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Yesterday Jo, Angie, Jill and myself parked at Stoneycroft in the Newlands valley with the intention of adding three new peaks to Angie's Wainwright count. In the event Angie, together with Jill, added six peaks although Jo and I ducked out of the last one. It was quite a bright day with a wind which was a bit variable, sometimes chilly and sometimes not so. We opted to miss out on Rowling End in part because Bethan had been a bit wayward the previous day and the start of Rowling End offers endless possibilities to fall off a cliff! So we took the easy rising path and the zig zags up to Sleet Hause from where a steep rocky ascent leads to the summit of Causey Pike. Then over the excellent ridge to Scar Crags for lunch. After lunch it was on to Sail - to find the little puddle at the summit dry for once. Our original plan had been to return from Sail and drop down to do Outerside and Barrow. But Angie announced that she had not climbed Crag Hill so on we went to Crag Hill! The route from Crag Hill down to Coledale Hause would have involved a descent almost to Force Crag and a steep climb back up to High Moss to get back to Stoneycroft. But I remembered the "shelf route" described by Wainwright which I climbed last year. If I could find the start (half way down Eel Crag) we might avoid having to lose too much height as a level traverse to High Moss seemed possible from the bottom of the shelf. So, off we set down the scree slopes of Eel Crag. Sure enough a small cairn half way down marked the point at which a sharp right turn brought us to the top of the grassy shelf route. What a great way down it turned out to be - even having a spring at the bottom to refresh the dogs. We were joined on our descent of this very Unfrequented Wainwright Route by Martin from Norfolk who had started from Stoneycroft at the same time as us and was happy to trust me that the shelf route did exist and might lead somewhere we wanted to go! From the bottom of the shelf we were able to traverse with little loss of height over trackless (but easy) ground to the sheepfold at Long Comb from where a gentle and short climb brought us to High Moss. From there we made the short climb to the summit of Outerside where we posed for photos with Angie's Thwaites "Wainwright" flag! Then it was on to Stile End and down to Barrow Door. Jo had to get back to York last night and Martin and I volunteered to accompany her back to Stoneycroft like the gentlemen we were. Angie and Jill left us to traverse Barrow and return to Stoneycroft via the bridleway at the foot of the north ridge. Martin has my email so we may see more of him if he decides to join the OFC. Angie and Jill returned to Loweswater safely after fish and chips in Keswick, Jo got back to York after a rest at her caravan and I had an excellent takeaway and Polly snored disgustingly all evening and most of the night!  A full album is available on Webshots http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/563817257prxFNj |
