Eskdale thoughts

View Larger Map

The main idea is to do three walks. This takes the mad rush out of the first or the last day – not sure which one. If we could get Harter Fell under our belt on the first day – that would be a good acclimatisation. It is a straight forward walk, starting at the base of the mountain and up a good path. There is a bit of a pull up at the end – it is 2,100 ft and while we are starting at 100ft  it’s still a climb. The Harter Fell walk was done by the Rathmines team in 2005 – the following is the extract from that diary.

Walk No 6 Monday 19th August, Harter Fell 2,140 ft, from Eskdale

"One of the few walks that Wainwrights says truly deserves the word beautiful. Its also Andy Barclay's favourite fell (Chief Sub-Editor of the Tribune many years ago). We set off late enough, Mags had to endure the twin horrors - the Wrynose and the Hard Knott passes before we reached our parking spot. But we did drive through the moonscape that is the upper Duddon Valley, We parked under some trees beside the "Jubilee Bridge". Our path through the ferns could be seen very clearly. We walked along the side of Harter Fell, moving down the Eskdale valley and climbing slowly. as we rose Bow fell and Crinkle Crags were visible as was Slight Side below Scafell. We finally pass out of the ferns to the open fell. By now we can see the Isle of Man clearly in the distance and even further we can see the County Down coast as a very hazy ridge on the horizon. The path is not so clear and we are at about 1,300 ft. What looks like the top looks very near, we start some steeper climbing leaving the saddle down to the Duddon valley behind. We soon realise that the Crags that looked so like the top were false and we had probably another 300 feet to climb as we reached this. Well it seemed to good to be true. We forged ahead and soon enough hit the top crags. We played a sort of leap frog with a couple and their two very young boys (about 6 years old) all the way to the top, and they were just ahead of us when they made for the triangulation point while we made for the real top which was a crag a little more to the east. (We had read our Wainwright!) The crag was a little scramble - the view was spectacular. The Scafell range was cloud free and clear as was Esk Pike and Bow Fell, plus Coniston Old man and Seathwaite Tarn of "Plague Dogs" fame. We had our lunch and as we ate some cloud drifted in obscuring the view for a while, It also made it a little chilly so we put on our coats/jumpers. But it cleared in 5 minutes and the sunshine was back. It was back the way we came - a pretty easy descent we did the whole walk in just under four and a half hours."

The plan for second day this year is more ambitious – it needs an early start and good time. It is a 2 car operation – that means we drop people off in a double run and then leave one car back at base allowing the drivers to re-join the main group. If the drivers are strong walkers then the first group could get a head start – however the strongest walkers may not be drivers! The plan is to cheat a bit by starting at 1,200 feet. Also once we are up it is mainly just a long walk home. The views all around are spectacular and if the weather is good the route down Eskdale is beautiful.

The third day is about ambition. If we are up for a big scalp – then Scafell is there for the taking. There are a number of different approaches – I am most inclined to take the Slight Side approach as this gives a reasonable opt out objective.