|
|
| Wetherlam from the YHA Ambleside |
And from the road past Tarn Hows |
| Eventually we arrived at Tilberthwaite and got ready for
the trip. Already there was a group of students and some instructors from
an outdoor activity center in Coniston. They wore full waterproofs, life
vests and climbing hats! When I said to Sarah that they were obviously
going to do the same thing as us her face lit up! "gorge walking?" she
asked, "but we haven't got the equipment!" she exclaimed. Mmm, maybe she
knew more than me! |
|
|
| Yewdale Beck |
And again |
| From the car park at Tilberthwaite we had all
of ten yards or so to go before we entered Yewdale Beck and started to
make our way up it. At first we were quite wary of walking on the
small rocks that made up the stream bed. We soon realized that the rocks
were not slippy at all, I believe that the technical term is "water washed" |
|
|
| Gorge walking or Gill scrambling ? |
Keep as close to the water as you can! |
| "Water washed" means that if rock is subjected
to running water there is no chance of anything growing on it i.e. slime,
moss, lichens etc. Plus with all the debris that can be carried down stream
this also has a scouring action upon the rock. This is not the same for
rock or boulders above the water line. These can be home to slime
as it is not "washed" away on regular intervals. Anyway we soon got into
the knack of deciding where to put our feet and soon gained enough confidence
to start moving quickly. |
|
|
| And have fun! |
There may be obstacles may be in the way! |
| We occasionally came across whole trees that
had been washed down stream, these were very slippy and only John had the
bottle to walk across one (but then again it was a
big one!) The one I
tried was too small regardless of its slippyness! The occasional
little waterfall also provided obstacles in our path. These all went to
make for a fun filled way up Yewdale Beck. All the time staying within
the stream bed, crossing over from side to side whilst making progress. |
|
|
| And waterfalls! |
An "organized party" with the proper gear! |
| There was not really much to see apart from the spoil on the left hand
side from the old Tilberthwaite mines. In fact the further up we went the
more narrow and steeper the sides became above us. This made it difficult
for the camera to work as it always wanted to use the flash. We soon caught
up with the organized group who had set off before us, whilst we were trying
to keep as dry as possible these people were trying to get as wet as possible!
Every opportunity to clamber directly up a waterfall or under a tree that
lay across the stream they took, it looked like great fun! |
|
|
| The bridge over Yewdale Beck |
Sarah making progress under the bridge |
| As we neared the footbridge the character of the stream changed, we
were now deep inside a gorge for want of a better word. The boulders in
the stream were much larger and slippery now, all the smaller stuff being
carried down stream over the years. It was beginning to get very gloomy
and a fair bit cooler. It was here that we came across the first
real test. Directly under the foot bridge was a slopping slab of slate
that was very overgrown with wet moss, very slippy indeed! We all tentatively
made our way under the bridge hoping not to get a soaking if we slipped
at all! |
|
|
| John disappearing into an old working |
The start of Tilberthwaite Gill |
| Once past the bridge John noticed a small opening up the side of the
bank. He ventured up to have a quick look and soon disappeared from sight.
When he eventually returned he shouted down that it was a tunnel and lots
of people had obviously been in here before. He gingerly made his way back
down to us once his curiosity was satisfied. Whilst John was off
exploring I started to look at the way forwards. In front of us was a scree
run down from the fell side above and the stream turned right and disappeared
from view. |
|
|
| Looking into the start of Tilberthwaite Gill |
And looking back to the bridge |
| This was the start of Tilberthwaite Gill, it
was definitely a gorge and everybody felt a sense of adventure as we headed
into the sheer sided gorge. Looking back the party that was now following
us had passed the bridge and were gaining on us. |
|
John had made his way into the gorge and I soon followed. This was great
fun as it was a case of traversing along a rock wall, hopping onto a big
boulder and then pulling yourself up onto a ledge all in a very short space
of time! John was having doubts about a possible way forward as he looked
up the gorge to a rather large waterfall. He said he was going up to have
a look as I waited for Sarah to catch up. Sarah made her way up to me and
then we went to where John was waiting. Sarah seemed to struggle at one
stage as she seemed unable to reach a hand hold to pull herself up to a
ledge. I had used an old iron post, unfortunately Sarah does not have the
same reach as me or John and it was a real test for her to get up. Whilst
I gave her words of encouragement (does "come on and get on with it! " count?) I was thinking about the iron bar. As I looked around me I could sort of
sense the pathway above me on both sides of the gorge that must have been
part of the old victorian walkway and bridge . Nothing was left of it now
apart from the odd bit of iron and a hint of a flat path above us! |
| John trying to figure out the way forward |
|
|
| Sarah following us up |
The students having fun in the pool |
| By the time we all gathered at a relatively dry spot before
a pool that had formed beneath the waterfall we had been caught up. The
instructor asked one of the lads to check the depth of the pool and with
it being suitable i.e. deep, she told the group to traverse along the side
of the wall and jump in! Well that was that for the next twenty minutes
or so as everyone took turns at jumping in the pool and walking up to the
waterfall for a shower, it reminded me of the walk up Grains Gill when
John did the same thing, all be it on a much warmer day. It was very cozy
here in the narrow gorge and we got chatting to one of the teachers. It
turns out that they were a group from Our Lady's School in Preston. They
come along here every year and after this they were off for a spot of canoeing (or
kayaking!) I hoped that they would not be doing it on the grass like
those outside the YHA in Ambleside! |
|
|
| The author attempting (unsuccessfully) to climb up |
Retreating from the Gill up to safety |
| We chatted away with the instructors who I
think were from Water World, I could be wrong on the name though. They
suggested that there was a way past the waterfall, but on the left it was
very slippy, and on the right were good dry holds, and good luck as they
would not be doing it! Once the party had left I decided that I would
try and get past the waterfall, at first I tried the dry line on the right
but I just could not see the first hold needed, try as I might, I just
could not take that first step, there did seem a reasonable number of holds
after that missing first one though! I then tried the left side. A boulder
sticking out of the pool gave a good step to attempt to cross over and
gain access but the rock was covered in extremely slippy moss, I just couldn't
risk putting all of my weight onto it as I would have to, to take that
first step! Third time lucky I retreated to where John and Sarah waited
and attempted the left side again. Again this was very wet and slippy but
I at last managed to get up a couple of steps. John was asking where I
was going as I seemed to heading for something nasty! I took the time to
look around and check my bearings but as I did that I started to feel my
feet slip! That was it! I know when I am beaten and I retreated with my
pride dented! As I got back to the others I think I was shaking a bit from
the thought of what could have happened if I had slipped and my fingers
hurt as I had been gripping with them for dear life! There was a sort of
path up out of the gorge, this involved some climbing which was fun as
well, I even managed to make hard work of that, but we soon found ourselves
back in daylight and decided it was time for a coffee break. |
|
|
| Waist high bracken above Tilberthwaite Gill |
Looking down the path up from Tilberthwaite on the north side of Tilberthwaite
Gill |
| The difference up here was amazing. Now in
the bright sunshine we soon warmed up and enjoyed some thing to eat as
well. Sarah had brought some homemade soup in a flask (the recipe will
soon appear on the food pages, won't it Sarah!) and John tucked into his
homemade flapjacks (again, a recipe will be here soon John won't it!) I
meanwhile had a coffee and a smoke, still trying to calm myself down! Once
suitably nourished we set off to join the path. We made our way along side
Tilberthwaite Gill, occasionally getting glimpse down into the gorge between
the trees, and it was a long way down! Fighting our way through the bracken
we eventually joined the path and enjoyed some level flat walking for the
first time today. |
|
|
| Looking along the path |
Heading towards Birk Fell |
| This path was a great place, trees on one side
over Tilberthwaite Gill and a steep slope above us on the other side. Above
the trees we could see the eastern ridge of Wetherlam. As we made
our way past the trees we caught a glimpse of the end of Tilberthwaite
Gill, if we had managed to get past that waterfall we could easily have
spent all day in the Gill, it would have been fun but I don't think that
we would have got to the top of Wetherlam after it! Rounding the corner
the path started to gradually rise and headed towards Birk Fell, the continuation
of Wetherlam's eastern shoulder. |
|
| Lad Stones and Hen Crag, the eastern side of Wetherlam |
| Out here in the open the sun really started to warm us up.
Looking forwards we had fantastic blue sky's but behind us it was very
hazy looking directly back into the sun. There were a few other people
around but it was generally quiet up here. Looking back I think that the
nature of the day changed here, up until this point we had a great time
doing something a bit different, now we were back to normal walking and
trying to get to a summit. |
|
|
| Heading for Dry Cove Moss |
Looking back over the old workings to the Yewdale Fells |
| At first the path gently made it's way upwards as it skirted
around the lower reaches of Blake Rigg. As Dry Cove Moss game into
view the path started to rise more. Dry Moss Cove looked like one huge
bog, a very uninviting mess! I asked John if he fancied a swim here but
he politely refused. |
|
|
| The path by the side of Blake Rigg |
Old mine workings and Wetherlam Edge |
| With the realization that most of the fun lay behind us
for the moment the mood changed from one of excitement to one of getting
on with it. Although we now had a chance to chat away the I could tell
that everyone's mood had changed! As we made our way forwards the
conversation got round to my forthcoming trip to Ireland. As a surprise
for my good lady's @#th birthday I have arranged a trip to Dublin, well
it is a European capital city! To my way of thinking it is far better than
say Paris or Madrid, ok the weather may not be as warm but it does have
two major advantages 1) They speak English and 2) they serve Guinness!
I admit that this might not seem like a romantic venue so I asked John
if he had any ideas as to what to do as he seems to have some form of local
knowledge. As my good lady is into those four legged beasts that they call
Horse, he suggested a trip to the Irish National Stud but he then went
on to say that unfortunately he was busy that weekend (always
the joker!) This seemed like a good idea so the conversation carried on about foreign
trips and such like, Sarah's version of her trip to Paris definitely made
me think that Dublin WAS a good idea! |
|
|
| Sarah's fave thing, a remade path! |
Dry Cove Moss |
| As we came towards on old mine working the
first signs of the dreaded path repairers appeared. They have obviously
started to have a go at the path up to Birk Fell Hause. As the path
steepened there was some new steps laid that did make life a little easier,
but only a little, and as they didn't last too long they weren't that bad!
By now the conversation had turned to an old colleague of ours who's husband
had recently bought the building that his pub is in. As this is in the
center of Liverpool we sort of decided that it needed to be put to good
use, John of course decided that it should become a lap dancing bar! The
next 10 minutes or so consisted of conversation about who that we knew
would make good lap dancers, even male lap dancers, a subject brought on
by Sarah who felt that women's rights should be upheld! |
|
|
| Wetherlam Edge |
The path repairs tools |
| This conversation got everyone's spirits up
again and wee had to soon stop as laughing and walking at the same time
can become quite painful! It was time for a brew stop anyway so we
just sat down in the middle of the remade path and took on some refreshments.
John had obviously not had enough laughter so he carried on, making Sarah
and me crease up with laughter as he narrated a story about himself and
the Mersey Tunnel
(I can't repeat it here though!), he can be seriously
funny at times! |
|
|
| Sarah having a go at repairing the path |
Looking back over Dry Moss Cove |
| Being a weekend the path repairers had obviously just downed
tools on Friday and left everything where it dropped. Sarah decided that
she wanted to have a go and started to attack the fell side with
a spade! I don't thing she made much of an impression and soon got bored.
John meanwhile had decide that he had had enough of the path and attacked
the fell side directly by making his way up the odd bit of rock and crags
that lay about! We soon joined him slightly higher up after following the
path as it made its way upwards between these rocky outcrops. |
|
 |
| More signs of the path repairers |
Birk Fell Hause and Wetherlam Edge |
| By this time we were nearing Birk Fell Hause. John and Sarah
decided to make their own way whilst I remained on the path. This meant
that we walked in opposite directions at times! At times we all walked
along the path, at others John took a more direct route, all the time getting
higher up the fell side. Eventually we reached the top of Birk Fell,
John and Sarah at the Hause and myself slightly higher up Birk Fell. |
|
|
| Nearing Birk Fell Hause |
The Langdale Pikes |
| The panorama that lay before us was stunning to say the
least! The complete skyline was just fantastic to look at. Stretching from
the Crinkle Crags and Bowfell round to the Langdale Pikes. With the sun
behind us, clear blue sky's above us the horizon was just a picture
perfect, this was one of the best views that we have had in a long time.
It did make the walk up here feel worthwhile after the anticlimax of walking
up here after the fun in Tilberthwaite Gill! |
|
|
| Crinkle Crags, Bowfell and Pike o' Blisco |
Wetherlam Edge |
| It seemed like ages before I joined John and Sarah at the
Hause. I was taking my time enjoying the views so much that time just seemed
to fly by! Together again, we started to talk about what lay ahead
and the way we would be returning. I pointed out on the map the ridge that
led down to Little Langdale that led from Great Carrs. This would be a
good way down after Swirl How, Grey Friar and Great Carrs and would put
us in a good position to find and explore Cathedral Quarry's on the way
back to the car. John and Sarah did not seem convinced and seemed to prefer
the idea of just doing Wetherlam and then going to find the quarry. |
|
|
| One of the locals |
Looking back to Birk Fell |
| Sarah was looking up Wetherlam Edge and said that it would
take us ages just to get up there, I told her that it would not and what
more it would be fun! Even so I sort of thought that their idea would
probably be best, after all why ruin a great day out by chasing after another
few summits! Making our way towards the start of Wetherlam Edge we saw
a great outcrop of rock that the path led to. passing below it. We had
no thoughts of following the path when a huge inviting bit of rock was
in our way so we all took our own routes straight up! |
|
|
| Having fun up Wetherlam Edge! |
One of the rock slabs |
| This was fun but again it was over with too quickly. We
found ourselves on top of a great rock slab that showed signs of wear and
tear from the ice age, many gouges going this way and that across the flat
surface, a geologists playground! When we got to the top we looked
back down and saw what looked like a shed ready for putting up, something
very similar to the one we saw in Calf Cove near Esk Hause a few weeks
ago. This one was still flat on the ground and not built yet. |
|
|
| Making our way up Wetherlam Edge |
Grass seed and small green blue stuff? |
| Making our way upwards we soon rejoined the path, our way
was much better! When we reached the path we were confronted with
a strange sight. As part of the path repairers job they had been laying
grass seed, higher up there was some strange green-blue stuff on the ground.
We could not figure out what it was, was it fertilizer, poison? Try as
we might, we could not come up with a reasonable explanation! |
|
|
| More fun! |
Looking back down over Birk Fell |
| So with these strange thoughts of what the stuff
was for we set off upwards along Wetherlam Edge again. Sometimes we kept
to the path, at other times we just went straight up any likely looking
craglets! By this time we were in the shade and it grew increasingly cooler,
it was time for me to put my jacket on. Looking back over Birk Fell
was good but the differences in light between the shade and the sunny areas
played havoc with the camera. In fact at times I could not look straight
up as it meant looking directly into the sun. John seemed to get into one
of his moods now, you know the one by now, head down and keep up his pace
until he reached the summit! Sarah tried her best to keep up and I just
lagged behind them both (back to my old ways!) Soon enough the summit came
into view and there it was. |
|
|
| The summit coming into view |
Wetherlam summit |
| John had already made himself comfortable in the bright
sunshine, Sarah was joining him and I made a comment about this being our
50th Wainwright. Sarah was not pleased by this as it reminded her that
she did not do the Mosedale Horseshoe with us and consequently is 4 behind
us! |
 |
| 360 degree panorama from Wetherlam |
| Whilst the others took their time having a brew I went round
taking the usual summit photos. When I rejoined them John was deep
in conversation about his current training and diet regime, how many calories
and carbohydrates in this that and the other. I was sort of interested
but was waiting for him to get around to the interesting parts, what does
it taste like! |
|
|
| The terrible trio at Wetherlam's summit |
Swirl How and Great Carrs |
| The summit was occasionally joined by a few other walkers,
not many of these seemed to stop for any length of time. I sat down for
a brew and we chatted a while, looking forwards towards Swirl How and Great
Carrs. I must admit that the traverse across and up Prison Band just did
not appeal to me today. I was coming around to the thinking of the
others, go back down and find Cathedral Quarry instead of continuing on. |
|
|
| Coniston Old Man and Brim Fell |
Scafell, Scafell Pike, Crinkle Crags and Bowfell |
| I took a few more photos as the Scafell's could
now be seen. They looked great and I had to remind the others that it was
only a couple of weeks ago that we had walked along there. This sort
of infuriated John, after all they seemed so near and yet we had spent
such a long time getting to Wasdale and back, he still couldn't get his
head round the fact that these are in AW's southern book and not the western!
Talking about Wasdale John started to reminisce about the time we did the
Mosedale Horseshoe, "Oh sorry Sarah you haven't done that yet have you!" was
his conclusion, once he finds a vulnerable spot he won't leave it alone!
Come to think about it, that was a great walk , oh sorry Sarah, I forgot!
Mmm! |
|
|
| Sarah getting in the way! |
Making our way down Wetherlam Edge |
| We chatted a while about what to do next. Normally I would
have been adamant that we should carry on and bag a few more summits but
then again why? We had such a great time in Tilberthwaite Gill, then followed
a sort of boring walk hopefully followed by some fun around Cathedral Quarry's.
Why not just turn our backs on the fells and return and have some more
fun! So somewhat reluctantly (for me) we turned our backs on the rest of
the Coniston Fells and set off back down Wetherlam Edge. Not long after
we left the summit I heard a cry from behind, it was one of those sorts
of noises that makes you think that someone has just fallen off a rock
face! I immediately turned around with arms outstretched to catch anyone
coming down slope in a hurry, John did the same only quicker. We managed
to catch Sarah between us as she had managed to put her foot into a hole
and then fall forwards. If we had not have caught her she could have fallen
to the ground while her foot remained trapped in the hole. The sound of
snapping bones came to mind! After a few minutes of ooh's and Arghs and
a bit of unnatural nervous laughter she declared her self slightly sore
and shaken but able to continue, phew! |
|
|
| Bow Fell and Pike O' Blisco |
The summit of Birk Fell |
| Making our way at a more gentle pace now we retraced our
steps, if you can do such a thing!, down Wetherlam Edge. In front of us
and to our left was the fantastic sights of Little Langdale and the Langdale
Pikes. Due to the sun shining directly over us and onto these places
they looked absolutely fantastic! As we neared the point where we had seen
all that green blue stuff we came across a solitary walker making his way
up. As John and Sarah were a bit behind me I stopped for a chat. He asked
me if I had any idea what this stuff was! I told him that we had spent
at least half an hour wondering the same thing! Here we were with fantastic
views all around us, great weather, and all we could talk about was some
funny looking stuff on the path, strange people us fellwalkers! John and
Sarah soon joined in the conversation and even stranger, 5 fellwalkers
talking about stuff on a path! |
|
|
| Looking towards the Langdale Pikes over Blea Tarn |
Little Langdale Tarn |
| So leaving this solitary walker to ponder over green blue
stuff on the path as he made his way up Wetherlam Edge we headed back to
Birk Fell Hause. Here we met a party of four walkers. The first,
a lady all dressed up in a fur jacket and carrying not a rucksack but a
rather big PINK handbag was in front. She made her way past us in a hurry
and as the following three passed us they commented about her not being
with them, and a comment about her handbag! I replied some thing along
the lines of not to worry we once went walking with someone who wore PINK
boots! (sorry Gail) when she heard this the lady in question managed to
slip on the path! This brought a few chuckles to all concerned! If you
don't believe me take a look at the walk up Castle
Crag! |
|
|
| Heading towards an old level |
One of those guard sheep! |
| As we had sat on the path and eaten before we had noticed
an entrance to an old quarry over in the distance somewhere on Low Fell.
It seemed like a good idea to make a beeline straight for it and then make
our way through the workings of High Fell Quarry towards Little Langdale
and then find Cathedral Quarry. This was ok at first as we made our
way along Birk Fell but soon became more difficult as we had to descend
the steepening shoulder of the ridge. One of those sheep that seem to guard
the rest of the flock looked on us with interest as we made our way of
its patch, certain sorts of sheep can be intimidating! Sarah seemed to
be struggling with her foot now, I think it was more painful than she let
on, but she carried on without complaint as usual. We passed over a stile,
Sarah noticed a small plaque fastened below the step. It read "IN LOVING
MEMORY OF DENNIS FREDERICK MARTIN (1928-1995). AT PEACE IN THESE HILLS" Such
a small plaque but such a meaningful gesture, I wonder who Dennis Martin
was? |
|
|
| Looking back to Birk Fell |
The old level |
| Not far past the stile we came across a junction of walls
and fences that the local farmers obviously used as a place to segregate
or sort out sheep or whatever they do with sheep! In the stone wall John
noticed a couple of old glass bottles, one we didn't know what had been
in it, and the other one of those old poison bottles with the ribbed sides that
still contained some liquid. It just goes to remind you how much history
is in these hills when you find things like these! Anyway, through the
wall and over a rise in the fell side found us at the old workings that
we had seen from a far. Basically it was a large hole in the side of a
rocky outcrop. An old building lay in ruins in front of it a long spoil
trail led off from it. We had a quick look inside it but I didn't venture
too far inside as the roof looked like it was ready to collapse straight
down on top of any unwary explorer! John of course wasn't put off by this
and ventured inside. After a quick brew we then continued on to try and
find a way to Little Langdale. |
|
|
| The track towards Greenburn |
Looking down into part of High Fell Quarry |
| Following the track that led across the fell side
we headed off. When we reached a locked gate I climbed over it slowly followed
by Sarah, John waited whilst I checked the map. I soon realized that this
track led down to Greenburn and as it was not really the direction that
we wanted we had to climb back over the gate. John thought this was highly
amusing but Sarah was most unchuffed! So following the wall that
headed for the disused quarry's we made our way across the pathless fell
side. Eventually we came across a small barbed wire fence, on the other
side of the fence was a huge drop down into one of the old quarry workings.
We looked around for a safe way forwards but really we had come to an area
that was surrounded by old workings. The only safe way forwards was to
climb over the wall and make our way onto the quarry roads, this was a
lot easier said than done but we soon arrived on a level road next to an
old bulldozer. |
|
|
| Overlooking High Fell Quarry |
The spoil heaps of Hodge Close Quarry's |
| Once back onto level ground again we made our way down the
roads to the mine buildings. From up here we had a great view down to the
Hodge Close Quarry's, the amount of spoil that was visible got us to thinking
about the amount of wastage that these old quarry workings produced. If
you get up close to any of these old workings you will see vast amounts
of spoil. When you look at the size of the excavations or holes in the
ground you wonder if there was any material that was actually used as the
size of the spoil heaps seems bigger than the size of the holes! |
|
|
| Another part of High Fell Quarry |
Finished slate and marble at the workings |
| When we eventually reached the mine buildings I was surprised
to see finished slate stacked up ready to move. As well as the slate there
was also marble that you would use for fire surrounds, I don't think that
that was mined here! There were signs that slate was still being quarried
here and the marble made me believe that in the buildings must be cutting
and polishing machines that are still used today. |
|
|
| The buildings at High Fell Quarry |
Holme Fell |
| Sarah was really feeling her leg by now, so after consulting
the map and being confronted with a choice of finding a route through the
old mine workings and heading down to Little Langdale to find Cathedral
Quarry, then walking back, or just walking down the mine road back to Tilberthwaite,
getting in the car and driving around to find Cathedral Quarry the mine
road won! It was an easy walk back down the mine road at a slow pace due
to Sarah's injury. |
|
|
| The track back to Tilberthwaite |
God knows! |
| At one stage John got a bit bored again and decided that
he would carry Sarah to speed up the walk, Sarah did not seem to have a
choice in this matter! After a few more minutes had passed he got bored
of this as well and decided to introduce Sarah to the bracken that lined
the road! Once her dignity was restored and John had been suitable chastised
we again set off walking. |
|
|
| The path up the north side of Tilberthwaite Gill |
The spoils from the old mines at Tilberthwaite |
| As we rounded a bend in the road the sight
of the car park at Tilberthwaite confronted us. Sarah was chatting about
how some of her friends had decided to have a "Commodore 64" night. For
those that don't know what a commodore 64 is (or was!) it
was a forerunner of the PC and games console back in the early 1980's.The
64 came from the amount of memory, 64K or about 58K of useable memory! (haven't
times changed!) Now
this struck a chord with me as I used to own one. When Sarah got talking
about the old games, very, very feeble by today's standard, but addictive
at the time I had to admit that I was a "Balderdash" fan. Now she and some
mates get together and play these old games as a sort of retro night! I
then had to admit that I had recently thrown away a C64, floppy drive (one
of the old 5¼ drives!, beat the hell out of the tape drive!) and
over 500 games on disk! I was gutted, just to make some room in the loft
I had thrown away this museum piece, if only we had talked about this a
few weeks earlier! I did not realize that these things were back in fashion!
Anyway, back to the walking! |
|
|
| Nearing Tilberthwaite on the mine track |
Cottages at Tilberthwaite |
| As we neared Tilberthwaite the unmistakable smell of a real
fire assaulted our nostrils. With the bracken turning brown and dying away,
the chill in the air and that fantastic smell there could be no doubt that
autumn was here! The smell came from the cottages at the bottom
of the track. As we neared them we also noticed a sign saying that the
road up to High Fell Quarry was private! We had obviously been trespassing
for the last hour or so, sorry! When we got back to the car Sarah was glad
to get her boots off and slip into something more comfortable, for her
feet I mean! I kept my boots on and gave John directions to get to somewhere
near Cathedral Quarry. |
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| GPS Track Log from todays walk. The position of Cathedral
Quarru is pointed out. |
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| Cathedral Quarry. |
| We followed the main road towards Skelwith Bridge and turned
off to the right following signed for High Park. Now this road is without
doubt the narrowest road that I have seen in the Lake District. If we had
met another car coming the other way one of us would have had a long trip
in reverse! After passing through some farm buildings at Stang End we eventually
reached the river Brathay. Here there was a footbridge and a ford, John
parked the car and we got ready to go exploring, that is, head torches
and boots, Sarah decided not to put on her boots. |
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| The footbridge and ford over the river Brathay |
The lane to Slater's Bridge |
| I was now going off two things, Andrew Leaney's
map of his walk and my recollections of a customer of mine who told me
about the intriguing Cathedral Quarry's in the first place (thanks
Sharon) We
headed off towards Slater's Bridge and soon came across a National Trust
sign. A path led up from here but it did not seem to be the one that I
was told to take, although the sign, slightly defaced, did make me chuckle, "sheep
drops"! |
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| Sheep drops? |
I see, its sheer drops! |
| Carrying on a few hundred yards we came across another sign
next to a gate. The previous sign made sense now and the gate and path
up from it was exactly as Sharon had described! |
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This looked promising so we made our way up and soon came
out at a level area that showed obvious signs of being an old level. Now
I have spent many an hour pouring over AW's southern fells book trying
to find a mention of this place. Search after search on the internet only
produced references from the FRCC about the fact that Cathedral Quarry's
was closed for climbing due to dangerous rock fractures, and then later
articles about it now being safe, nothing about it's location though!.
I E-Mailed Andrew Leaney asking him how he managed to find it and he replied
by looking in climbing books in a shop in Ambleside! Cathedral Quarry is
obviously a well kept secret by everyone that knows about it! Now here
I was in front of the tunnel entrance that I had been told about, the sense
of excitement about what lay ahead was great. I think that I had been looking
forward to this all day! John was up for it as well but Sarah was slightly
subdued. In the middle of the level area was a tunnel entrance that matched
the picture from Andrew Leaney walk the previous week. This was it! So
taking note of the warning signs at the tunnel entrance we got out the
head torches, turned them on and ventured into the unknown! Sarah had at
least brought her head torch if not her boots! |
| The path into the old quarry |
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| The entrance to Cathedral Quarry |
| Once inside the tunnel we were enveloped by darkness. The
tunnel floor was dry and level and I was able to stand upright, wow! Walking
along we soon saw signs of daylight once more and came out into a large
cavern that had a "window" that looked out into daylight. |
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| Just inside the tunnel entrance |
The hole into the main quarry |
| This cavern was very big. In the middle was a pillar that
had been left, possibly to support the roof. On one side was a pool of
murky water, was this the pool with the goldfish in? Try as we might,
we could not see any sign of fish in the pool, but it did seem to deepen,
maybe they were just shy goldfish! |
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| Walking past the pool |
The tunnel entrance to the main quarry hole |
| Walking past the pool another tunnel led away, we had to
follow it of course! This tunnel led out into the base of an extremely
large hole or quarry. We had to strain our necks to look up and see how
high the sheer walls stretched up to daylight. In front of us were some
rock steps that led up into the main quarry base, where we were was just
the lowest point. The rocks looked very slippy and Sarah decided to remain
here as John and myself went up them, I think the original idea was to
see if there was another pool up there as we still hadn't seen any gold
fish! |
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| In the main quarry hole |
John finds an entrance to the tunnels |
| Once at this higher level we had a good look around but
found no pools of water that might conceal these elusive goldfish! John
did notice an opening into the base of the quarry wall, as he looked into
it he could feel a breeze coming through it. There was a chain that
had been bolted to some rocks around the entrance, the chain did not seem
to be there to deter people from going into this small entrance, so we
did. |
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| Inside the tunnel |
And a bit further on |
| Clambering over the fallen rocks that nearly
blocked the entrance, we made our way inside. When we stopped to turn on
the head torches again we were confronted with another tunnel, this one
seemed to reach forever as there was no sign of any light at all in the
distance, wow! We thought about going back to get Sarah but as the
tunnel floor was under an inch or so of water we decided that she wouldn't
want to get her trainers wet, so we carried on! |
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| One side tunnel |
has a closed sign! |
| After a short distance we came to a small opening
with another tunnel branching off to our right. As we looked down this
tunnel we could see a reflection from the head torch, we walked along to
find out what this was. It turned out to be a number plate that had "CLOSED" printed
on it. As this was fastened to a gate that looked as if it was definitely
there to prevent further passage we just looked over it into a huge cavern!
The torch light did not reach to the ceiling or far walls of this cavern
at all, it must have been quite large. This was impressive stuff! |
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| Light at the end of the tunnel! |
The other side |
| Returning back to the tunnel junction we carried on on the
way we had originally been heading. Soon we were able to see daylight ahead
and John decided to head back and tell Sarah, to see if she wanted to come
and have a look. I carried on and soon found myself out in the open air
again. At first I did a double take as this tunnel entrance and the surroundings
looked very similar to the way I had come in! I soon remembered that I
had not returned through the first cavern and so I must be on the other
side of the hill! |
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| The sign at Entrance No2 |
Nearing Entrance No 1 |
| A National Trust sign soon confirmed this as entrance number
2, I did look at the sign at the beginning of the tunnel that I had originally
entered and it had said entrance no 1, so I wasn't going bonkers after
all! I looked around my new surroundings and unsurprisingly didn't
have a clue as to where I was. I made a way point in the GPS and later
on when I uploaded it into the Anquet mapping software, that didn't help
either! I then decided to retrace my path back through the tunnels to find
John and Sarah. I found them at the foot of the main hole and as the set
off back through the cavern to the front (entrance
no1) I looked around
the upper area of the main hole. I noticed some steps and old handrails
that led upwards and the possibility of another tunnel entrance, but as
time was pressing I returned back through the main cavern to rejoin John
and Sarah. |
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| Outside Entrance No 1 |
The National Trust sign, Atkinson Coppice |
As I arrived back at the level area there was no sign of
John and Sarah at first. They had gone a bit higher up the old workings
to have a look see. When they returned they had been chatting to some people
about the signs of the old workings higher up. This was an impressive place
indeed! All the way back to the car I was smiling like a kid at christmas,
looking around Cathedral Quarry was not what I had expected today at all,
it was a bonus. Not long before we had been high up on the fells, and then
we found ourselves deep under them. A day of contrasts that must go down
as one of the best yet!
Heading back south we stopped of in Coniston for a drink in the Black Bull. My
original intention was to eat at home today but Sarah soon changed my mind and
we soon found ourselves tucking into a meal, Sarah had scampi the size of boiled
eggs and I joined John in the fish and chips. It was not cheap but I must say
that the food was excellent, the service very quick considering that we had struggled
to find a seat at first and the black stuff went down a treat! (only
practicing for Dublin!) Today had been a different day altogether. We had only achieved
a solitary summit but had enjoyed one of the best days out on (and
in!) the fells
for a long time. The Black Bull only went to finish off a perfect day out!
During the time it has taken me to write up this account I have also spent many
an hour searching for information about Cathedral Quarry and other mines around
the Coniston area. Cathedral Quarry seems to belong to a "secret squirrel" society!
The people who know about it are definitely keeping it quiet! During my
search I have found some interesting web sites about the history of mining in
the LAke District in general and Coniston in particular. I have also found a
gem of a site about the coniston bus shelter, take the time to look around that
site, it's very funny once you realize it is not serious (or is it!) |
| The Coniston bus shelter home
page |
Well it made me laugh! |
| Mindat.org a
page about what has been "MINED AT" Tilberthwaite, and any other area
that you can think of!
There are many more, some quite fascinating about the history of mining,
but I forgot to bookmark them ! |
An interesting web site that lets you see what minerals have been found
in the area. I was surprised at the number, I didn't recognize many of
the substances and there didn't seem to be any mention of slate ! |
