OVER THE HILL HIKES LAKELAND #1

^{Traversing a spectacular gorge, going to the dogs and “passing” into the valley of my youth.}

In a separate blog I recall losing interest in a lot of things, including hill walking, as I approached 70. I describe how, a few months after my birthday, I visited the Lake District and, to my surprise, completed a couple of walks that had a powerful impact on my state of mind and helped me turn a corner towards a more positive outlook that included reviving my enjoyment of mountain walking.

Today, I’ve got a bus pass: youngsters have infuriatingly offered me their seat on the bus and there are those who might cruelly consider me to be on “borrowed time” and yet despite all evidence to the contrary I try not to think of myself as an old man.

This blog, and the next one in my new “Over The Hill Hikes” (OTHHs) series, provide details of the routes taken for anyone who’d like to follow in our footsteps. They are the first in a series where I plan to describe walks completed since I turned 70 and rediscovered the fells as my happiest of “happy places”.

There are many excellent guide books and web-sites devoted to describing Lakeland walks. I hope to differ from these by trying to explain how these walks feel from the perspective of one rapidly growing “as old as the hills”, as well as providing straightforward route guidance. I’ll also try to inject a bit of humour along the way, because, lets face it, if you can’t laugh at some of the consequences of the ageing process, you’d surely cry – you’d also be missing a good joke!

So, here goes. A route around an area I’ve explored so many times, but never has it had such an impact on me.

WALK	A circuit of two of the Langdale Pikes, returning via Martcrag Moor and the Stakes Pass.
START /FINISH	The Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (ODG), Great Langdale, where there is a National Trust car park (NY 286061). You could park at the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, but in doing so would give yourself a longer walk back down the valley at the end of the day and miss the opportunity to finish with refreshment at one of the most iconic pubs in the Lakes.
DISTANCE	6.6m (but felt further).
ASCENT	2,283ft
TERRAIN	Valley walking, a steep, continuous climb to reach the Pikes, but on a generally good footpath, with the possibility of a bit of soft, boggy ground on the crossing from Pike O’Stickle to the top of Stakes Pass.
PUB	Its got to be the  ODG.

The view of the Langdale Pikes from the valley floor near Elterwater provides a grand, dramatic mountain vista as good as any in the national park and is one of the most photographed and painted views in the Lakes. Wainwright considered that:

“No mountain group better illustrates the dramatic appeal of a sudden rising of the horizontal to the vertical.”

Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel to Dungeon Ghyll.

From the car park, head behind the hotel and turn right to join a path running along the base of the fells. This is part of the Cumbria Way, a 70-mile linear footpath linking Carlisle with Ulverston, visiting Coniston and Keswick and passing through Langdale, Borrowale and the Skiddaw Forest.

This section of the Way is an undulating path providing a gentle warm-up for the challenges ahead. It was the main thoroughfare through the valley before the hotels were constructed and the roads appeared.

New Dungeon Ghyll to Harrison Sickle.

Just before the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (at NY293065), turn left up the Dungeon Ghyll path and after a short distance ignore a path turning left (at NY292065), which is bound for Loft Crag.

Dungeon Ghyll comprises three ravines, parts of which are visible from our path, but the popular Dungeon Ghyll Force is hidden amongst trees in the lower ravine and requires a detour to view it.

Our route initially keeps Dungeon Ghyll well to the left and follows the ridge between it and Stickle Ghyll. After passing over Pike Howe the path draws closer to the ghyll and finishes along a breathtakingly dramatic, but perfectly safe, section that hugs the bottom of a scree slope above the upper ravine.

Arriving at the top of the Ghyll you meet a junction of paths, where you turn right (at NY279074) and then right again (at NY281074) to head up to Harrison Stickle.

Here we were surprised to see a man stood on top of the summit rocks apparently shouting angrily at the sky. I thought this fulminating-fellsman was a troubled individual indulging in a daytime variant of barking at the moon, until I spotted his two sheep dogs herding a flock along a precipitous sheep trod on the other side of Dungeon Ghyll.  A fellow walker seemed very put out by the farmer’s antics, loudly criticising him for being “irresponsible” and “failing to control his dogs”: he seemed a little embarrassed when we told him the shouty guy was a farmer and they were working dogs.

The view from Harrison Stickle is one of the most extensive in the Lake District. Turning clock-wise from the north, on a fine day you will see the Skiddaw group, Blencathra, the whole of the Helvellyn range, the Kentmere fells, Windermere and its surrounding hills, the Coniston fells, nearby Bowfell and Esk Pike (with Scafell Pike peeping out between them), the Gables, Glaramara, Grasmoor and the north western fells. A real “who’s who” of Lakeland.

Harrison Stickle to Stakes Pass.

From Harrison Stickle retrace your steps towards the top of Dungeon Ghyll and continue to Pike O’Stickle, where another fine 360-degree view awaits, as extensive as that from Harrison Stickle.

From Pike O’Stickle head north-west across Martcrag Moor to reach the Stake Pass. The path is well managed for most of the way, but can be boggy in places after wet spells. A very short and very loud Scottish lady heading in the opposite direction anxiously asked us if there were any more bogs, as she’d already really struggled with a few. As we parted, she explained her difficulty by pleading that “I’ve only got short legs”. Short legs, but a big mouth I thought (but I kept this thought to myself,for fear of receiving a Glasgow kiss from the Jimmy Krankie tribute act).

We didn’t mind the crossing of Martcrag Moor. Although it is rather nondescript, we thought this was more than compensated for by the views to our left over Mickledore – a side valley at the head of Great Langdale – towards Bowfell and The “Band”, a long, wide ridge running up towards the summit of Bowfell from the valley. Wainwright was less impressed, describing the surroundings as “dull”. The legendary old curmudgeon was hard to please.

Stake Pass to Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel.

After reaching Stake Pass (at NY265086) near its highest point we turn left to follow a long and well-maintained trail zig-zagging down into Mickledore. The pass terminates at a sheep fold where we are joined from the right by another path coming down Rossett Ghyll from Angle Tarn.

The Stake Pass links Langdale with Borrowdale and if we’d turned right at the top, rather than left, we’d have descended into Borrowdale via what is my favourite Lakeland valley, Langstrath (literally meaning “Long Valley”). If you’re in Borrowdale I’d strongly recommend exploring this green and pleasant wonderland set deep amongst the encircling fells of Allen Crags and Glaramara on one side and Rossett Pike on the other. Lovers of solitude combined with nature on a grand scale will feel at home there.

Finally, follow an easy path along Mickledore to return to the ODG for welcome refreshment. Along this path you pass below a neolithic axe factory situated on the south facing screes below Pike O’Stickle. An intrusion of a narrow vein of very hard and durable stone in the volcanic rock provided the raw material for those hardy ancients who literally did have an axe to grind.

Like many Lakeland pubs, the ODG has an interesting history.  The hotel started life as a farm and inn and was originally known as the Middle Fell Inn. Since then, it has been extended at either end, with a stable becoming a dining room and (later) a shippon becoming what is now the famous climbers’ bar, where a pint can be enjoyed in the old cow stalls. The inn was given to the National Trust in the early 1900’s, the first place they owned in Langdale and continued as a hotel and farm up to 1949, when the shippon became the bar and the property completed the transition from fleecing sheep to fleecing tourists.

Here endeth a great walk, in the valley where I spent much of my youth and enjoyed so many long, happy days. If you’re new to Langdale, I hope you collect as many happy memories as I have and come to love it as much as I do.

DISCLAIMER

I can take no responsibility for any loss or injury caused by following the above walk. The description is an accurate outline of the route and should enable you to follow the walk on an OS map, but the walk should not be attempted without a map, compass and the ability to use them!