A walking guide to climbing all mountains in England over 2000ft

• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route

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WALK 1.1 BLENCATHRA

Summits   

Blencathra 2848 ft (868m)
Gategill Fell Top 2792 ft (851m)
Atkinson Pike 2772 ft (845m)
Bowscale Fell 2303 ft (702m)
Bannerdale Crags 2241 ft (683m)

Distance 8.5 miles

Ascent 2700ft

Maps   

OS Landranger sheet 90
Outdoor Leisure – The English Lakes, North Eastern area (partial cover only)

Starting point (90-340268) Scales, 6 miles east of Keswick on the A66. Several lay bys on the main road at the start of the walk.   

Approaching through pastoral scenery from Penrith the scene changes almost in a moment from green fields to towering buttresses of heather and rock and suddenly one has arrived in the Lake District. Unlike many of the fells whose finest aspects are concealed from casual aquaintance, Blencathra’s best is on view to all from the race track of the A66 which  passes its foot. Not one, but five fells rise to a long common summit ridge and the many buttresses and gullies present probably the greatest variety of routes to the summit of any fell. 

There must be few people who have tried every one of the ways up.

Sharp Edge, prized as one of the finest and also the most difficult of all the ridges rising to Blencathra’s summit, is concealed from view at the north-eastern end above the gloomy crags which encircle Scales Tarn. However Narrow Edge, described by Wainwright as positively the finest way to any mountain top in the district, has the added distinction that it leads directly to Hallsfell Top, the summit of the whole mountain.

Gate Gill is the site of probably the oldest lead mine in the district. In production long before gunpowder was introduced for blasting, it used the ancient ‘stope and feather’ method in which two strips of iron inserted in the rock were driven apart by a wedge and so split the rock. At its peak between 1880 and 1900 it produced over 10,000 tons of lead ore and 13,400 tons of zinc. The once Celtic hamlet of Threlkeld became a mining village with about a hundred men working in the local mines and refining sheds though by 1910 the last mine had closed. Now bypassed by the main road, which opened in 1965, there is a church, a cluster of cottages, a fair number of houses and two inns.  In one of the latter we contrived to spend most of a very wet morning on a backpacking trip, not as it happened imbibing ale, but lingering over coffee and warm scones with jam and cream. The blue-grey granite quarry on the other side of the main road, was used for roadstone and was the major local employer until it closed in 1980.
In 1976 the old sanatorium below Blease Fell, which was opened in 1904 to treat tuberculosis, was purchased by the Lake District Special Planning Board. It is now the Blencathra Centre, offering self catering accommodation for groups in either cottages or hostels and provides information, teaching facilities and a reference library.

ROUTE DESCRIPTION

BLENCATHRA (Chair Top)

Between the two buildings, 300 yards west of the White Horse Inn, take the track up to a gate and turn left on the path which runs along the bottom of the fellside. It is a good mile to the foot of Hall’s Fell, crossing first Scaley Beck and then Doddick Gill. You will probably hear the famous Blencathra foxhounds barking in the distance as they are kennelled nearby. The third beck reached is Gate Gill which has a ruined mine building by the stream. From here a delightful little path twists its way up Hall’s Fell, climbing first through heather and then along the narrow crest of the ridge to emerge at the very highest point of Blencathra, which is marked Hallsfell Top on the OS map. This popular spot has only a tiny cairn, but none is needed as this  magnificent viewpoint is obviously the highest point. To the south-east lie the Eastern fells and to the south-west and beyond Borrowdale the Southern and Central fells offer a challenge to the identifier of mountain skylines.

GATEGILL FELL TOP (Goats Gill Fell)

After following the escarpment round to the left for about a third of a mile, an ascent of 56 ft leads to Blencathra’s second top. A small cairn stands on a rock outcrop, the highest point of the south-west ridge, which then continues westwards dropping gradually before rising once again to Blease Fell, but this final high point, with an ascent of only 47ft fails to qualify as a separate summit.

ATKINSON PIKE

In mist navigation is made simpler by returning nearly to Hallsfell Top and then following the Sharp Edge path north to the col above Scales Tarn. In fine weather this top can be bypassed and a beeline made directly for Atkinson Pike. To the north of the col is a large cross made of white quartz piled on the ground. This was built as a memorial to a walker who died near here and was enlarged to its present size by Harold Robbins of Threlkeld. A detour to the right gives spectacular views of Sharp Edge and Scales Tarn.  Continuing northwards Blencathra’s third top is soon reached. The northernmost of the two cairns is the highest point and gives grand views towards the north and looking down upon the flat pancake of Wainwright’s Mungrisdale Common, a fell with no redeeming features at all and surely included in his Northern Fells as a joke or as a penance!

BOWSCALE FELL (Bow-shaped mountain with hut)

A yard or two to the north a small cairn marks the start of the little path which descends round the top of Foule Crag to the col dividing Blackhazel Beck from the Glenderamackin River. To the right tiny figures are silhouetted on the top of Sharp Edge.  From the col head north-east on a small path straight for the summit of Bowscale Fell about a mile away.  The central portion is a bit boggy, but the path soon climbs to higher ground and the windshelter on the summit. A slightly lower cairn a few yards further on is the better viewpoint for High Pike and its surrounding fells, but even from here you can’t see the famous Bowscale Tarn which nestles under crags to the north-east. Much visited by the Victorians, it has two legendary immortal fish and is the subject of one of Wordsworth’s poems.

BANNERDALE CRAGS (Holly Tree Valley Crags)

Heading south over the pathless moor the next objective about a mile away is fringed by a dramatic row of cliffs. After several visits in mist when the top appeared flat and featureless, the first sight of this edge on a clear day was very impressive. Joining a path round the top of the crags, follow the edge and climb to a cairn in a commanding position. The highest point on the flat grassy top is about 100 yards to the west of this cairn and marked by a flattened heap of grey stones. Blencathra dominates the view and it is easy to see how it got its alternative name of Saddleback.  William Gilpin used this mountain as an example of ‘disagreeable lines’ when he toured the Lake District in1772. He invented ‘Picturesque Beauty’ and a theory of correct and incorrect mountains based on whether or not they were pleasing to the eye. However more people remember Blencathra than are ever likely to remember him or his theory.

Returning west to the col at the head of the Glenderamackin River, follow the narrow path on the far side of the infant river to the head of Mousthwaite Comb where you fork right.  A narrow little alpine path curves round the