The Caldbeck Rambler was a busy bus on Saturday, all the seats taken and when we got on the Honister Rambler in Keswick that was packed too. By the time we got to Portinscale a big group got on and they had to stand in the aisle. The bus just managed to get up the pass to Honister, it struggled a bit under the weight of all the people on it. One poor man had to get off a couple of times to be sick. He got a round of applause when he got back on the second time
The bus driver still managed to reach Buttermere at the correct time. We got off there and we were pleased to have solitude and peace as we walked toward Scale Bridge. We were off to do Mellbreak, Hen Comb, Gavel Fell, Blake Fell and maybe wild camp on Carling Knott depending on how far we got.
Nice colours at Scale Bridge
Mellbreak ahead
Grasmoor, Whiteless Pike and Rannerdale Knotts across Crummock Water
The path to Scale Force is a bit of a pain to walk over, wet, slippery rocks with muddy boggy bits that catch you unawares. Don’t they Beefy?
The views are lovely though and then you have the reward of Scale Force at the end too.
We didn’t see a soul until we got to Scale Force. The buses had been so busy we expected hordes of people about and we were surprised that there weren’t more.
Scale Force
Beefy climbed up over the slippery rocks to the foot of the waterfall and I chatted to some holiday makers from New Zealand who said they were enjoying the Lake District and the lovely autumnal colours. Beefy eventually returned safely, it is a rather precarious scramble up and he said he had some good footage of the waterfall. I’ve seen it since and it is really special
We dropped down to Scale Beck and had some lunch before tackling Mellbreak. There was hardly any wind and we were glad there was enough cloud cover because it was hot enough on the way up without the sun beating down on us. Our legs were feeling a bit tired as we climbed up and we rested them gratefully while we stopped to chat to a really nice lady and man descending Mellbreak with two lovely dogs with them
Beefy on Mellbreak. We were struggling a bit, it’s odd how sometimes you have less energy than usual but for no apparent reason.
Where we were going next Hen Comb, Gavel Fell and Blake Fell
The same way back down Mellbreak, this time with the lovely view in front of us
Grasmoor and Whiteless Pike
Red Pike and High Stile
We turned right heading toward Mosedale and the footbridge below Thrang Crags. The tall grass and a bit of bracken here and there impeded progress and it was hard going getting to the bridge on the pathless route I chose. Beefy really enjoyed this one
After a rest beside Thrang Crags after the steep climb up we used the traverse path to the fence and then turned left to finish the climb up to Hen Comb
Above Thrang Crags on the way up Hen Comb
A bit of Grasmoor above Mellbreak
Still a way to go to the top of Hen Comb
Beefy on Hen Comb top
Whiteside and Grasmoor above Mellbreak
Robinson, Fleetwith Pike, Red Pike and Pillar from Hen comb
We’d taken longer than I thought we would to get onto Hen Comb and I thought we would be hard pressed to get over Blake Fell and onto Carling Knott to pitch before it got dark. We descended Hen comb and crossed Whiteoak Moss and it was quite dry after the dryish spell we’ve had but it is rough walking and I was cream crackered by the time we reached the fence line that leads to Gavel Fell. We decided to pitch somewhere on Gavel Fell grabbing some water from Grain Gill on the way up. Grain Gill should be renamed Grain bog. There was just a boggy pool and descending down to any running water meant walking through very wet marshy ground. We settled for some from the pool but is was brown and didn’t look very nice. There were some sheep bones a few feet away from the bog as well and we weren’t that happy at the thought of drinking the water as we climbed up Gavel Fell.
Getting hazy as we look back from the slopes of Gavel Fell
We got to Gavel Fell top and saw a flat area just below the summit. There was hardly any wind and it was even more sheltered there. It was 17.40 and I couldn’t imagine anyone being out here now unless they were wild camping so we pitched for the night.
Our pitch on Gavel Fell
We filtered the water and boiled it for our cous cous and soup. The water looked less brown after it was filtered and the soup and cous cous tasted ok. The cloud had thickened during the day so we didn’t get a sunset. We had some wine snuggled inside the tent and we were happy we had no visitors walk by us this time. So much for us saying we were going to pitch well away from any paths after last weekend
The water didn’t make us ill thank goodness.
Our route was Buttermere - Scale Bridge - Scale Force - Mellbreak - Thrang Crags - Hen Comb - Whiteoak Moss - Gavel Fell. 11.7km with 947m of ascent and 549m descent.
Day 2 to follow. We got a sunrise...