With everyone else vacating the house by 6.30am I had loads of time to get ready and head north, except I opted for a lie in and a more leisurely start to my day. Even Sam who normally goes slightly mad at the sight of my walking boots and rucksack was strangely quiet, but then again it was still really early in the morning. Still we had a 2 hour drive up the M6 along the A66 past Keswick to Cockermouth and then a bumpy ride south to Ennerdale Bridge and to our starting point on the Cold Fell road, eventually arriving at about 10am, still too early for a Sunday morning in my opinion! Not being familiar with the area I drove past the point where I wanted to start walking and had an interesting experience trying to do a 30 point turn in the Tonka Toy to get back to where I wanted to be. The small parking spots had already been taken so at last I found a good use for a 4x4 and parked on a grass verge that I would not consider parking on in my car, isn’t ground clearance a good thing!
Once ready we walked along the road, past the start of the bridleway marked as Kinneside Common, past the cars that had beat me to the parking places and downhill. Yup, heading downwards when the idea is to walk UP hills, very strange. A few minutes later and we reached the sign post that I had seen as I drove past it, the Bridleway to Crag Fell and the way I intended to walk. To be honest it did not look too promising, just the faint track of a tractor or something, but the map and AW’s Western Fell’s book confirmed the sign post so along it we went. After 5 minutes walking we reached a gate and once through the gate we were on what I would describe as a “forest track”, something that you would expect in Grisedale or Whinlatter for example, the only difference being that instead of trees on either side all we had was tree stumps. The gradient was nice and easy and as this track rounded what on the map is called Blakeley Raise and should have been covered in trees, but now only tree stumps due to forestry work we caught a first sight of the first fell top of the day, Grike. AW’s pages on Grike described this track we were walking on as the “old mine road”, he too showed forestry on Blakeley Rise but it definitely ain’t there now, or I was lost after only 30 minutes of walking!.
When we arrived at the end of the track I stopped to check the map and AW’s book. I had a choice of routes here, I could go through a gate and onto the open fell side, with the top of Grike visible in the distance it seemed the obvious choice apart from a few drawbacks, there did not seem to be a path, I could see a fence or two, and sheep called this place home and Sam would have to go back on the lead. The other alternative was to follow the forest track towards the radio beacon thing just below Grike’s summit and then make a beeline for the top. The option that won was to carry on along the path, at least it would be easy walking and not an ankle breaking trudge across the open fell side.
We came across a small cairn by the side of the track and there did seem to be a faint path that led up towards the summit, perhaps I wasn’t the first person who wanted to get from this track to the summit of Grike from this spot. We soon came across the fence and walked along it trying to find an easy way over it or perhaps a gate or stile, no such luck! This fence was going to prove very difficult to get Sam over, I soon realised that I was going to have to lift Sam over if he was going to get to the top of Grike, I was going but whether Sam was going to get there was another matter!
I am not going to say if or how Sam got over the fence but a few steps away from the fence the summit came into view. As I (or we) walked towards it a lone walker was busy taking pictures of the summit cairn and wind shelter. To be honest I did not expect to meet anyone up here today so we exchanged a few pleasantries and after I took a few photos we went our separate ways. Unfortunately there was not much of a view because of the hazy nature of the weather. I (or we) left the summit and returned to the fence where I had left my rucksack., Sam only stopped barking when I was back on his side of the fence (sorry Sam, but you were the one that did not want to be lifted over!) I had left Sam there tied to the fence and looking very unhappy and loud at being left behind, perhaps next time………
Back on the other side of the fence we followed it past the radio mast and on towards Crag Fell, plainly visible and not too far away. The ground underfoot was very wet and uneven so I was glad that we had taken the option to walk along the track instead of across the fell side on the way to Grike. At the first gate we crossed over a nearby stile (with some encouragement for Sam) and then headed up the path towards Crag Fell’s top, an easy 5 minute walk. Sam was on the lead as on this side of the forest fence sheep abounded.
The summit of Crag Fell was deserted apart from a few sheep who soon decided to go elsewhere. I took a few photos and looked around but I have to say the view was really spoiled by the haze. Walking away from the summit and towards Ennerdale gave better views of Ennerdale Water itself, but still much too hazy to be worthwhile. I found a convenient rocky outcrop to sit on and helped myself to lunch, well a little snack really as Sam helped himself to most of my lunch. I also took the opportunity to check on my feet that had began to cause me a few problems once more, I thought that foot pain was a thing of the past now but not so. I took off my boots and socks and let the air get to my feet, this helped but is not something that I could ever see myself doing in company! There is something quite satisfying in letting your toes waggle about whilst reclined against a rocky outcrop near a fell top, letting a cooling breeze caress them, or perhaps I need to get out more………
Anyway by the time that Sam’s lunch had run out and I had my socks and boots on once more I had looked at the next part of the route on the map and by eye. This proved to be inconclusive in as much as Lank Rigg was unseen over the bulk of Whoap. As my feet had been playing up I thought about calling it a day and heading back along the old mine road, but then the thought of having to come back all this way just to do Lank Rigg kicked into the back of my mind and to convince myself that I had further options I decided to head towards Whoap and if my feet were really playing up then I could walk back down the valley from the col between Lank Rigg and Whoap which was my intended return route anyway.
With a rearrangement of socks and boots things seemed better as we left the summit area of Crag Fell and headed towards the trees below and the old mine road. Soon a path became very noticeable underfoot that headed in the direction we wanted and then began the steep descent to the old mine road. As we approached a stile over the continuation of the fence that had caused us so many problems before we met a farther and son coming up hill, we stood by the side of the path, smiled and said hello only to be totally ignored by both farther and son as they raced upwards. For some reason this really peed me off, I could have carried on walking down the path and let them move aside but I thought manners dictate to give way to walkers going uphill, I wish I hadn’t bothered! It was pure ignorance on their part not to acknowledge my hello and to keep Sam at heel rather than let him introduce himself to them, perhaps that might have got a reaction!
Still feeling rather disgruntled (I am turning into a stereotypical angry old man nowadays) we crossed over the stile, down onto the forest track, through a fire break that the path we wanted went, across some well placed logs over boggy bits and started the uphill bit that had looked so steep from the top of Crag Fell. The path joined up with a rather substantial stone wall and headed easily upwards. This got me to thinking about how the path on the ground and the energy exerted in walking up it was actually much less steep than I thought it looked, and much easier to walk up it than I had thought it was going to be, why is it that I am no good at judging these things anymore ?
Anyway we followed this rather large stone wall, the gradient eased and I was looking for a path on the ground that the map did not show but AW had suggested as a route that was pathless heading off to the right towards Whoap (does that make any sense at all?). There is a faint path on the ground that heads away from the wall and we started to follow it. A faint noise started to interrupt the feeling of being away from it all up here, my first thoughts were of a farmer on a quad bike checking on his sheep, but I couldn’t see any sheep around here….the noise grew and coming down from Whoap I eventually saw two heads and upper bodies travelling rather quickly. They passed the path that we were walking on and disappeared, when we reached the point that our paths crossed I could see no sign of them, but I did see the signs of the track that they had come down from Whoap, so we turned right and followed the faint path. It was more of a track made by wheeled vehicles rather than a walker’s path, rather obviously when you think about it considering what we had just seen, perhaps the local farmers did use this as a means to get onto the remote fell side up here……. or perhaps a route that the locals use for some off road experiences…
Either way we followed it along for a while, a real nice easy gradient that headed towards Whoap. Rocks along here are few and far between but before too long I spotted one that seemed just big enough to park my backside on, it was getting on for coffee time again so I took advantage of the rock and sat down to enjoy a coffee. Before too long a noise began to interrupt my thoughts and looking behind me I saw two quad bikes coming towards me. They were obviously what we had seen before, but now on their return journey. Two blokes on quad bikes passed close by and at first I felt some sort of outrage that they should be up here spoiling the peace and quiet, damaging the fell side, etc etc. But than I looked at how “considerately” they where riding i.e. no wheel spins and carefully riding along the track slowly and I thought that they were just out doing what I was doing, enjoying the fells, but in a slightly different way, and so I gave them a wave, at least I got a friendly response from these two !
They disappeared into the distance, I finished my coffee, Sam finished my sandwiches off, and then we set off again. By now I had a sense of really being in the middle of nowhere, looking around I was trying to see if I could guess what I could see. The way we had walked over Grike and Crag Fell was obvious but the bulk of Whoap, and it is a big bulk, hid anything in front apart from perhaps Lank Rigg which was beginning to become noticeable. Behind and to my left was uncharted territory to me, Caw Fell was the nearest other fell and somewhere beyond was Seatallan, Middle Fell and Wastwater, it was difficult to make out any real features due to the haze and looking at the map it might as well have said ”Here be Monsters” for all the good it told me……………I was obviously thinking about the area to my left too much and not concentrating on where I was walking to as I suddenly realised that I was starting to head away from Lank Rigg. A quick change of direction and soon Lank Rigg became fully visible as well as the route up to it from the col between Lank Rigg and Whoap, and oh boy after a few miles underfoot did it seem steep!
The descent down to the col was easy but the nearer we got to it the steeper the ascent to Lank Rigg seemed on the other side, my mind playing tricks again. One thing was really bothering me though, looking up to the summit of Lank Rigg the summit area seemed to be adorned by a rather large something, from here with my fading eyesight it seemed to be a cairn that bore a resemblance to the summit of Scafell Pike……..but soon I saw what I thought was a person walking away from it and then back to it, perhaps a large group of walkers had gathered at the top, I really couldn’t make my mind up. As the top disappeared from sight as we reached the col I was still trying to figure out what I had seen, as it had been quite a solitary walking day for the most part I really did not feel like sharing the last summit of the day with anyone else, and besides I didn’t want to put off anybody up there with the sight of me huffing and puffing up the last few feet to the top!
With this in mind I took a planned break just before the summit area came into view, a chance to catch my breath and compose myself before coming into sight of anyone at the summit if indeed it was a large group of walkers. So feeling more relaxed and composed I ventured up the last few feet to be confronted with the sight of my two “friends” on the quad bikes, they had parked them on either side of the trig point, this is what had made it seem so large from a distance! I walked slowly up to the trig point and they decided it was time to vacate the area, the right thing to do in my opinion, so as to give me my solitary time at the summit, I still hate people who “hog” summits. As I reached them I just had to say something to them, the best thing that came to mind was “I knew that if I just kept walking I would eventually catch you up!” This made him laugh and as if to prove me totally wrong they left the summit area in a rather quicker way than I had reached it!
So here we were on top of Lank Rigg, and the opportunity to do something I had been looking forwards to all day, a treasure hunt! In AW’s Western Fells book he tells of how, in 1965 he had left a two shilling piece under a flat stone only 4 feet away from the trig point. I knew that this coin had been “discovered” not long after that but I also “knew” that something else would be around instead of that original two shilling piece, I just knew it …….. If John and Sarah had been with me we would have left a £1 coin each with a note saying please E Mail us at……. to let us know that you found this and have a pint on us, a bit different from asking the finder to write in care of AW’s publisher over 40 years ago. So looking around the summit area for a flat stone I realised that there was not one to be seen, apart from a small collection of stones in a small cairn. Ok then, the cairn it will be, and concentrating my x-ray vision onto each and every stone I eventually, at the third try, found the stone in question. Underneath the stone, which coincidently was a flat one was not AW’s two shilling piece but a modern day 10 pence piece. At first I was outraged that someone had forgot about inflation and stuff, not that I know what two shillings is worth in today’s money, and just left a paltry 10p, apparently back in them days 2 shillings would have bought AW a fish and chip supper, but then I thought that at least someone had bothered to replace AW’s legacy to Lank Rigg with something of a more modern nature. I had intended to leave something of my own but I then realised that I had left all of my loose change in the car, maybe next time! At least finding something there seemed to make a rather dull and dreary day into something a bit more brighter, it nearly restored my faith in human nature, apart from cost of living increases compared with the underlying rate of inflation compounded over 40 plus years etc etc!
It was at that point that I got the dreaded phone call from the wife, the “are you going to be much longer because………...” one. I had mentioned that I was only doing a little walk that shouldn’t take too long and I might be back in time, in time to do something I obviously didn’t want to do in the first place because I choose a walk two and a half hours drive away from home, oops! I tried to explain that I had miscalculated my times and I was about 2.5 miles away from the car, but at least it was mostly down hill, which was good, but it was a long way back and traffic might be bad……. but by that time I think I was talking to myself, sorry…..
The urge to linger up here and look around the summit area had sort of evaporated now so I thought it best to head back to the car. I was tempted to make a beeline down the western flank of Lank Rigg but that would have meant trying to cross the River Calder somewhere, Sam would not have minded but I like the idea of dry feet so we retraced our steps back down to the col between Lank Rigg and Whoap and then turned left and down into the valley to follow the path along side Whoap Beck.
This turned out to be a bit monotonous after a while but looking behind the sight of some rather nasty looking dark low clouds approaching quickened our pace somewhat. Sam enjoyed the two streams that came down from the direction of Grike, the latter one being large enough for a good swim in, a chance to clean himself up before sitting in the back of the truck for the long drive home. As we crossed Comb Beck the path that we had been following was now more like a big track and it started to head uphill, this took some getting used to, travelling uphill at the end of a walk but it made a change. After a while we came across a suitable looking rock to sit down and enjoy the last of the coffee, and enjoy the last bit of being away from it all. This did not last too long before a motocross bike came haring down the track to spoil the silence. This area must be a bit of a playground for off road vehicles of one sort of another. A few minutes later the truck came into view and it was the end of a really enjoyable walk.
Grike and Crag Fell had been really easy to get to along the old mine road and Lank Rigg had been a real “middle of nowhere” sort of place. It had been really quiet, I only saw 3 other walkers all day, and of course my quad biking “friends”. The journey back home was a long one as I opted to travel down the coast road and then the M6 was a nightmare with traffic jams from Carnforth all the way down to Forton where I decided enough was enough and joined the A6, and even that was jammed solid so I took option C and headed out towards Cockerham and headed home along the B roads which where busy as well. In all I think it took over 3 hours to get back home. So that was nearly 6 hours of driving for a walk that only took 4, how mad is that!