Valley Walking

The route over to Wast Water didn’t look that interesting on the OS map. It turned out to be a lovely route along bridleways and through fields. It didn’t really feel like field hopping though, since the high crags of Buckbarrow to the north and Whin Rigg to the south seemed to dominate the landscape. We even bagged Woodhow Tarn, although it was tucked away on private land and we didn’t get a view of it. The route brought us to the River Irt, where we used Lund Bridge to cross it and then followed it upstream. We did a short out-and-back along the inlet to the river in order to get a better view of Wast Water. It was along this path they we came across a wooden sign that said ‘Public Footpath Via Screes - Crosses Steep And Loose Ground With Natural Boulder Slopes.’ There was another sign next to it on which somebody had inscribed ‘Shity (sic) Path.’  I’ve seen photos of the ‘path’ along the east side of Wast Water and I would think shity is a reasonable description. We only ventured as far as a stone building where we were presented with an incredible view along Wast Water. It was well worth the short out-and-back. After taking photos we headed back along the river for a while. Our next task would be to tackle that rather steep looking slope on our left. 

Whin Rigg

I expected the path up to Whin Rigg to be a muddy, slippery, midgey, steep and a fern car-wash of a path. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was much better than my expectations, although I have to admit that it was steep. There were tremendous views across and down the Wasdale valley. Some sections of the path even had stone steps built. I wondered why there had been such investment on a footpath that looked rather isolated on the OS map. I could only think that the path gets a lot of walkers from the nearby Wasdale Hall Youth Hostel. We were all sweating when we reached the top of the steepest section and were thankful when the path headed off on an easier gradient towards Whin Rigg. I’d told the Kapitan and Cabin Boy that we’d have a break when we reached the Wainwright summit, but we found another walker laid out on his back, possibly having a nap. In order not to disturb him we settled ourselves at a nearby subsidiary crag.

As we chomped on our snacks I looked to the northwest and could see a bank of rain dragging its heels from the coast towards us. The sun was out on Whin Rigg, but I reckoned that it wouldn’t be long before we got hit by the approaching maelstrom. 

Irton Pike

We walked southwestwards along the wide valley ridge towards Irton Pike whilst keeping a weather eye on the storm to our right. The sun disappeared, giving us a grey cloud ceiling. I felt a few spots of rain on my arm. Miraculously, that was as bad as it got since the rain cloud made an abrupt left turn and started going down the Wasdale valley. The hills must have channelled the wind down the valley and took the rain cloud with it. What luck! The route from Whin Rigg to Irton Pike was mostly downhill, but exceedingly moist. I’d bought some Sealskinz waterproof socks and it turned out to be a good test for them; my feet remained completely dry over this terrain. At one point we breached a hillock and came face to snout with a herd of cows. They were sociable enough though and let us through without any problems. The Cabin Boy wasn’t happy though. 

The last section of the walk to Irton Pike went through a forestry plantation. It was a bit muddy and we had to swerve a few times to avoid the wet branches, but we soon reached the craggy summit of the peak. The open views from its summit were stunning, especially after the claustrophobic forestry plantation. We sat down to have some lunch and admire the views. I seem to have climbed Irton Pike quite a few times over the last few years. It seemed quite odd for such a remote and lowly peak. It is such a lovely viewpoint though and well worth the small effort to climb. After being fed and watered, we packed up and set off on our descent through the forestry plantation.

Rainy Finish

It was on the descent that the heavens opened. The rain worked its way up into a frenzy. We stood under the forestry plantation trees for a while to avoid the worst of it. Even so, we were still getting wet and after about 10 minutes of waiting we decided to plod on. After joining the road, we headed towards Santon Bridge, trying to avoid the spray from any passing cars. I was grateful when we left the road and joined the bridleway to London Head. On a better day, the next section of the route would have been a delight to walk. The footpath went along woodland tracks and forestry roads. Today though, it was a bit of a nightmare. The track soon became a stream. Water ran down my legs and into my waterproof socks. They soon acted as water buckets (I really needed gaiters on). The rain got more intense and we decided to shelter again under some large trees. There was so much rain that a waterfall ran down the trunk of one of the trees. After a few minutes we were so drenched it didn’t really matter whether we sheltered or plodded on. We plodded on. The route took us to the west of Latterbarrow. This craggy hill is an Explorer hill and on a better day I might have suggested including it on our walk. The weather was impossible though and there were also a couple of ‘Private - No Access’ signs on the forestry tracks that headed towards the summit. We left the trees and made our way across a large field to the road. It was Sod’s Law that despite the grazing options in this massive field, a herd of cows had congregated near our exit point. There was even one having a crap next to the stile. The Cabin Boy looked nervous again and she was first over the stile once the cow had completed its movements. The rain was still unrelenting as we made our way along the road back to Nether Wasdale. An hour after we’d got back to our holiday let, the sun was out and beaming as though the rain had been a figment of our imaginations.

Plan B had turned out to be an excellent walk. The footpaths around this area of the Wasdale valley were much more interesting than I expected. It would have been even better on a drier day though.