chance of cloud free summits and upland gales - in one hand it was perfect but in the other the fun would be taken away. The first thing that hit me when I started scraping the ice off the windscreen wasn't the expected gale, in fact it was still? And as I headed up the road everything was shrouded in cloud - I've always been told if there is no wind then the clouds will build up (this may well be inaccurate?). I'd set off with a loose plan of either Grasmoor or Red Pike (Buttermere) but as the signs for Lorton approached it was obvious I wouldn't get a view - even Low Fell & Fellbarrow where in cloud. As the lowest hills these would be the first to clear and the Synge top of Whin Fell was still on my to-do list, the car was quickly parked in the ample space next to the telephone box & bottle banks.

Whin Rigg is awkwardly situated at the end of the Low Fell - Fellbarrow ridge, the easiest approach seemed to be over the fell road (this was a regular bike route from home when I was about 17!)...

Grike to Lank Rigg - An Isle of Man viewpoint

These unfortunately are among my least favourite Lakeland Fells, down there with Dodd. I know the saying goes there is no such thing as a dull hill just dull people. If it is true them I must be pretty dull on these uninspiring hills. I may be wrong because Lank Rigg had a large party of walkers sat eating there lunch around the trig & summit cairn, no treasure hunting or photos of the top today!

Highlight of the day, the Isle of Man across the Irish Sea, today was one of those 1 in 50 when you can see it. Unfortunately the camera (or operator?) had a bad day and half my photos where out of focus & blurry!

The gate at the felled Forest Commision Heckbarley plantation...

First snow on the Ennerdale - Buttermere watershed

A walk along the Ennerdale-Buttermere watershed, with a poor forecast it was originally intended to be a crossing of Great Borne & Starling Dodd. As the cloud lifted suddenly from Red Pike it seemed a shame not to include it, from there it would be rude not to include High Stile & High Crag. A flurry of snow greeted us on the summit of High Crag, the first of the season but overall better weather than forecast. As always the six mile trudge along the forestry road back to Bowness Knott car park seemed longer than it was.

The start of climb up Bowness Knott...

Blake Fell - Birket bashing

Around Blake Fell I had four remaining Birkett tops, Kelton Fell & Godworth are pretty easy bags from the road. The awkward two being High Hows & Owsen Fell, which would also be an easy bag from Lamplugh Church if it was not on private land. These two are a trespass, a quick look at  the www.hill-bagging.co.uk entry for High Hows with words like trespass, walkers keep out, objectionable, foul-mouthed, aggressive & expletives; should be warning enough. This was the first walk of September & other than the sneaking an enjoyable walk on familar ground..

The track from the road up Kelton Fell...

Honister Crag before the via ferrata

Way back in the late 80s & early 90s I dabbled in various other outdoor related sports, notably for this report caving being another of them. Unfortunaetly the Lakes sadly lacks natural caves so the nearest thing is those created by the hands of man & dynamite.

One of the areas largest slate workings are found on Dale Head (Yew Crag) & on Fleetwith Pike (Honister Crag). In fact Fleetwith is penetrated by many levels, these being connected by two internal inclines (known as the Honister (old) & the Kimberley (new) Incline). Where the mine levels on the Honister incline exit into daylight onto Honister crag they are also linked by several external inclines that cuts a diagonal tract across the face of the crag. These are known as the Bull Gill Incline, Nag Beck Incline & the Ash Beck Incline. Access to these inclines was via a road way (called the Monkey Shelf) where they could be used to climb Honister Crag exiting not too far from the summit of Fleetwith Pike. The only place where the incline could not be followed was where it crossed Bull Gill (the bridge had collapsed) but by going underground and climbing the old incline where you could exit back onto the external incline.

Nowadays Honister Crag & incline is now a via ferrata & run as a tourist attraction. The pictures are scanned from old photos, so please excuse the quality.

The upper terminal pier of the aerial ropeway at the foot of the Bull Gill incline...