When we were on Helvellyn with
Mike in July, we had taken a lot of interest in Catstycam, as this
was one of the only two remaining Top 20 fells we had yet to climb.
The other was Crinkle Crags, which we climbed on Tuesday, so it
seemed appropriate to also climb Catstycam, especially as the weather
was beautiful again and there was not much wind about. Although
we had not heard anybody mention having problems with the fell in
windy conditions, it seemed to us to be of a sufficiently similar
shape to Grisedale Pike to cause potential problems in a gale.
The route we chose took us from Glenridding to
Birkhouse Moor, another Top 100 fell, and then to Catstycam via
Red Tarn. We started in the car park in Glenridding, where there
is a lovely sculpture of the Helvellyn Range. |
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David studies the day's route on the sculpture
in the car park in Glenridding |
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The sculpture of the Helvellyn Range |
| We walked from the car park along
Glenridding Beck, past a campsite, until we reached Mires Beck. The
last time we had been here, we had seen a little Dipper in Glenridding
Beck, but today we were not so fortunate. The Himalayan Balsam was
still there though! |
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Glenridding and Glenridding Beck |
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David bumps into some resident sheep in Glenridding |
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Himalayan Balsam |
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The path to Birkhouse Moor |
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And again... |
| As the path we took is also the main
path to Helvellyn from Glenridding, it is very clear and well maintained,
so we had no difficulty finding our way today. |
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Stile over the wall where the path splits between
Mires Beck and Glenridding Beck |
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Our route was via Mires Beck |
| The path climbs steadily alongside
Mires Beck to the wall, which leads to Birkhouse Moor's summit and
The Hole in the Wall. |
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The path climbs alongside Mires beck towards a wall |
| As usual, while climbing, the views
were not fantastic ahead, but behind us we had wonderful views of
the head of Ullswater. |
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David sits down for a drink and to admire the views
back to Glenridding and Ullswater |
| We eventually reached the wall, and
here we had a choice of continuing alongside it, or following the
pitched path, which takes you out towards the outcrop of Birkhouse
Moor. We chose the pitched path, as we wanted to visit the "other"
cairn as well as the true summit, which is in fact by the wall. |
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Reaching the wall |
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Ullswater |
| From the cairn on what should be the
summit of Birkhouse Moor (but isn't, as the fell is slightly higher
by the wall) we started getting some good views of Helvellyn and Catstycam. |
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The "other" summit on Birkhouse Moor |
| From here, we rejoined the main path
to the Hole in the Wall, to reach the true summit of Birkhouse Moor |
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Back on the main path - David can be seen ahead, discussing
football with a couple of other walkers |
| From here, the views were improving
all the time. |
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Catstycam, Lower Man and White Side from Birkhouse
Moor |
| And we soon reached our first "true"
summit of the day. |
|
David at the true summit of Birkhouse Moor, with Catstycam
behind |
| From the summit, we followed the path
by the wall until we reached The Hole in the Wall. Every step we took
now, gave us better and better views of Striding Edge, Helvellyn,
Swirral Edge, Catstycam and all the other surrounding fells. We were
fortunate to have yet another splendid day with no cloud in the sky
and very little heat haze. |
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Striding Edge, Helvellyn, Swirral Edge and Catstycam
coming properly into view |
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Reaching the Hole in the Wall |
| The path splits at The Hole in the
Wall. The main path takes you onto Striding Edge, but the path we
wanted leads off to Red Tarn and Catstycam. |
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The path to Red Tarn and Catstycam from the Hole in
the Wall |
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Looking towards Raise and the Dodds with Greenside
Mine visible on the right |
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Catstycam |
| After an almost level walk along the
path, Red Tarn finally came into view, and what a magnificent sight
it was in the sun, with Helvellyn looking splendid behind! |
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Red Tarn and Helvellyn |
| We stopped for something to eat at
Red Tarn Beck before we took the zig-zagging path to the point where
Swirral Edge joins Catstycam. Sitting here, it was very tempting to
extend the walk by doing Helvellyn via the edges, but common sense
prevailed as we knew there was not really time for it today, so we
set off again towards Catstycam. |
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Stopping by Red Tarn Beck |
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Round-leaved Water Crowfoot by Red Tarn Beck |
| The walk up to the base of Swirral
Edge was hard work in the sun, but with such fantastic views giving
me a good excuse to keep stopping, I was not complaining. |
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Walking towards Swirral Edge |
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Striding Edge behind Red Tarn |
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Catstycam from the base of Swirral Edge |
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Red Tarn and Striding Edge |
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David at the base of Swirral Edge |
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Catstycam |
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Lower Man and White Side |
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Helvellyn and Swirral Edge |
| As we got nearer the top, the wind
was very keen, even though it was not a particularly windy day. |
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Getting near the summit of Catstycam |
On the summit itself, we were struggling
to stand up as the wind was blowing hard, so we did not hang around
too long, except to admire the views.
And the views really were excellent on this fine day. We were look
across to our route from July along the ridge of Helvellyn, and
across to the Far Eastern Fells we could see for miles. |
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David being blown about at the summit of Catstycam
|
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White Side and Raise with Skiddaw in the far distance |
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Stang with Green Side and Sheffield Pike behind |
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Ullswater and the Far Eastern Fells |
| Rather than re-trace our steps, from
the summit we descended via the eastern flank back to the path to
Glenridding Beck, which would take us back to Glenridding via Greenside
Mine. |
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Descending via the eastern flank with striding edge
and Red Tarn and St Sunday Crag behind |
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One last look at HElvellyn, Swirral Edge and Lower
Man |
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Birkhouse Moor from Catstycam |
| The path down via the eastern flank
is quite steep, but not so steep that it made our descent uncomfortable. |
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Looking back to Catstycam |
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Raise, with the disused dam in front in the valley |
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Being watched by a couple of Herdwicks |
| The obvious advantage to a steep descent
is that you get down quicker and before too long, we reached the main
path to Greenside Mine, which was almost level as it skirted Birkhouse
Moor. |
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The main path to Greenside Mine |
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Catstycam |
| This path follows Red Tarn Beck as
it makes its way down to join Glenridding Beck, snaking its way along
and eventually crossing the Beck. |
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By Red Tarn Beck |
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The path to Glenridding Beck and Greenside Mine, as
it snakes its way by Red Tarn Beck |
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Crossing Red Tarn Beck |
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Birkhouse Moor |
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Walking towards Greenside Mine |
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Looking back at Catstycam, still in bright sunlight |
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Glenridding Beck |
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Lousewort by Glenridding Beck |
| We stopped and had a look at Greenside
Mine across Glenridding Beck, before continuing along the path below
Birkhouse Moor back to Glenridding. |
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Greenside Mine |
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Dam by Greenside Mine |
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Greenside Mine |
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Looking towards Glenridding and Place Fell |
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Glenridding with Ullswater and Place Fell behind as
we get further down into the valley |
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Back at the stile where the path splits. This morning's
path was by the wall |
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The permissive path back to Glenridding |
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Looking at this morning's route across the campsite
at Glenridding |
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Back in Glenridding |
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The Car Park and Tourist Information Centre at Glenridding |
| When we got back to the car, we both
agreed that this had been a wonderful walk, and although we were tired,
it had not been as hard work as the walk over Crinkle Crags on Tuesday. |
