6-7th July 2020
A meander over Carrock Fell, Knott and Great Calva into the wilderness of the upper Caldew valley.
Lockdown has ended – let loose at last! But where to go?
After much pondering, which included Langdale (the Howgills one), High Street from the east, Helvellyn from the north, I decided upon a hike over the empty country “Back O’Skiddaw”, and see where my feet took me. The weekend was a washout and a bit of a blow was on too, so I went for Monday night, parking up at Mosedale, north of Mungrisdale (just south of the Caldew bridge) and getting on the hill at about 11:20, a little late perhaps, but that is no disadvantage if you are camping out.
Up over Carrock Fell first. I had spotted a path on the map, winding its way up the steep eastern end of Carrock Fell, so I thought that I would give it a go. Unfortunately this was not the well made miners track that I had hoped for, but a steep, loose, eroded and downright nasty climb up scree and then a gully, no fun at all with a 10kg pack! And it was like Picaddilly Circus – I overhauled a group of 6 strung out along the gully, and met a solo walker and two mountain bikers with their bikes across their shoulders who were descending. What a relief to break out onto the more open heathery slopes above! Bilberries and fine views helped me up to the summit, where I donned Gore Tex as it was pretty windy.
After a pie and a fruit bar, I continued westwards, weaving my way through a watery maze before the going improved as I climbed up towards the col south of High Pike. I was passed twice by a man not in the first flush of youth who was riding an electric mountain bike. High Pike was off route and didn’t look very interesting from this direction, so an easy decision was made to leave it for another day. I had planned to go over Great and Little Lingy tops, but I had spotted the Lingy bothy and the well used track leading to it, and I fancied a look – good call as the hut was in a beautiful spot, and it was a good place to take a rest out of the wind. Had a socially distanced chat with a couple who arrived shortly after I did – the hut is just big enough to allow this!
The couple departed, and it was with some regret that I did the same shortly afterwards – but it was too early in the day to think of stopping, and I’m wary about sharing for the night right now. The path continued towards Knott, and was boggy for a while, becoming drier as the path climbed steeply onto the grassy eastern ridge. The summit was a good viewpoint, and I’m sure that there must be some good pitches nearby, but it was still rather too early to be thinking of calling it a day.
I descended south westwards down easy grassy slopes towards Little Calva. The sun made an appearance and I stopped half way down the final slope and had a laze on the heathery grass – my daydreaming ended abruptly when a large dark cloud made an appearance and blotted out the sun – time to move! I didn’t see much point in climbing to the top of broad boggy Little Calva; instead I took the path that made a rising traverse towards the summit cone of Great Calva. The path turned out to be very boggy, the ground quivering at times.
The wind had really picked up now, and I decided against trying to camp high. Little Calva didn’t look too inspiring in any case. I hurried southwards, down wet heathery slopes that seemed interminable. I was starting to cast my eye around for a likely pitch, but all I saw was exposed heather and bog, so I pressed on up to Skiddaw House hostel. After a snack to restore flagging mind and body, I turned north eastwards down a good path that descended towards the young River Caldew, pleasant late afternoon walking but still no likely pitch. By now I had my sights set upon Wiley Gill, which runs between Great Calva and Knott. I turned off the main path and entered an untrodden land of heather, bracken and bog – I began to lose heart. But I had to press on, and eventually my persistence paid off and I found a tiny grassy pitch near the stream – luckily I have a tiny tent!
The tent was new to me (Lightwave T10 Trek), and I was still getting used to it, but I had it pitched and secure by 1900, despite there being a lot of rocks lurking just under the surface. Snacked and dozed until 2100, when the sun made a brief appearance.
I had a pretty good night in the tent, my only company being the rumbustious Wiley Beck a few metres away – at one stage I awoke with a start dreaming that the noise of the beck was a quad bike approaching me in the middle of the night! Up and away after left over hard tack at 0520 – I like to start early. Unfortunately the clouds were down on the higher fells, but at least the wind had dropped.
I fought my way back through the heather and bracken to regain the main track, and from here I enjoyed a very pleasant amble back down to Mosedale, in no particular hurry to get anywhere.
I resisted the temptation to just head on down the road to the car, and instead turned up the Grainsgill Beck valley to have a poke around the disused Tungsten mines – MORE DETAILS HERE. My heart wasn’t really in it, to be honest, and I soon made my way back down to the main valley.
The public road down Mosedale makes for pleasant walking – to the left are the steep scree and juniper covered slopes of Carrock Fell, whilst to the right is the lush green farmland of the valley floor, with the slopes of Bowscale Fell beyond. I was delighted to get a good long view of a red squirrel, running along the top of a dry stone wall to the safety of some trees perhaps 100m away.
17 miles in total. A good first post lockdown wild camp with the new tent.
Originally published on WalkingForum.co.uk
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