Mrs Brandywell has never been one for ticking off lists of summits, but as she was approaching her 60th birthday, she wondered if it was possible to complete the Wainwrights in less than seven weeks before the big day. After much trawling through her diaries and memories she reckoned she'd done 185, leaving just 29 to do. Looking at the list of what was left to do they were scattered all over the lakes, left for "another day" or too inconvenient to fit into the days walk. I must add that she'd done many of the fells on her own, no mean feat considering she is hopeless at navigating (a failing which she readily admits to) and is happy to follow any old sheep trod.!
I thought they could be done in 11 walks, albeit involving a bit of driving between some of the fells. Kate chose what was to be her final summit and what order to do the walks. I just went along ... for the most part. This is the story . . .
The Fusedale Rim ...and a bit more Bonscale Pike
Arthur's Pike
Loadpot Hill
Wether Hill
Steel Knotts
Hallin Fell
We parked by St. Peter's Church above Howtown. The weather forecast said it was going to be a fine day but it was a bit overcast when we set off, taking a path behind the church which descended under Steel End towards Howtown. The steep western slopes of Bonscale Pike looked a bit intimidating as we walked up the lane to Mellguards and through its courtyard to reach a gate onto the open fellside.
From the gate I usually head straight up on a path above the wall which zigzags up to a gill, but the start of the path was completely overgrown by tall bracken so we carried on left for a short distance before embarking on the direct path which is a lot steeper but has better views which we could appreciate as the weather was improving.
The summit of Bonscale Pike was soon reached, a fine viewpoint for Ullswater. We had a look at the Bonscale Towers before descending south east to cross Swarthbeck Gill and climbed the easy slopes above it to the summit of Arthur's Pike.
The views from Arthur's Pike are ok but the summit is set too far back on the ridge to make them outstanding so we backtracked a little to pick up the Roman road towards Loadpot Hill. The road bypasses the actual summit so we left it at the Lambert Lad boundary stone for a path rising alongside Loadpot Hole directly to the trig point, this appears to be a "new" path that has been created by Wainwright baggers over the years.
The summit of Loadpot Hill is a cheerless place so we passed over it to have a break at the site of Lowther House. Nothing much remains of this former hunting lodge and stables, just the concrete base. The tall chimney that AW sketched is now little more than a heap of stones but I remember it as a substantial landmark that was visible for miles around. We were joined by a group of 8 walkers who had started out from Pooley Bridge and were heading for Wether Hill before descending to Howtown to catch the ferry back to Pooley Bridge, not the first time I've met walkers doing that on these hills.
The walkers departed and we followed them on to Wether Hill. This is right up there with Mungrisdale Common as the most boring/pointless hill. The cairn doesn't even seem to be on the highest point, the wooden stake is of course long gone but the boundary stone, lying on its side, is still there as part of the cairn. The walkers turned off to descend directly towards Fusedale, they must have been anxious to catch the ferry, I've never descended by that way, the map shows a path but it's not very evident on the ground. We carried over the northern top and the col beyond it then angled down to intercept the grooved path near Mere Beck which led down to the ruined hut at the head of Fusedale.
The best part of this walk is the section from the hut to the summit of Steel Knotts (and beyond) which is why we left it to the last. After a boggy crossing to gain the col north of Gowk Hill the path slips round the side of Brownthwaite Crag and over rocky knolls before the final rise to Pikeawassa with wonderful views throughout down to Martindale and the high fells to the west.
I tried to persuade Kate to stand on the sharpest of all the Wainwright summits but she was having none of it.
We had our second break here before continuing over the summit ridge and descended the blunt,and steep, north-west ridge over Birkie Knott back to the car park. After dumping the sacks in the Land Rover two tired spaniels jumped in too, thinking their walk was over for the day. However, they weren't disappointed to be told they had another short walk in the offing . . . the ascent of Hallin Fell and a relaxing sit by the massive cairn from where we could see our day's entire route.
9.25 miles
2,990 ft of ascent
6 Wainwrights done ..... 23 to go
Descending past Steel End towards Mellguards with Bonscale Pike straight ahead
Fusedale from the ascent of Bonscale Pike, Pikeawassa on Steel Knotts is on the right
Hallin Fell from the climb to Bonscale Pike
The foot of Ullswater from the summit of Bonscale Pike
Hallin Fell and Ullswater from the summit of Bonscale Pike
The Bonscale Towers
Loadpot Hill from Bonscale Pike
Pikeawassa
Bannerdale from Steel Knotts
Descending the north-west ridge of Steel Knotts with Hallin Fell, our final summit of the day, straight ahead
Climbing Hallin Fell, Steel Knotts in the middle distance with Loadpot Hill and Wether Hill on the skyline
Martindale from the slopes of Hallin Fell
The summit of Hallin Fell