Sorry, this is a big one!
Day 1
We had to make the best of the weather this weekend with Saturday being the only nice day. We were out on a 2 nighter and we started off from Gatesgarth at 11.35. There were sunny spells and it wasn't that windy, not a bad day at all as we started up the path over Scarth Gap
Buttermere from the ascent
Fleetwtith Pike and Warnscale
Robinson, Dale Head and Fleetwith Pike from Scarth Gap
We were descending into Ennerdale from Scarth Gap, we wanted to camp near Haycock or Caw Fell.
The Gables and Kirk Fell from Scarth Gap
On the way down the traverse path to the memorial footbridge
The path is loose and awkward to descend it took longer to get to the footbridge than it had to ascend to Scarth Gap from Buttermere. We stopped for lunch near the footbridge. It was windier by now so we didn't stop for long.
Fungi in Ennerdale Forest
We walked through the forest path ascending to Low Beck through the forest, wet, rough and endless!
We then started climbing up Haycock on the Tewit How path, pathless at first until we met the path from Lingmell
Across to Ennerdale
Haycock and Little Gowder Crag
Almost at the ridge wall below Haycock, looking back at our way up
Spot the tent, some wild campers had got a great spot on the Tewit How ridge.
Looking back toward Scoat Fell and Steeple
Beefy on Haycock
We were surprised to see other people about, it was almost 5pm and a long way back down if they weren't camping out. We timed it just right getting on the summit in between two couples.
The Scafells from Haycock
We dropped down toward Little Gowder Crag and got some water from a little tarn on the way.
The MSR pitched below Little Gowder Crag
We have pitched here twice before and it is a great place that provides shelter if not the flattest pitch.
We had some tea and opened the wine. We were inside the tent it was quite cold up on the tops and it was blustery.
The start and finish of the sunset
No sunset view, the cloud had built up too much. We had the rest of our wine, pleased we'd had a good day, we knew the next day poor weather would be arriving.
Day 1 was Gatesgarth - Scarth Gap - Memorial Bridge in Ennerdale - Low Beck - Tewit How - Haycock - Little Gowder Crag 11.3km with 1070m ascent.
Day 2
It started raining overnight and it had clagged in. No views from Caw Fell for us
Beefy on Caw Fell
The wind was stronger today and the rain was being blasted into our faces. We were descending to the Ennerdale Valley to pitch and we started the descent down Tongue End. This ridge is unnamed on the OS map but AW names it in the Western Fells book. As we got lower the wind got less and the rain stopped for a while
A gap in the mist and we had a bit of a view
Looking back Caw Fell was now out of the low mist, typical
Great Borne from nearer Woundell Beck
Fungi
We took a path on the right side of Woundell Beck and found a home made shelter
Shame there is lots of rubbish left here. Too much for us to carry out. An example of how NOT to wild camp
On the way through the forest road eastward toward Black Sail Hut
We stopped for lunch but not for long. The wind was blustery again and the rain was on and off.
River Liza
Pillar Rock
Looking back at the Black sail Hut
The MSR beside the River Liza near Ashcrag Holme
It was early when we pitched about 1.30 I think but we were pretty wet and the wind was really strong. We thought this would provide the best shelter for us. We got our wet things off and had a brew and warmed up inside the tent.
Seat and High Crag
We had a bit of a sleep before we had our tea then we had some wine and didn't bother even looking out for the sunset. The clag had rolled in and it rained on and off for the rest of the day.
Day 2 was Little Gowder Crag - The Tongue - Ennderdale Forest - Black Sail Hut - Ashcrag Holme 12.9km with 302m ascent
Day 3
Next day we were lucky that it stopped raining when we were putting the tent away and it was still dry as we left our campsite. We were going up The Tongue toward Moses Trod.
The footbridge over the River Liza and the route up The Tongue ending up in clag
We couldn't wait to get up into that lot.
Looking back at the Ennerdale Valley
Another tent had pitched near Ashcrag Holme, they were having a lie in.
On the way to The Tongue
Getting across Loft Beck was difficult because of the amount of water in it and we had to descend to the where it joined River Liza to get across it.
Looking back down The Tongue to Ennerdale
Waterfall in Tongue Beck
The rain came as we got to the waterfall and we were in the clag for quite a while. We turned toward the Drum House when we got to Moses Trod. It was very wet underfoot and the weather was pretty awful, wind driving the rain into our faces.
A glimpse of a view down to Buttermere from Moses Trod
We got to the Drum House and reached the Honister Pass half an hour later. We had about 10 minutes to wait for 11.09 bus. We waited until 11.15 and it hadn't turned up. We had got really cold so we started walking to Seatoller to catch the 78 instead which run every half an hour. I then remembered it was Sunday Service and there was no 11.09 Honister Rambler, this only runs Mon - Sat. I must read the timetable more carefully. What a dipstick I am.
Day3 was Ashcrag Holme - The Tongue - Moses Trod - Drum House - Honister Pass - Seatoller 10km with 464m ascent. It had been a challenging weekend again with poor weather but Saturday had been great.