Any way times haven’t changed and after finding that the last car park we used along Easedale Road is now houses or flats we ended up in a pay and display car park back in Grasmere and much poorer for the trouble!
Walking along Easdale road we passed a large group of tourists that looked and sounded like Americans, we did wonder where they were going to. Leaving the road we started to walk along a very cobbly path that was hard work on the ankles before turning into a much nicer path that followed the river.
Scrambling is something that the three of us love doing and Sour Milk Gill is probably one of the most famous Grade 1 scrambles in the Lake District. I suppose the idea of scrambling in Gills or Ghylls is to keep as close to the water as possible while ascending the Gill or Ghyll. This is one of the reasons that I have been saving this walk for a dry spell. Obviously the main reason for today’s walk was to “bag” a few more summits but it is always better to do so by an “entertaining” route if possible (in my opinion!) so I was hoping for some big things from Sour Milk Gill.
Right then, Sour Milk Gill. Walking along the river bed before any falls we hopped from boulder to boulder from one side of the river the other until we came across an old fallen tree, wide enough to walk up, challenge number 1 ! John went straight across, Sarah followed in a more “where do I go now” sort of way and I of course froze ! It must have taken me 10 minutes to get along it, I ummed and arghed, left foot first then back to try right foot first, what a wimp! The thought of a 2 foot drop into 6 inches of water obviously freaked me out! With the thoughts of John and Sarah not ever, ever coming walking with a wimp like me again , ever, ever, ever, running through my mind I eventually made it across, see I told you it was easy !
Once I had regained my composure and street cred we began to use rock instead of wood to make progress, much better ! A series of waterfalls made for interesting progress upwards. Nothing was difficult and if anything it was a bit too easy for our liking, just not steep enough! A rock slab at last made for something interesting, the dark damp patches were slippy so once we had figured that out (it wasn’t rocket science !) even the slabs were easy.
At last we came to something more taxing. A small pool before a waterfall, getting across the pool looked difficult, well if you wanted to keep your feet dry that is! The only possible challenging route lay to the left through the overhanging branches of a large Juniper bush, have you ever noticed how scratchy Juniper is when you try to climb through it ? Most people would answer No! We had to find out the hard way though as John found a route involving two branches to hold onto and one slightly submerged rock as a foot hold that led onto the rock by the side of the waterfall, ouch! I think this section was the most fun though, even if the tourists walking along the proper path just a few feet away looked on in quizzical amusement at our antics !
Once safely past this obstacle and with Sarah joining back up with us after a more dignified ascent away from the waterfall, apparently she didn’t fancy having huge scratch marks along her legs for some reason!, we stopped for a drink and contemplated what we had done and what lay ahead. This didn’t take too long so John looked around and saw a convenient rock face next to us, I was still quite happily thinking away about Sour Milk Gill while John went straight upwards by way of having something more chalanging to think about, that’s John for you!
Not far past this point we came to a small waterfall that, at last, had some vertical fun by the side of it! It was probably only 15 feet high but the hand and foot folds were excellent and for the first time today I felt like I was doing some proper scrambling. John followed me straight up and after a quick look see Sarah decided to take a more sedate route around the vertical bit. This is the joy of scrambling, it can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be, route choice is up to the individual, anything that you consider to be too difficult can be bypassed or you can (normally) retrace your steps and find a more suitable route.
All that was now left of Sour Milk Gill was a few pools and boulders that needed navigating over, fun but too easy really. As we reached the end of the Gill we came out onto a rather boggy flat area with a view of Tran Crag ahead. Once we regained the path that follows the side of Sour Milk Gill we made quick time up to Easdale Tarn. Now that we were walking again instead of taking our time scrambling we began to appreciate how warm it was. It was one of those hot humid days that sweat just seems to appear from your pores and to be honest I was finding the walking to be hard work, I find it quite a change going from a relatively easy pace of scrambling to the “lets get there now” pace of walking!
It was a nice path up to Easedale Tarn and once we reached the Tarn a welcoming breeze helped cool us down. Easdale Tarn was busy, the crowds of American tourists had come up here, people were swimming and paddling in the Tarn, it was as busy as Tarn Hows! Once we found a quieter spot along the path it was time for us to sit down and have a second lunch break while we contemplated the way forwards for us today now that Sour Milk Gill was finished and we had to get down to some peak bagging! Across Easedale Tarn, Tarn Crag was a must do today one, to our left as we sat facing the Tarn, Blea Rigg was another must do one and as my eyes looked over the map Sergeant Man and High Raise seemed likely, or am I just greedy ?
For the first time that I can remember on these walks I was tempted to just stay here and enjoy the scenery and not bother with getting to any tops, it would have been nice just to sit there and enjoy the weather and then have a gentle stroll back to the car and go to the pub, what was I thinking, back to planning a route!
The only problem with what I was proposing was a lack of an obvious route up Tarn Crag from here, that sort of made our mind up then, Blea Rigg first and then we would think again. With the decision made we carried on along the path until we came to a faint path heading up to the left towards the Blea Rigg ridge. At first this was easy at it made its way gradually towards the sky line amongst the bracken but it soon began to get steeper and harder as the path neared Blea Crag.
We did stop for one more drink break under Blea Crag as well as a few breath stops for me! At least it gave me the opportunity to take a few photos looking back down to Easdale Tarn and the higher we got the better Tarn Crag began to look.
Once we gained the ridge a welcoming breeze met us, it had been warm work getting up here and the breeze was very welcome for a few minutes, it then began to be too much and felt rather chilly, some people are never happy!
We took a bit of time to see if we could see the summit of Blea Rigg but all that was visible was the broad ridge that led upwards. Feeling the chill we did not hang around too long before setting off along the path that wound its way up and around various rocky sections, never being too obvious about where it led, just heading up along the ridge. I have to say it was a very nice place to be, never knowing what was around the next corner. Looking at the maps of Blea Rigg it always troubled me that it was one of those Wainwright’s that was a high point on a ridge and not a definite summit if you know what I mean. I took great care at making sure I was looking around constantly for signs of a cairn or something to mark the “top”, I am glad that it was not misty as when we did see a cairn it was slightly off the path, or paths by this time as there seemed to be multiple options of making your way along the ridge here!
As we sat there at the top of Blea Rigg I checked the map and chatted about the possibilities of the walk. Tarn Crag was still a must and Sergeant Man was visible at the head of the Blea Rigg ridge ahead with High Raise hidden behind. We chatted about it and decided that we should just head across to Codale Tarn and then on to Tarn Crag, I cant really remember why now but I seem to think that a lack of water coupled with a sense of why ????? made us opt for the easy option. We had enjoyed the scramble but it had taken lots of energy out of us, me in particular so Tarn Crag was next and Sergeant Man was to be left for another day. One of the things that might have pushed us in that direction was the thought of another climb up Jacks Rake on Pavey Ark on the way to Sergeant Man, we are so predictable some times!
One great thing about Blea Rigg that I haven’t mentioned is the view towards the Langdale Pikes and Pavey Ark in particular, it was really interesting to see it from a different angle and not the head on aspect. Here looking from the side you get a great view of Jacks Rake and it is surprising how much of a slant the rock face is and not the vertical wall of rock that you feel you are climbing when actually on the Rake itself.
Anyway, we turned our backs on the Langdales and at a low point on the ridge we headed back down towards Codale Tarn. Why we did not carry on along the path to join the path that led up from the Tarn towards Sergeant Man I don’t know. We just turned right and picked our way slowly down the steep grassy slopes on a bee line for the Tarn. At least this way we had a great view of both Codale Tarn and Easdale Tarn, I always find it fascinating to see water at different levels at the same time, a character defect on my part that I am working on!
We eventually picked up the path and headed down towards Belles Knott. Just in front of Belles Knott (or behind it if we had come from Easdale Tarn ) we turned left and followed the path up and around to Codale Tarn. Following the path around the Tarn we could see Tarn Crag ahead.
From here it looked totally different to what it looked like from Easdale Tarn, another hard to spot the highest part again sort of thing! As we climbed away from Codale Tarn the tops became hidden from view for a while and then as we reached a crest we saw three distinct tops, right then which one was the highest, I sometimes hate guessing games! The main clue was a faint path that led towards the central high bit, no choice then but to follow it and see for ourselves.
Fair enough a nice little cairn awaited our arrival and Tarn Crag was ticked off the list. As we sat there enjoying the view the wind picked up and stated to get really chilly and then the most unwelcome feeling of rain drops falling on our heads joined in the party, great. That was that and we headed downwards at a much quicker pace than we had moved all day! At first we walked on a path but this started to head down into Far Easdale, not where we wanted to go, so we stated to follow various sheep tracks that led in the general direction of the outflow of Easdale Tarn.
Of course this made for uncomfortable walking as we made our own route up yet again! Steep slopes of grass with loads of boulders to trip you up, waist high bracken to wade through, and then a large expanse of boggy area between the outflow of the Tarn and the head of Sour Milk Gill. It was slow going but at least the rain shower had passed us by. That was good because it was too hot for waterproofs, it had been one of those weird days that started off warm and humid, got chilly when we crested the ridge of Blea Crag, then turned even colder and started to rain before drying up and getting warm again, how are you supposed to figure out what to wear!
Along the path back to Grasmere John and Sarah chatted away while I had one of my quiet moments, I think I was missing Sam! I had purposely left him at home so that we could do some scrambling, but now on the way back it did not feel the same, nothing dragging me towards the nearest sheep, stretching my arm and generally getting in the way, eating every scrap of food that was in sight, chasing after walkers or taking the wrong turn in a path! Yup it wasn’t the same and I did miss him, even though John and Sarah didn’t seem to notice he wasn’t with us!
So that was that. Another walk, an interesting if not brilliant scramble, 2 more summits that so easily could have been more, but all in all a great day out.
