| Holme Fell revisited |
| Holme Fell (4.30 FRCC 241) |
Wainwright No1 . |
Weather :- Very hazy and overcast to start but warm. Breezy along the scramble and then very warm and improving visibility. Accompanied by :- John and Mike M. Total Distance 4.28 Miles, total height ascended 1291 Feet,
time taken 3 Hours 45 minutes by the GPS,
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| Typical isn't it. The longest days of the year, the best
weather of the year, all perfect for walking in the Lake District and guess
what? Sarah was unable to join us for a while as she had a lot of
commitments elsewhere at the moment, nights out, holidays, Santa Pod etc (I
really enjoyed the night out in Wigan!) John, Mike and myself had
all had rather a bad time at work over the last few weeks so we needed
to get out and about again. We did not want to do any Wainwright peaks
without Sarah and I did not want to do a long walk due to my foot problems.
I had spent an enjoyable day out with the family by Yewdale Beck under
the shadow of Raven Crag a few weeks ago, we had a picknic, the kids played
in one of the pools and little Matthew, aged 5, started to climb up the
small rock outcrops (start them young I say!) It was a nice relaxing day
out but I must admit that my eyes kept wandering upwards to Raven Crag.
As Mike had not been here before it was the ideal oportunity to let him "bag" Holme
Fell whilst giving us the chance to climb up Raven Crag again after our
last failed attempt. This combined with a scramble up Tiberthwaite Gill
would be just the sort of thing we needed, so that was the plan, scramble
up Raven Crag and make our way up to Holme Fell. Down to Hodge Close quarrys,
across to Tilberthwaite and finnish the day with a scramble up Tilberthwaite
Gill, with that in mind we parked at High Tilberthwaite (have
I mentioned plans before!) The only problem with this was the fact that I had been
invited to dinner at my parents (never something to
turn down, there is just something irresistable about Mum's cooking!) and a late start meant
that we would not have as much time as I thought. Leaving the car at High Tilberthwaite we made our way back down the road with the intention of crossing the river and making our way along the road on the other side to a point directley below Raven Crag. I showed Mike the place where we had had the family picknic, away from the road with a large pool and a flat area of grass, ideal to sit and watch the kids at play. The GPS track log does show this slight detour (I am beginning to get to grips with the GPS now!) for some reason we desided not to cross the river here and got back onto the road again. As we walked along the road it started to gain height above the river, making it very difficult to get down and across it! Carrying on until we passed a cattle grid and then a gate into a field we had still not seen another way across the river. At this point we decided that instead of carrying on along the road we would turn back and make our way down to the river from the gate. Again the GPS tracklog shows this (You can't hide any mistakes with the GPS!)What followed can only be described as farsical, after entering the field we were confronted with a barbed wire fence that took us quite a while to get across! Once over the fence we followed the tree line to where there was a way down to the river. This was very slippy but great fun! Once in the river bed we then spent a while trying to find a way across the river whilst keepimg our feet dry. Eventually sucedding we climbed out of the river bed to be confronted with shoulder high bracken blocking our way to the road! Walking in bracken is interesting as you can't see where you are placing your feet, I even managed to walk into a fence pole that was 4 feet tall! As the bracken was about 5 feet tall the first thing I knew about it was a sudden pain between my legs! (that's navigation fot you !) As expected John and Mike thought that this was hillarious! |
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| Raven Crag | Looking up from the foot of the crag |
| Somehow overcoming the bracken and the wall along side the road, we found ourselves on the road. Turning left we made our way just past the highest point of the road. Past this point the wall that follows the road disappeared and a small path made its way to a stile over a fence. This was the stile that we had been unable to find on our previous attempt at Raven Crag. I am not surprised that we missed this last time as it was only a few feet in front of us before we saw it! Passing the stile we quickley made our way up a path and then as if out of nowhere the foot of Raven Crag appeared out from the trees. This was it! With all that rock in front of us it was a case of choose your own route up. | |
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| Looking down from the end of the first pitch | Two happy walkers! |
| Somehow we managed to choose different routes up the first section. I could see John and Mike somewhere out to my right make very good time whilst I seemed to have chosen a route that caused me problems from the start! I was faced with a few awkward sections that made me stop and think about what to do whilst the other two seemed to effortlessley climb higher than me. I took my time and made the effort , not wanting to admit defeat so early in the day and retrace my steps! I must admit that this caused me a few ancious moments and a lot of sweat (but isn't that what scrambling is supposed to be about!) I eventually caught up to them and we stopped for a breather, it was very warm and I think we were all sweating a bit by now, John and Mike from the weather and me from the route I choose as well as the weather! | |
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| Mike getting to grips with Raven Crag | And higher up |
| Now that we were well above the trees the views really started to open up. This is one of the things that I love about the Lake District, with a small amount of effort you can soon achieve a sense of exhileration by being above your surroundings, a great sense of height above a valley floor makes you forget all the everyday worrys and gives a sense of achievment. It really is getting away from it all! After a bit more scrambling along much better rock we came out onto a grassy platform and turned round to admire the view. | |
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| Sheep being driven down off the Yewdale Fells | John and Mike sheep watching |
| Looking over to the Coniston Fells we noticed a rather strange sight. Sheep are everywhere in the Lake District, usually left to their own devices to eat whatever they can find, make tracks that can confuse walkers in mist and leave conterfit Maltesers for unwary children! (a favourite trick of John's is to gather up a handfull of dried sheep droppings and offer them to people as Maltesers, Yuck!!!) Today we could see an unusual sight. A herd or flock of sheep were been driven off the fells and down into the fields. This made for an unusual sight and we spent quite a while watching them, after all we did have grandstand seats! | |
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| The only way is up! | Looking up the valley to Tilberthwaite |
| I soon got bored with this and started to make my way further up, I thouhgt that John and Mike were following me but I was mistaken. They had obviousley decided that sheep watching was fun and stayed a while longer to admire the sight! I took the time to wander around and take a few photo's. | |
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| The sheep arrive at their new home! | Ivy Crag |
| After wandering around and admiring the view up the valley to Tilberthwaite and across to Ivy Crag, taking a few photo's the others reluctentley decided to climb up to meet me. This was a bit of a false start as the sheep had arrived at their new home and John and Mike stopped to watch and discuss the reasons for the move. It was decided that the sheep had been brought down to be sheared (a nice haircut in John's words!) | |
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| Still sheep watching | Time to move on |
| We had now reached the point that we could easily bypass any rock that was in front of us and take a leisurley walk upwards. That is not what scrambling is about so we tried to choose the most difficult route up that we could! Again we stopped to look back at the odd sheep that had become seperated from the main flock and where following on behind. It was quite comical to watch as these stragglers tried to find their way through the now barred gate to the field that had been used. | |
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| An interesting choice in route | Mike's choice was fun! |
| Now that all the sheep watching was over it was time for them to catch me up, watching from above made for some interesting views, it looked quite exiting scrambling up the rock! And to think I was doing the same thing not long ago, wow! Looking over John and Mike I could see acouple trying to find their way the rock, way down where we had first rested. I did not see them again so I can only presume that they turned back. | |
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| A rare photo of the author | Coniston |
| Once the rock started to ease in gradient we came out onto the summit plateau. I posed for a rare photo taken by John overlooking Coniston. I took a photo of John and Sarah here on our last visit, I must say that I did a better job than John did, he's somehow manged to make me look like rather large! (must have taken it in widescreen or something!) | |
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| A view of Coniston from one of the depressions | The summit coming into view |
| We stopped for a coffee break here, contemplating the way ahead across the heather covered summit plateau. When we set off again we had to cross over one or two depressions before we finally made it onto the summit proper. It is an interesting way up to the summit, as you look back down these depressions you do get a great view of Coniston (weather permiting!) Today we could just see the lake, last time up here we couldn't! | |
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| Holme Fell summit | Holme Fell summit cairn |
| Once at the summit proper we took the usual photos and just looked around trying to figure out what the weather was doing! It was one of those strange days, quite windy but very warm, terrible visibility (again!) and poor views. Mike had now completed 25 "Wainwrights" Since he joined us on our quest, John and myself were up to 42 and Sarah 38. This was probably the most fun way up to a summit yet, it was definatley worth the wait since our first attempt to go up Raven Crag on our first recorded summit, scrambling up rock is so much easier than fighting your way through shoulder high bracken! | |
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| Three happy walkers at Holme Fell summit | The Langdale Pikes just visible in the clag |
| Again I was disapointed with the views from here, I have only been here once before and felt that I could actually see something worth seeing! The Coniston Fells and the Langdale Pikes should be seen well, but like last time they were just discernable through the clag. No trip to Home Fell would be complete without a trip down to Hodge Close Quarrys , so off we went! | |
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| Mike contemplating the route ahead | Making our way down to the resevoir |
| Even though the views in the distance were poor the views up close of all the ferns, heather and trees make it worthwhile anyway. Descending towards Hodge Close you wander down into quite an unusual place for the Lake District, all these different forms of vegitation in one place, most unusual! For a change we chose a slightley different route than I have taken before, instead of heading directley for the reservoir we kept on the path that went to the left. | |
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| The old dam wall | Walking along the old dam wall |
| And I am so glad that we did because we soon found an old reservoir that I had never come across before! A carefull study of AW's drawings proved that he had seen it, but for me it was a first! The old dam wall was soon reached and we walked across it, it was huge! One side still had some water behind it but I think that this was the wrong side and the empty marshy boggy sort of place that we walked through to get to the dam wall must have been the reservoir of old. This is the thing about Holme Fell that I love, if you spend the time walking around you will always find something new to explore (I must be a big kid at heart!) Carrying on along a path from the old dam wall we soon found ourseleves back in familiar territory at the old reservoir (the one full of water!) | |
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| Looking back to Holme Fell | John manages to find a baby frog |
| On our way down to the quarrys John managed to find another item of interest to him, a baby frog! John must have incredible eyesight as this frog was no larger than a fingernail. John managed to see it, catch it, and hold it long enough for me to take a photo! I can see a job oportunity for John here, he must be some form of wildlife expert in another life, he always manages to find some animal or insect that takes his eye. Unfortunatley most of the time they are deceased, but you can't have it all! | |
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| Hodge Close quarrys | Young lads swimming after abseiling down |
| Hodge Close. I sometimes run out of words trying to describe the quarrys at Hodge Close. They are the most fantastic playground that exists in the Lake District. There is something for everone here. Today we saw climbers, abseilers, divers, pot holers and motocrass riders all in the same location. As we arrived we saw some young lads abseiling down to the quarry floor from the road side, they then started jumping into the water and swam about. | |
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| Remains of old equipment above the platform | A few divers making their way out of the tunnel |
| We made our way around to the bridge between the two big holes. I use the word bridge loosley as I dont know quite how to describe the area above the two big holes! It was obviousley left for the purpose of quarrying, evidence of the some form of lifting equipment remains directley above the platform. We sat down here and just watched what was happening below us. Soon some divers came out of the small entrance tunnel and made there way down to the water. This seemed like hard work as they had to carry all of their dive equipment down to the waters edge! We sat here, had a drink and something to eat and just watched other people enjoying themselves, it was great! The divers soon started to dive and the young lads still splashed around. | |
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| John and Mike watching the divers | The divers in the water |
| I must admit that it is now near the end of September as I write this account. I have been very lazy in writing about this walk, in fact we have completed another three walks including a full weekend camping, and I have managed to write up all of them before I finish this one! I must thank Andrew Leaney for reminding me that I havent put this account on the web! I soon got bored watching the divers below and decided that it was time to take Mike down to the bottom of the quarry. John seemed quite happy to just sit there and watch what was going on below, he would make his way down later. Mike and myself set off down to the old quarry, walking past the habitations at the head of the quarry. | |
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| One of the cottages at Hodge Close | Looking out from the platform |
| Whilst I have been trying to write up this account (and it has been a long time!) I have met someone who has been diving in Hodge Close. One night whilst watching Poulton Town FC in a pre season friendly I got chatting to the referees wife and another chap. It turns out that the referees wife (8 months pregnant and a southener!) was into climbing, and the other bloke was into diving! Somehow we got chatting and I mentioned that I do the odd walk or two in the Lake District. As the lady's version of climbing did not seem to include the Lake District (her version of climbing was cliff climbing along the south coast!) I started to tell her about the recent trip to Hodge Close etc. The other bloke suddenley started to tell us about his dives and the difficultys associated with it in Hodge Close! The football match, and the kids who were with us were soon forgoten as we chatted away about climbing, diving and such stuff (it really is such a small world!) . Coupled with this I returned to a customer of mine who I had not seen for a while, she does a fair bit of walking and we sort of compared notes. I told her that I had a new favourite hill, Blencathra, and she started to tell me about her new fave place. Rather sheepishley she said that it was not very high, in fact it wasn't really a hill at all, rather a quarry called Hodge Close (right, this is getting spooky now!) . She also went on to tell me about another quarry nearby that involved walking through tunnels and pools of water that someone had put Goldfish into! (this I have got to see!) | |
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| The kids energing from a pool that I thought was just a puddle of water! | Air bubbles from the divers |
| Anyway, as Mike and I reached the tunnel between the two big holes we were confronted with a strange sight. As you near the old platform, on your right hand side is a pool of water, I had always thought of this as a pool of water, but today we saw the young lads who had been swimming in the lake as we looked down on them, emerge one by one from this pool! According to the bloke I was chatting to at the footy match this pool is actually connected to the main quarry by an underwater passage (how wierd is that!) It just goes to show that you learn something new every day! Now I sort of new from a bloke I used to work with that there are a few underwater tunnels that lead of from the main quarry, but I didn't know about this one ! Further investigation on the internet led to the following web sites about diving in Hodge Close. Try the following links to web sites about diving in Hodge Close! Hodge Close Quarry Information For Divers or Sub Aqua UK or Uk Divers. Net or if you feel like finding out about the history of this quarry then try the Durham Mining Museum. (Isn't th'internet great!). If you are into comercial web sites then Green Slate Quarry (ba, humbug!) has some information about it's history and present owners! | |
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| The platform | Looking back into the first hole |
| Back to my site! I think that Mike was suitabley impressed by the surroundings! Once the young lads had all come through into the daylight they started to climb up the rock face by the side of the platform and jump back into the water, no doubt annoying the divers who had by this time all disapeared under water. The only trace of them was a trail of air bubbles that seemed to head underneath the old platform! Joh soon joined us and we spent a while watching the air bubbles (simple things for simple minds!) and the youngsters having fun! | |
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| An old hut at Hodge Close | One of the old roadways |
| With time pressing on we forced ourselves to leave, we could have spent hours here just watching! We made our way back up through the quarry's and set off back to Tilberthwaite. Our route took us past the tunnel entrance that the divers used to get into the big hole. A group of tents and cars also contained a bunch of motorcross riders who looked like they were there for the weekend. The sights and noises of these bikes making their way around the old spoil heaps stayed with us for quite a while. Somehow we missed the correct route and had to cut across some fields to get to the bridle way between Tilberthwaite and Little Langdale, once on it though we spent an enjoyable half hour or so walking back to the car. With time getting on I had to refrain John and Mike from the scramble up Tilberthwaite Gill and headed back home. | |
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| GPS Tracklog from todays walk | |
| So that was that, a great scramble up Raven Crag, a slightly different route off Holme Fell leading to some new (to me!) sights of the old workings and some time spent watching other people at play, another great walk! The only problem was my feet started to play up again when I got home! | |