England - Lake District - Great How Things Work Out

Walk Summary

Starts in the spectacular mountain amphitheatre of Wasdale Head. Heads off towards the remote Burnmoor Tarn. Trackless fell walking to the summit of Great How. A wander along Scafell's western flank. Good views over Wast Water.

Date: 30/10/2022

Length: 8.86 miles

Height Gain: 601 m

Terrain: Rocky paths. stone paths, grass paths, very boggy paths, trackless fell, lightly used road

Navigation: Map/compass and gps required. A lot of the walk is over trackless fell.

Start: Wasdale Head Car Park

Route: Wasdale Head Car Park, Wasdale National Trust Campsite, Oliver Gill, Great How, Kettle Cove, Hard Rigg, Wasdale National Trust Campsite

Map: OL6 The English Lakes SouthWestern Area

Weather: Mostly rainy and misty. Grey in the morning.

Walkers: Nun

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Wasdale Inn (Kirk Fell Behind)

Captain's Log

South Tyne Striders

'Do you know how I get on to the path to Scafell Pike?' I was bent over lacing up my boots and had to straighten up to face my inquisitor. The question came from a middle-aged man who was with his partner. I'd parked on the common ground at Wasdale Head. It isn't often I do walks from here and so I told him I'd have to look on my map. I got my north western Lakes map out, and then realised this location must be on the other side of the map. Due to the strong wind, I spent five minutes struggling to fold my map backwards so I could easily look at the back. I then realised it was the wrong map and that I really needed the south western Lakes map. As I burrowed into my rucksack to get this map out, I caught a glimpse of the couple exchanging glances as if to ask why they'd asked for help from this Klutz. I finally located Wasdale Head on the map and after a brief review I told them they had to walk a short distance down the road to get on to the path. After successfully resolving their question, we chatted for a while. The couple were from South Tyneside and were over here on a short break. I told them that I'd walked the coast along from Sout Tyneside to Sunderland. I said that it was a lovely bit of coast with the highlights being Souter Lighthouse and Marsden Rock. The man said that because of the familiarity of it being on their doorstep they probably don't appreciate it as much as visitors. I wished them a nice walk and they headed off in the direction I'd pointed out.

Streams

My mission for the day was to tick two Wainwrights, Scafell and Slight Side. I set off on a path that went from Wasdale Head to the National Trust campsite on the east end of Wast Water. As I walked along it, I had vague recollections of following this path from decades ago. I'd been camping with Shirko on the National Trust campsite and in the evening, we'd walked along the road to the Wasdale Inn for a meal and some beers. Once we were kicked out of the pub, we made our way back to the campsite along this particular path. I remembered that it turned into a typical Shirko epic in that there are a couple of points where a stream had to be crossed. There had been plenty of rain during the day and the streams had turned into fast flowing torrents. We got back to our tent in rather a damp state. Fortunately the streams weren't too bad today and I was able to cross them without too much difficulty. As it turns out, being a National Trust member, I'd have been better parking at the National Trust car park, next to the campsite, and I'd have avoided this watery start.

Stream Hopping

Wast Water

Oliver Gill

I then forgot to cross the bridge near the campsite and started making my way up the wrong side of the Lingmell stream. I soon realised my mistake and started retracing my steps back down to the bridge. A young couple who had been walking behind me, then stopped and started following me. I took a wild guess that they were wanting to go up to Scafell Pike, rather than my intended route, and confessed to them that they were on the right path, and I was on the wrong one. It was a relief to get on to the path to Burnmoor Tarn, since this was more familiar ground. I soon diverted off the path and on to a track that contoured along the hill to Oliver Gill. The gill was on the left side of the crags below Great How and I could see that a lot of water was tumbling down. The weather had been gradually getting worse and it wasn't long before I'd put on every piece of waterproof kit. There was plenty of water gushing down the stream from Hardrigg Gill and I had to carry out a leap of faith to get across. I made a slow climb up the side of Oliver Gill. By the time the terrain had flattened out, mist had descended, and I was being battered by driving rain. Another 500 metre ascent to the top of Scafell didn't seem so attractive. I had a look at the map to see if I could come up with a Plan B. I decided that the nearby summit of Great How might be a better objective. I took a bearing and started heading across some boggy ground towards it. My feet were now squelching in my boots. There was a cairn on the top of Great How, but only grey mist for a view. I thought about extending my walk southwards to Eel Tarn but it would have involved walking straight into the horizontal rain. My heart just wasn't in it. Instead I decided to contour around the western flank of Scafell to pick up the path at Kettle Cove. The advantage to this plans was that I wouldn't have to carry out another leap of faith at Hardrigg Gill.

Kettle Cove

I set a bearing and squelched off across the ominously sounding Quagrigg Moss. I was so wet now, that I didn't really care what I was walking through. At Kettle Cove I stopped for a soggy lunch. As I sat on a rock and contemplated what it would be like to be dry, the mist briefly parted, and I got a brief view down to Burnmoor Tarn. No sooner had I seen it, then it was lost again in thick mist. I eventually found the path that comes down from the summit of Scafell, although it was more of a boggy stream than a path. The path leads down to Burnmoor tarn. This would take me out of my way and so I took a bearing to get me down to the Wasdale valley. After a while I dropped out of the mist and felt the usual relief to be roughly in the location that I thought I should be in. My boots got another soaking making my way across more bog to the path leading to Wasdale. At least it had stopped raining now.

Burnmoor Tarn

Wasdale Head

Back at the National Trust campsite, I couldn't face recrossing the streams to get back to Wasdale Head, and so I decided to use the road instead. The tops of Kirk Fell and Great Gable were free of mist. Now that the weather had cleared up, I felt a tinge of regret that I'd not attempted Slight Side and Scafell. Those Wainwrights would have to wait for another day. I wasn't looking forward to crossing that boggy terrain again on a subsequent attempt. I noticed that the car of the South Tyneside couple had gone. I wondered whether they had got to the top of Scafell Pike, or whether they'd also implemented a Plan B due to the conditions. Given my performance at giving them instructions this morning, they probably have ended up climbing Pillar instead.

Wasdale Inn

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