Following The Wyth Burn

A track from the carpark ran through the woodland next to the A591 up to the junction with the road leading to the western side of Thirlmere. We followed this road and headed off up the valley that encloses Wyth Burn. I'd talked to a couple of friends who'd walked up this valley and every one of them described the experience in terms of its excessive moisture. As if to affirm their testimony, it stared to rain when we were about half a mile along the valley. It was indeed very moist underfoot and both my feet were soon wet. Even so, it was quite a picturesque valley, with the imposing Nab Crags to our right, and some well resourced waterfalls further up. Some shoulder high ferns increased moisture levels further as we waded through them. Beyond the waterfalls the valley levelled out and the OS map indicated that an area up ahead was know ominously as 'The Bog'. The place name givers weren't wrong and we had to divert to higher ground to bypass the worst of it. At the derelict stone sheepfold at Middle How, we crossed the stream and gradually made our way upwards towards Greenup Edge. I'm not sure whether we followed tracks from previous walkers or those made by iterant sheep. It was probably the latter. The high ferns made it difficult to see any definitive track. The going was actually quite good underfoot and it didn't take us long to get to the pass at Greenup Edge. Some Duke Of Edinburghers arrived at the same time as us and promptly sat down for a rest. Another arrival was an onslaught of driving rain and so we put our waterproofs on. Given the conditions, I was in two minds as to whether to do the out-and-back up to High  Raise, but in the end I thought we were already soaked and so we might as well.

 High Raise And Ullscarf

Looking at the Kapitan's and Cabin Boy's glum faces, maybe I shouldn't have made the decision to go up to High Raise. The rain turned out to be relentless and we were all soaked when we reached the summit. There were no celebrations or lingering for appreciation of the views, we simply reached the trig point and turned around to go back down again. The rain stopped when we got back down to Greenup Edge and the sun came out. It would accompany us for the rest of the afternoon. It was a long, gradual climb up to the summit of Ullscarf. Its summit does have a cairn but it is rather a dull, flat area. We made our way across to a wire fence that would provide a navigational handrail down to Standing Crag. The fence had occasional wooden posts that seemed to have been inserted upside down, with the spike being at the top. This mystefied me at first. Why would you do that...and...why didn't the spike get blunted when the fence builders knocked it in? It was only when I looked on the other side of the post that the mystery was explained. The posts hadn't been knocked into the ground at all. They were in fact attached to an iron post that had been part of the original fence structure. The fence builders were just making use of what was already there. We descended down Standing Crag and made our way to the bridleway that heads to Watendlath to the west, and Thirlmere to the east. We headed off eastwards on it.

Harrop Tarn

We soon reached the Tree Troubler's plantation and entered its world with some trepidation. One never knows what challenges the Tree Troubler's handiwork might throw at you. In fairness, the track through the wood was fairly obvious.  I think I'd struggle to ride a mountain bike along it though. After a while it dropped us out on to a forestry road and this led us to the beautiful Harrop Tarn. I'd seen this tarn dozen's of times from the Helvellyn ridge across the valley and I'd always wondered what it would be like up close. Well, it was stunning. The tarn was blessed with a fine patchwork of water lilies and had a dramatic backdrop of Tarn Crags. There are some stepping stones to lead you across the beck that runs from the tarn towards Thirlmere, but we decided to use the nearby footbridge instead. It was while crossing the bridge that I dropped one of my trekking poles into the beck below. 'That's a gonner!' the Cabin Boy explained with a hint of glee. It was a steep, almost vertical drop down from the banks of the beck to the stream bed but with some scrambling I was able to hook it out with my remaining trekking pole. The Cabin Boy scowled in disappointment.

Return

We followed a track running alongside a stone wall over to Birk Crag and continued following it down towards the valley bottom. The OS map had the track turning northwards under Birk Crag and if I'd not been looking, I'd have probably missed the start of it. The path was reasonably well made but had been overgrown by ferns and was difficult to see. A huge dome of rock called Binka Stone was next to the road below and provided a good target to aim for. After all the rough walking over the last hour, it was quite a relief to reach the flat tarmac of the Thirlmere road. We walked along the road back to Wythburn. There were quite a few cars in the Steel End carpark. I checked the carpark ticket prices and they were the same extortionate sum as the Wythburn carpark. The United Utilities CEO must be rubbing her hands with glee. We followed the same trail back through the woods alongside the A591 as we'd used this morning. At one point we heard what sounded like a deafening mobile disco progressing along the road. We came across the source of this acoustic assault when we approached the track to the carpark; three mountain bikers were resting at the side of the road and had a ghetto blaster in one of their panniers. 

It had been a surprisingly picturesque walk. I can confirm that the Wyth Burn valley is indeed very moist. Harrop Tarn is well worth the effort to visit.