Langdale Pikes

'One walk, five Wainwrights, countless views'

Date: 14 April 2012                                         Start time: 9:33

Start point: Stickle Ghyll National Trust Car Park, Langdale - NY295064

Walkers: Mark Illingworth, Emma Lever

Distance: 6.93miles                                        Time: 6:28:19

Route: From car park, head out of E end past Sticklebarn Tavern. Emerge from pub car park at New Dungeon Ghyll and turn L. Go through gate at top of lane and head out of NW gate of small paddock. Follow path NW up Stickle Ghyll past waterfalls. Clear and well laid out path takes you up ghyll and over footbridge past larger waterfalls. Path up either side of stream, with some disintegration higher up, so cross stream on occasion. You end up with stream to R and you emerge at dam S of Stickle Tarn. Cross stones across stream and follow E side of tarn around to Bright Beck. Follow path beside beck and cross over stones to path leading to 'North Rake', which is a rocky path W towards summit of Pavey Ark. At top of North Rake, head short distance S over rocks and buried stone walls to highest point of rocky crag which makes up summit of Pavey Ark (Wainwright 1). From here head W towards rocky clump that is Thunacar Knott. Cross boggy depression between Pavey Ark and it's parent fell and pick up a path to Thunacar Knott summit (Wainwright 2). Harrison Stickle, tallest of the Langdale Pikes, is the clear peak to SSE. Follow faint path across marshy depression in direction of Harrison Stickle (Wainwright 3). Head N back to junction of paths and head W towards distinct mound of Pike of Stickle down short, sharp, steep descent then along clear path to foot of rocky knoll of Pike of Stickle. Follow path up side of knoll and pick a route to scramble to top. We chose short scramble up north side of summit - some scrambling is involved on the last stage of all ascents to Pike of Stickle (Wainwright 4). Head back to base of final ascent and follow path at R of two E heading paths. This is SEE path to rocky outcrop along ridge edge which is Loft Crag (Wainwright 5). Head short distance SE from summit then turn L down short rocky gully towards cairned path. Head NEE to slight raise of Thorn Crag (not a Wainwright) to complete Langdale Pikes then go back to cairned path and follow this steeply S initially then path winds W down Mark Gate, with views of Dungeon Ghyll N. Path heads through a couple of gates before you get back to paddock at foot of Stickle Ghyll. From here follow route short distance back to car park.

Weather: Bright, clear and mild mostly, with very clear visibility and largely blue skies. Some snow on higher surrounding peaks but warm in sunshine. A couple of windy and wintry showers of hail and light snow. Brief periods of grey skies and colder temperatures during wintry showers but changeable periods were only very short.

Notes: I've enjoyed all the walks I've written about so far, but this is probably the best up to now. The great thing about the Langdale Pikes is the variety of sights and tops in close proximity, with five Wainwrights to boot. 

Stickle Ghyll is a mix of well made paths and eroding paths as you criss-cross the stream. It's fairly steep in sections and littered with waterfalls, some very impressive and 20ft+ in height. An alternative route than the rebuilt 'tourist' path is the scrambly route up the stream, which I wouldn't have thought of on a water flowing spring day if one middle aged chap didn't run past me to take that route. It was interesting watching him consider climbing up the rock wall almost within one waterfall. Sensibly he gave up on this when I had the mobile phone ready to call mountain rescue, and he took the scree beside the fall.

Walking up this ghyll we also saw the remarkable sight of a sheep dog rounding up the herd on a hillside, with distant calls from his shepherd below. From barely noticing any sheep on the slopes opposite us, it changed to seeing a big moving collective within a few minutes. Countryside activities such as this seem forgotten arts in today's celebrity and drama driven media, no more One Man and His Dog on TV, but this was an interesting and refreshing watch.

On arriving at Stickle Tarn, it has the classic look of a high up fell side tarn, almost heart shaped with steep rock faces round the top as you look, flat banks on the opposite side, feeding towards the downstream ghyll. The impressive craggy topped Pavey Ark rises steeply from the northern shore of the tarn, with the taller Harrison Stickle looming in the West. The only negative of this tarn was the bogginess and path erosion off the NE edge, which was unfortunately part of the route and the only disappointing part.

Looking at Pavey Ark, the preferable route to the top isn't exactly obvious. Jack's Rake, scrambling across the face, doesn't emerge until you head towards the NE end of Stickle Tarn. Easy Gully is a visible break in the rock face but looks steep and anything but what the name suggests when looking it in the face. We took North Rake over the eastern shoulder of the fell. This route was fun - not straightforward walking, but not scrambling either, hands were maybe used once or twice but weren't totally necessary. Finding the summit of Pavey Ark is tough with its array of rocky platforms and no clear marker of a high point, but I think I found it.

Thunacar Knott was a different experience. Its a broad dull bump that Wainwright only feels deserves mention as the parent fell of Pavey Ark. I agree, although the views west over Bow Fell, Esk Pike, the Scafells and Great Gable are impressive and enjoyable. Snow frosted tops were great to see from here. In all other directions the views were pleasant but more of a rolling nature.

Harrison Stickle is the tallest Langdale. The little hop to the narrow ridge that features its summit is enjoyable. The view to Pavey Ark with Stickle Tarn below were enjoyable, but on this day my favourite view was the southern aspect towards Wetherlam and Swirl How. The snow on the top of Broad Slack and the Prison Band looked impressive, especially on the occasions that brief gloomy grey clouds sat behind them.

Pike of Stickle is a funny hump of a hill, a rocky knob that rises from the marshy land around, but an exciting place. From the north-north-west to the east-south-east it can only be accessed by proper climbers, and from any directions the last few metres to the top involve a few scrambly steps. I was very proud of Emma who managed this task easily and without panic, probably defying her own expectations. The wind had picked up briefly so we only paused long enough to quickly check out the views over to the higher hills in the west and get a summit photo.

Loft Crag and Thorn Crag finished off the high level part of this walk before descending via Mark Gate with the Langdale valley and views over Windermere opening out in front of us. Other than some fearless kids 'bumping' down the mountainside, the most notable sight on the way down was Dungeon Ghyll waterfall. Tall and slim, but not particularly powerful. Unfortunately you couldn't get too close without going way off path.

The Lakeland journey was rounded off with some food in Emma's favourite, Wainwrigths Inn. She is still banging on about the lamb, and the broccoli and stilton soup was pretty good too.

And I forgot to mention the fell runner we saw. Somehow he had gotten himself two miles further west than he intended and was ruing setting off with only a small print out and no OS map. A lesson really - always take a map!