After a relaxing day yesterday,
we set off to Wasdale Head, where we parked on the Green.
We walked behind the Wasdale Head Inn, along the path skirting
Kirk Fell, leading to Black Sail Pass. |
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Pillar behind the Wasdale
Head Inn from Wasdale Head Green |
The path climbs very gradually
as it winds its way through the Mosedale valley, and on a beautiful,
sunny day like today, we were able to clearly see the bulk of Pillar
at the head of the valley. |
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Pillar from Mosedale |
| We were also treated to excellent
views of the imposing Dore Head behind Yewbarrow, and the crags of
Red Pike. |
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Dore Head Screes with Yewbarrow
on the left |
| The walking through Mosedale to Black
Sail Pass is easy, with a clearly defined, good path, and no particularly
steep sections. |
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Mosedale |
| As the climb gets a bit steeper, it
crosses Gatherstone Beck. I expect this beck can get quite full, but
today the crossing presented no problem, with not a great deal of
water running through it. |
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David crossing Gatherstone Beck |
| Having skirted round Kirk Fell, we
could now see the summit of Black Sail Pass ahead. For such a sunny
day, we were surprised to still not have seen a soul since leaving
Wasdale Head, as this must be a main route for Ennerdale. |
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Black Sail Pass |
After a slightly steeper climb,
we reached the summit of Black Sail Pass, where there was a number
of sheep, but still no people.
The views from here of the ascent route from the Pass to Kirk Fell
were excellent, and sufficient to convince us to choose the Beck
Head route instead when we do it at some point in the future. |
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The "summit" of Black Sail Pass with Kirk Fell behind
|
From Black Sail Pass, the ridge
to Pillar is broad and mostly gradual, until Green Cove, with superb
views of both Mosedale and Ennerdale.
On a clear day like today, the route is obvious with a good path,
but in mist an additional aid to navigation is a line of fence posts
leading from Black Sail Pass directly to the summit. |
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A small Tarn on the ridge from Black
Sail Pass to Pillar |
| The path skirts below Looking Steads
to a point near Green Cove where it splits. To the right is the High
Level Route, which leads below the crags to Pillar Rock. Straight
ahead is our path, which climbs up the only really steep part of this
route, where some scrambling is necessary, especially for short-legged
species such as myself (David, being a long-legged species, is not
always sure what my problem is!!!). |
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David making his way along the path
by Looking Steads towards Green Cove where the path splits with
the high level route to Pillar Rock veering off to the right |
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Looking back down to Mosedale with
Yewbarrow and dore Head on the right and the slopes of Kirk Fell
on the left |
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Haystacks |
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The Rocky ascent by Green Cove
|
| All along the ridge, the views to
both sides were extensive. We were very lucky indeed to yet again
have such a clear day for our walk. |
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Looking back to Black sail Pass
and Kirk Fell, with Green and Great Gable behind |
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Brandreth to the left, leading to
Green Gable and Great Gable, with Kirk fell on the right |
| The path and fence posts continued
over another climb which is not quite the summit. |
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The clearly defined path to the summit |
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Looking back along our ascent path, with the old fence
posts marking the way |
We finally reached the broad summit
plateau, with the trig point and stone shelter. Up here there were
a handful of people, the most we had seen all day.
With such a broad summit, the best views are found by going nearer
to the edges, so we walked round to see all around us, making the
most of the wonderful weather. |
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David at the Trig point on Pillar's summit |
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High Stile and High Crag seen across ennerdale from
Pillar's vast summit plateau, with pillar rock just visible in front |
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High Crag with the Dale Head Range behind from Pillar |
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Ennerdale Water from Pillar's Summit Plateau |
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Scoat Fell from Pillar's summit plateau |
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David and Anna at Pillar's Trig Point |
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Kirk Fell with Great Gable and the Scafells behind |
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Mosedale |
| Our way back basically re-traced our
route up. |
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David making his way back along the well-defined ridge
route to Black Sail Pass |
| On the way back, we found the rocky
part of the walk above Looking Steads easier to come down than it
was going up, which we thought was very unusual as the opposite has
always been the case on our previous walks. |
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At the top of the rocky scramble with Looking steads
below |
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David making his way down the rocky part of the path
on the route to looking steads and Black Sail Pass |
As we walked back along the ridge,
we found it interesting to look across to the High Stile range at
the route we had walked last September.
From Looking Steads the descent became very pleasant and gradual. |
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David walking along the path below Looking Stead towards
Black Sail Pass |
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The path from Black Sail Pass down to Mosedale |
| After our walk through the Mosedale
valley, we stopped off at the Barn
Door Shop and purchased a few items, before making our way back
to the campsite at Nether Wasdale. |
