Ascent To Blencathra

We parked near to Scales, along the A66 at the foot of Blencathra.  The hill consists of five massive buttresses that reach up to the long summit edge. It is a spectacular mountain seen from the south. The footpath from the A66 led us to Scales Fell, the most easterly buttress and we started to ascend it  on a track that had a reasonably gentle ascent. There was a good view over to the snow covered Dodds in the south. The path started to zig-zag and soon we found ourselves over the brow of the buttress with a glorious view of Blencathra's snowy summit. Further north, the impressive Striding Edge came into view. I couldn't see anyone walking along its narrow ridge which wasn't that surprising given the conditions. We met the snowline and also quite a few people making their way up and down. The descenders must have had an early start to have reached the top and to be making their way down. The path followed the edge and had wonderful views along Blencathra's buttresses. A cold wind hit us near the top and it got icy underfoot. I wished that I'd put my new boots on to get better traction. We spent a few minutes on the summit soaking in the tremendous views. I started to get a little chilly and so we set off westwards to continue our traverse of Blencathra.

Descent

It had been quite a few years, possibly decades since I'd tramped across the western side of Blencathra. I wondered why that should be. I figured that it might be because I was always more attracted to the eastern side of Blencathra and those dramatic views of Sharp Edge. That had been a shame since the views on the descent on the western side of the mountain are just as good. Over to the right was the massive snow-capped lump of Skiddaw. Straight ahead was Keswick and Derwent Water with the backdrop of the north western fells. On my left I looked down into St John's In The Vale and the snowy Dodds beyond. On closer inspection, I spotted the Castlerigg stone circle down in the valley below. It looked tiny from this position. At the end of the main edge ,the path zig-zagged down on a fairly easy gradient. We got below the snowline and out of the wind. The day started to warm up.

Valley Walking

The path dropped down to the road end at the Blencathra Centre. We wandered through the collection of buildings. A woman was giving a group of girls some navigation training in front of the main building. We found our way back on to the road and this brought us down into Threlkeld. The village always seems longer than I expect and it seemed to take a while to walk down the main street. The pubs appeared to be doing good business with the smell of Sunday lunches drifting from the premises.

We crossed the busy A66 and picked up a footpath along the pretty River Glenderamackin. There were superb views across the fields to the huge mass of Blencathra. It was hard to believe that we'd been up there and walked along that snowy edge. The track along the river was a little muddy and it got even muddier when we had to cross a waterlogged field back to the A66. Despite it looking like a lake we managed to find firmer ground without getting too wet. Some sheep started trotting across to us in one of the fields and we soon gained quite a noisy collection of them behind us. They baa'd in disgust when we deserted them by going into an adjacent field. We climbed back to the busy A66 and made the short journey back to the carpark near Scales.

It had been a glorious day of sunshine and snow. The traverse of Blencathra's edge is so spectacular that I doubt that I'll leave it too long before doing it again.