You can blame Beefy for the walk in two halves this weekend. I made a list of 5 fells we wanted to pitch on and numbered them 1 to 5. Beefy chose number 1 so High Raise in the far eastern fells it was. We also wanted to go over fells we hadn't been on for a while and planning a route to High Raise proved problematic. The first route was too long, 13 miles and 1500m of ascent so it ended up being 2 walks in essence. We got off the bus at Cow Bridge and our first fell was to be Little Hart Crag and we walked up Caiston Beck to get there.
Middle Dodd and High Hartsop Dodd from near Hartsop Hall
We would be descending High Hartsop Dodd later on, I was wondering if it was a wise thing to do, it is very steep.
Dove Crag and the Stand Crags ridge in front
We had wondered about going up that ridge but couldn't find enough information on it. Our walk as planned was going to be long enough, we didn't want an unknown, difficult ascent that was too time consuming so we will leave that for another day.
Caiston Beck
We stopped for some lunch about 3/4 of the way up the beck. There was a bit if a wind so the midges were kept at bay. We picked up some water to take with us as well. Although it was cloudy it was quite warm and we were drinking a lot of fluid.
Beefy spotted this little fella
Stand Crags ridge from near the foot of Little Hart Crag
There didn't seem to be too much bracken on the top of the ridge, we will be coming back to do this route.
Dovedale and Brothers Water
Beefy on Little Hart Crag
Close up of Red Screes and Middle Dodd
Beefy on High Hartsop Dodd
It seemed very odd descending to attain a summit, I haven't done this top from this direction before I have always ascended it from the valley direct.
Dove Crag, Hart Crag and the Stand Crags ridge
Going down the High Hartsop Dodd ridge
It is very steep in places but it wasn't so bad that it earned a place on the "Never again" list. It does go on the "Won't do that again in a hurry" list though. Sykeside Campsite can be seen on the right. We had a bit of a giggle asking ourselves how much they would have to pay us to stay on it. Not for us, all of those noisy people. We thought £500 each was the amount they would have to pay us to stay there. We mentioned we would never do this again, going onto the fells and then come back down to lots of people and noise before going back up somewhere else to wild camp to escape it again.
Looking back up at High Hartsop Dodd
We walked through Sykeside campsite and along the permissive path toward Hartsop before joining the public footpath over the new replacement footbridge in the hamlet. We are now on the 2nd walk of the day, the walk up to High Raise form Hartsop. We stopped for a banana break near the hydro hut and picked up more water. It was very hot going up by Hayeswater Gill
The Knott seen on the way up to Hayeswater
Hayeswater from the steep route up to the coast to coast path
Looking toward Helvellyn from near The Knott
We didn't climb The Knott we would do that tomorrow. Time was getting on by now, after 5.30pm and we still had a mile or so before we got to High Raise
High Raise seen beyond Rampsgill Head
It was still incredibly hot here and we thought we would pitch first and then find water from Randale Beck if the tarn water on High Raise wasn't up to much. We didn't fancy carrying 3l each from Well Gill, more than a mile away.
Looking down Ramps Gill
Beefy on Rampsgill Head summit
The view south west from Rampsgill Head
It was here the temperature changed, the wind had picked up when we got onto the top and it was like a different day. We dropped down to the col and were dismayed to see people ahead, were they going to be pitching on High Raise? The tarn in the col was dry and we were preparing ourselves for having to get water from Randale Beck a bit of a hike away if the tarn near the summit was also dry. We were pleased to see that tarn was full of water and we found a pitch just beyond it below the summit of High Raise. The people had moved off the summit toward Wether Hill so we were alone. It was almost 6.30 and we were really tired. It had been a long day. We got a layer on and got the tent up
The MSR below High Raise at about 780m
We used the syringe to get the water from the tarn to fill our water bladders, there were lots of insects on it and if we'd just dipped the bladders in we might have scooped a lot of them in. Not good for them or us. It was slightly discoloured the water but once filtered it was clear. We had our tea, we were hungry by now and late for us to eat at 7.30pm. We'd brought Beanfeast Bolognese and I'd made 2 bowl cosies. A few minutes simmering then put it in the bowls, cosies on, 15 minutes later still piping hot and cooked without having to simmer it. We had it with Tesco Medium noodles and we scoffed it down. Then we had some minestrone soup and some cous cous. We opened some wine and got into our bags. We had closed the tent up, it was really cold. The wind was bitter, although not very strong. We were laughing it was the middle of summer, the 23rd June and it was more like winter! We kept peeping outside waiting for the sun to set.
The sunset from High Raise
Beefy got his camera time lapsing and I took these pictures from inside the tent with my camera being placed through the slightly open tent door zip
That is Skiddaw and Blencathra in the background
The sun goes down behind Blease Fell
Beefy's camera time lapsing the sunset
It was a nice sunset, a shame it was a bit cold to get out of the tent to watch it. We had the rest of our wine and we fell asleep instantly, it had been a hard day. Our route was Cow Bridge - Hartsop Hall - Caiston Beck - Little Hart Crag - High Hartsop Dodd - Hartsop Hall - Sykeside Campsite - Hartsop - Hayeswater - Rampsgill Head - tarn below High Raise. 17km with 1,288m of ascent and 672m of descent. It was all the descent on this walk that made it so tough, although there was a lot of climbing too I suppose.
Day 2 to follow