Walking
the Wainwrights - Carrock Fell to Great Calva
One tends (or at least I tend) to think that everything behind Skiddaw and Blencathra is rather anaemic: mild, rolling slopes, without much drama. Well, that might be true of the fells behind Skiddaw, but not these ones. Here are some pictures (click on any picture for a larger version).
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This is one of the
many Mosedales, on a lovely day in May. Carrock Fell awaits, up
on the right... |
| At this point, only
some 15 minutes after leaving the car, I had quite easily lost the
path, and was struggling up a 1 in 1 slope through a mixture of scree
and high heather. For about half a mile. Carrock Fell is
not my favourite fell... |
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Looking
across at Bowscale Fell, in front of Blencathra, from the top of
Carrock Fell. This was certainly a good place for a shelter - it
was difficult to stand upright, in spite of all the blue sky. |
| Looking
up the Caldew valley towards Skiddaw in the distance. This was
our path back from Great Calva, which is out of sight on the right. |
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Carrock
Fell seen from the west, on the way across to High Pike. You can
see that the north and west flanks of Carrock Fell are somewhat
different from the side I had climbed... |
| The
top of High Pike is a gentle curve, with this pile of stones, a cairn
and a seat erected in memory of a young man, who died at the age of 16
and who "loved all these hills". |
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This
curiosity, unmarked on the OS maps, was a shooting box. All this
area was not a good place to live if you were a grouse. Now the
hut is maintained, less destructively, by the LDNPA as a walker's hut;
my inspection revealed two items: a champagne bottle, and a beer
bottle, both unsurprisingly empty. That is Carrock Fell in the distance, High Pike is up to the left, and Knott is up to the right. |
| From
the top of Knott, looking between Lonscale Fell and Blencathra towards
Thirlmere in the far distance. Great Calva, our next objective,
is in the foreground. |
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This is the
path to Great Calva which, despite all appearances, is not flat - there
is a large depression down to the right. Skiddaw is in the distance. |
| Looking west
from Knott you can see Bassenthwaite Lake (this picture is at full x5
zoom). Is this the only place from where you can see both
Thirlmere and Bassenthwaite Lake? |
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Did I say that
it was windy...? |
| The top of
Great Calva |
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Skiddaw from
the top of Great Calva |
| Blencathra
looks a bit different from this angle, doesn't it? |
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Looking
north-east from Great Calva: Carrock Fell in the distance. |
| This is the
way down into the Caldew valley from Great Calva |
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And this would
be the way up, if anyone were so foolish. At least it's not scree
and heather... |
| Down in the
valley, Samba and Sophie are not speaking to each other... |
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A great place
to finish a long and tiring walk... |
If
you would like to
sponsor me and the dogs in our quest to walk all the Wainwrights for
the Great North Air Ambulance Service, please click here
- and thank you for your
generosity!