Or at least most of them: Grike, Crag Fell, Caw Fell and Haycock, all on the south-western side of Ennerdale. A walk which confirmed my ability to lose whatever path exists, especially in the first half hour of any walk. I really concentrated this time, but to no avail: my excuse is that the path disappeared under bracken, and anyway didn't follow AW's map. The result was that we also disappeared under the bracken, which was even higher than in Langdale - but at least the individual plants were strong enough for me to use to pull myself up the hill. Sophie just burrowed, of course, and wondered what the problem was...
Here
are the pictures
(click on any picture for
a larger version):
 |
We
parked the car just beyond the point on Ennerdale Water where the River
Ehen starts its life, flowing out of the lake towards the sea. |
| This
picture was taken some 40 minutes later, when we had lost the track and
decided to climb the flank of Crag Fell up the side of Ben Gill - not
that we could see the gill, due to the 8ft high bracken. But,
delightfully, since I was wearing shorts, we encountered no
brambles. You will not have seen either this picture before,
or the next one... |
 |
 |
This
is Ben Gill, which disappears down to the right for some
distance. We should have been on the other side, and we needed to
get to the top... Lovely heather again, all day! |
| We
are now out of the bracken and at the top of Ben Gill. The path -
yes, we found a path at last - goes up to the right across the heather. |
 |
 |
The
top of Grike, the western-most of all the Wainwrights. Two large
cairns in the middle of vast acres of grass. |
| A
mile away is Crag Fell, equally uninteresting at the top but with some
good views.. |
 |
 |
up
and across Ennerdale. |
| From
Crag Fell we had a 3-mile hike down and then up to Caw Fell, which must
be one of the most remote fells in Lakeland. On the way we caught
this less than delightful view of Sellafield, my least favourite place
in Cumbria (I live directly down-wind of it, and am not impressed with
its history of accidents and secrecy). |
 |
 |
Caw Fell,
looking east towards Scoat Fell in the distance. Our last
objective, Haycock, is just out of sight on the right. |
| This is the
view from Caw Fell across Ennerdale towards Grasmoor in the far
distance. Starling Dodd, Red Pike and High Stile are nearer. |
 |
 |
From Caw Fell
you drop down and then climb up past Little Gowder Crag to Haycock, on
the right. |
| At the top of
Haycock we caught just a glimpse of Wastwater (can you see it?), behind
Middle Fell. Seatallan is to the right. |
 |
 |
Here, from
Haycock, you can see most of our route so far: Caw Fell is to the left,
Crag Fell to the far right, with Grike the dark felltop beyond
it. Lank Rigg, the light-coloured fell beyond Caw Fell, is for
another day. |
| Our path down to Ennerdale lies to the right, down through heather to the forest, and then to the lake. |  |
 |
Here's some of
the heather |
| and here's the
forest. |
 |
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At least we
have some deciduous trees here, and they do make a difference. |
| On the path
back round the southern side of the lake. |
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|
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If
you would like to
sponsor me and Sophie in our quest to walk all the Wainwrights for
the Great North Air Ambulance Service, please click here
- and thank you for your
generosity!