Below King's How

I crossed over the road bridge at Grange and walked back along the B5289 towards Rosthwaite. My intention was to pick up a path that goes through Cummacatta Wood, as labelled on the OS Map. I'd never been on this path before and judging by the rickety roadside gate at the start of it, not may other people had either. I almost immediately lost the path from the gate in a forest of ferns. These were quite high and very wet and soon my trousers were soaking. I could see the huge crag below King's How and I knew that I needed to go up the wooded slope to the left of the crag's shoulder. After a few damp minutes of fern wading, I happened to find a sketchy path that was heading in that general direction. At some point I was expecting a path to fork off to the right and eventually I found one that had seen a few boots. I followed this for 10 minutes or so and the obvious path gradually became less obvious, then it became sketchy and then it completely disappeared.

Off Piste

I could tell I was on the correct wooded slope and despite zig zagging up I couldn't find an obvious path. I occasionally came across a boot print and so I could tell that humans had travelled through this area at some stage. The slope was quite reasonable, and the going wasn't too difficult underfoot, and so I decided to press on upwards forging my own route. If I found any bleached skeletons holding trekking poles, then I told myself I'd reassess the situation. It was a slow plod up and I could tell that I was coming towards an area called Long Moss. That sounded a bit too boggy to me and so I headed down a small valley that ran parallel to it on its east. I thought the valley would take me on a direct route to Grange Fell, my first Wainwright of the day. It did, but I'd not foreseen that the stone wall running east to west across the fell, would be high and wired too. In the end I had to walk westwards along the wall and cross over it via a stile. At least I was now on what could be defined as a visible path. It felt a luxury after the last hour's events. It wasn't long before I'd found my way up on to Grange Fell's rocky summit. It had been a strange path up from Grange, and probably one that I'll never do again.

Great Crag

I could see Great Crag, my second Wainwright, to the south of me. My original intention was to take a path shown on the OS map down to Watendlath, and then take the path up to Great Crag. From Grange Fell's summit though, I could see another path that appeared to be taking a direct route to Great Crag. This would be shorter and also involve less descent/ascent. It wasn't shown on the OS map, but I decided to chance it anyway. This turned out to be a good choice in that it brought me to the top of the pass between Watendlath and Rosthwaite at point on the maps labelled as Puddingstone Bank, I headed southwards on a reasonable path. I could see some farmers bringing sheep down the fells towards Watendlath, over in the east. They were quite far away, but the sheep were in good voice. Halfway across to Great Crag a small notice indicated a diversion around a boggy area to prevent erosion. On the final ascent to Great Crag I looked back to see a couple and their dog walking across the boggy area. They'd either not seen the sign or ignored it. Great Crag has two summits; the one to the south is supposed to be the higher one, although they both looked a similar height to me. Whichever summit you choose, the views over to Borrowdale and back to Watendlath are amazing.

Dock Tarn

I dragged myself away from Great Crag and headed over to Dock Tarn. This is a gem of a tarn with wonderful reflections and a few rocky islands. I'd not met anybody to talk to since I started the walk. As I stood and took a moment of meditation to appreciate the tranquil scene of Dock Tarn, a group of about a dozen walkers suddenly came around a corner of the path and then stood around me. I was a little overwhelmed with this abrupt reintroduction to civilisation. I tried to make my escape but there were too many people in such a small area for me to get through them. Eventually I was able to forge a way through and continue on a path that would eventually take me down to Stonethwaite Bridge.

Lingy End Path

This was my first time on the Lingy End Path. After I got to the bottom, I vowed that I would only ever go up the path in future. it is a real knee cruncher coming down. A consists of a very steep zigzag of stone steps. It is not a path too rush. It may be a knee cruncher, but it would be extremely difficult to get up and down this route without it. Well done to the path builders.  The surrounding trees gave welcome shade from the sun. When I reached the grassy path at the bottom, I thought about giving a whoop of joy, but settled with a cry of relief for my knees.

I followed the Cumbria Way path back to Rosthwaite. As I approached Rosthwaite's bridge I noticed a man stood on the path seemingly talking to an invisible friend. He had a shopping bag full of canned beer on the ground next to him. We made eye contact as I approached and I said, 'Hello.' He looked confused but returned the greeting. I wondered how he had ended up at Rosthwaite of all places.

The views on this walk were superb, although I'll tweak the route when I do these two Wainwrights with Mo and Calse, later this year. Firstly, I'll go up the Lingy End Path, and secondly, I'd avoid the King's How area altogether; I'd descend on the Watendlath-Rosthwaite path.