England - Lake District - Yewbarrow Cabin Boy's Nemesis

Walk Summary

A Lakeland classic including (debatably) the hardest Wainwright, Yewbarrow. Wonderful views down on to Wast Water and across the Mosedale valley. Excitement continues around to Black Crag and Scoat Fell. Picturesque valley descent back to Wast Water

Date: 07/12/2022

Length: 8.86 miles

Height Gain: 982 m

Terrain: Stone paths, stone steps, grass paths, boggy fell, boulder fields, trackless fell. The ascent up Yewbarrow's south side includes some easy hands-on scrambling. There is little feeling of exposure until reaching the ridge path at Great Door, where there is quite a steep drop down to Wast Water. Some more easy hands-on scrambling on the ridge path leading to Yewbarrow's summit. The path descending down Yewbarrow's flank is steep and narrow in places but there is no great feeling of exposure.

Navigation: Map/compass and gps required. The route up Yewbarrow's south side is well worn. It is important to pick up the correct path descending Yewbarrows west flank to Dore Head (see map instructions). The path from Dore Head to Scoat Fell (over Red Pike) can be sketchy in places, but the huge drop down into the Mosedale valley, is an obvious navigational handrail.

Start: Overbeck Bridge Carpark

Route: Overbeck Bridge Carpark, Yewbarrow, Dore Head, Red Pike, Black Crag, Scoat Fell, Col Between Scoat Fell And Haycock, Nether Beck Valley To Wast Water

Map: OL4 The English Lakes North Western Area

Weather: Blue skies, sun, icy.

Walkers: Nun, The Cabin Boy and Captain Mo

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Yewbarrow From The South. The Path Goes Between Dorking Crag (Left) and Bell Rib (Right)

Captain's Log

The Cabin Boy's Nemesis

I'm not a big fan of night driving, especially when it's on unfamiliar roads, involving awful bends, blind summits and single track. My car thermometer showed the external temperature to hover around -4 degrees C, throwing potential black ice into the mix too. By the time we reached the Overbeck Bridge carpark, at the side of Wast Water, my nerves were so fraught that the Cabin Boy and Captain Mo had to prise my fingers from the steering wheel. Not a good start to what was going to be a very long day.

The Cabin Boy had not been looking forward to this walk for a long time. When we started the Wainwright campaign, I'd warned her that the only hill that might cause her an issue was Yewbarrow since it involved a little bit of scrambling. The Cabin Boy is not fond of heights, and any terrain that requires the use of hands on a walk, usually results in a panic attack. Yewbarrow is shaped like an upside down rowing boat and is usually tackled by climbing the bow, between Dropping Crag and Bell Rib, and descending by the stern, Stirrup Crag. The sides are quite steep and craggy too, but there is one other track, that leads down its west flank. According to Wainwright, this is supposed to be the safest route off Yewbarrow. I'd traversed Yewbarrow three times before (that I can remember), and my recollection was that the ascent near Dropping Crag was reasonably straightforward, and the descent by Stirrup Crag was slightly more difficult. Given what the Cabin Boy had already climbed on the Wainwright's list, I thought the Dropping Crag route was within her capabilities, and we'd descend using the easier track down the flank of Yewbarrow, rather than use the Stirrup Crag route.

Yewbarrow

I'd only been getting monosyllabic responses from the Cabin Boy since breakfast and so the team felt rather cheerless as we set off towards Yewbarrow. The path followed a stone wall up to the bottom of Yewbarrow's southern crags. I must admit, Yewbarrow does look imposing from this angle. Dorking Crag on the left, and Bell Rib on the right, look unassailable from below, and indeed they are to mere walkers. There is an easier line that goes between them, and this is where the walker's path goes. In the early stages of the route, there are even some stone steps to help the walker on the way. After the steps there are some rocky stages that do require a bit of hands-on scrambling, but there is nothing of any difficulty and very little exposure. We took it steady and the Cabin Boy seemed to be doing okay, although she was unusually quiet. The sun was now up and it illuminated Middle Fell and Seatallon in a wonderful orange. The piece de resistance of the route is when the ascent track reaches the main ridge of Yewbarrow, at a point know as Great Door. Normally, you pop your head above the ridge and see a steep drop down to Wast Water on the other side. On this occasion, we had climbed in Yewbarrow's shadow and as soon as I put my head above the parapet, I was temporarily blinded by the sun.

Wast Water From Yewbarrow's South Route

The Cabin Boy came up and it was clear that she was not happy with the Great Door location, and so I pressed on. There was a little more scrambling as we made our way along the ridge and then it eventually broadened out. It wasn't long before we reached the summit cairn and we had a wonderful all round view of the Wasdale peaks. The Cabin Boy still looked rather miserable, even when I said that she had conquered her 'problem' peak. 'We've still got to get down,' she responded.

Top Of Bell Rib Near Great Door

I found the start of the path down the flank of Yewbarrow and we began our descent. It was certainly easier than the north and south routes and didn't require any scrambling. Even so, it wasn't a great track, being rather narrow and having a steep drop to the side in places. It also occasionally went over boulder fields making it awkward. There were also a few patches of ice making it slippery. Initially I thought it might take us straight down into the valley, but instead it made a gradual descent, under Yewbarrow's rock band towards Dore Head. When we finally reached the end of the track, I thought the Cabin Boy and Captain Mo might be in a celebratory mood now that Yewbarrow had now been conquered, both in ascent and descent, but the troops were in an uneasy, sombre mood. Even the tremendous view from Dore Head, down into the Mosedale Valley, didn't lift their mood. We wandered off to some nearby rocks and sat down for a break. I looked up at Stirrup Crag on Yewbarrow's northern route, and was very glad that I'd not attempted to bring them down that way.

Kirk Fell From Dore Head

Red Pike Summit

Red Pike

Compared to Yewbarrow, Red Pike was a simple plod to the summit. The west side of the hill is quite tame, whereas the east side has fearsome drops down into the Mosedale valley. It had turned out to be a beautiful day with blue skies and sun. There was a bitterly cold northerly though, and as we approached the summit it felt quite wintery. We saw a lone walker making his way up to the summit from the direction of Scoat Tarn to the west. This was the first walker we had seen all day. On Black Crag's top, another walker popped his head up from the other side. A dog's head quickly followed. He'd come over Pillar from the Black Sail Hut and was intending going back over Steeple. I wished him well on the rest of his walk. We stopped to have our lunch. The walk over Red Pike hadn't improved The Cabin Boy and Captain Mo's mood. My intention had been to do Pillar today as well, but time had pressed on and it wasn't going to be possible. I'd promised the troops Pillar as a Wainwright tick for this walk and I felt a bit guilty that I now recommended that we missed it out. Even after avoiding Pillar, I calculated that we'd still be doing the last part of the walk in the dark. There were no complaints though, and head we started heading over to Scoat Fell and Steeple.

Scoat Fell And Steeple

The approach track to Steeple was over a boulder field and this was covered in snow making progress a little treacherous. The approach had also given us a view of the east face of Steeple, with the snowy frost making it look much more intimidating than it normally is. As we made our way around to the ridge, I could see from the Cabin Boy's face that Steeple wouldn't be on today's itinerary. We went to have closer look, but it was obvious that the icy path and crosswind had made it a tricky proposition. It had been a long day, over a rough ground, and so I suggested that we'd tackle Steeple on another occasion when the weather was better. There was no argument from the Cabin Boy and Captain Mo, although I detected that they were disappointed that their Wainwright ticks for the day had now been reduced by one more. We wandered over to Scoat Fell's summit cairn and then headed off on the path towards Haycock.

Steeple's East Face

Dusk Approaches As We Descend Down The Long Valley To Wast Water

The Long Valley

At the col between Scoat Fell and Haycock we started down the valley towards Wast Water. The fingerpost at the Wast Water end of the path says Haycock is 3 miles away. It feels a long 3 miles. As we went down the valley, dusk drew in making the atmosphere gloomier. At one point, the Cabin Boy banged her foot and some tears flowed. I'd guess they had more to do with the trials and tribulations of Yewbarrow, and the avoidance of Pillar and Steeple, than it had to do with a pain in the foot. I explained that Pillar and Steeple would be easy ascents in better conditions, but I reckon that these two are now her new 'Yewbarrow'. One step forward, and two steps back, in her view.

By the time we reached the road it was dark. As we walked back along the road to the carpark a full moon slowly moved from the top of Great Gable to the top of Lingmell at the head of the Wasdale Valley. A line of moonlight shimmered in Wast Water. What an amazing sight.

In some ways the day had been perfect: blue skies, sun and some of the best views in the Lake District. In other ways it had been disappointing: the unhappiness of the Cabin Boy and Captain Mo, and two Wainwright misses. It was a shame. The worst thing was of course, I'd got another 90 minutes of nerve wracking night driving still ahead.

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