Scaling Bowscale Fell 17^th March 2007

It was a grey, windy morning when I set off and it was just the same when I parked across the road from the new Mungrisdale Village Hall. I walked along the road towards the hamlet of Bowscale, passing a group of the Fell Ponies that live around Bowscale Moss. Just as you reach the first of a small group of houses, you turn left along a substantial track with a signpost showing Bowscale Tarn. The track rises at an easy gradient on the lower flanks of Bowscale Fell's eastern ridge, some way above River Caldew's version of Mosedale. As always, when I have a lengthy walk up a valley, I start to look around at the surrounding hills and I spotted an interesting looking alternative future route to Carrock Fell.

The good track doesn't go all the way to the tarn; after a slightly steeper section the track becomes a green path. The final section of the path is by the side of Tarn Sike, the outflow from Bowscale Tarn and you get an interesting eye-level view of the surface of the tarn as you reach it. The last time I was here was in October 2003 when I descended from Bowscale Fell by a steep, grassy path and I was hoping to find that path and climb it this time. There is an obvious looking path that goes around the left hand side of the tarn and seems to slant upwards climbing the corrie wall behind it; it doesn't look quite so obvious higher up but I decided to give it a go.

The path was obvious and easy at first but suddenly it disappeared amongst wet grass and loose slate; I don't think I missed a turn off, but there was no obvious alternative route. I kept on going in the same direction, slanting upwards over soft, wet ground and stepping over the wet rock. It was steep and there was a sudden, steep drop below me; I had to make an awkward manoeuvre to get below some wet slabs, trying to get to what looked like easier ground but there was no way through. I reversed for a short distance and didn't feel very comfortable; I was hanging on to steep, soft ground and wet slippery vegetation whilst avoiding sloping, shiny rock.

There was no obvious way ahead but I didn't want to go back so I decided to climb; it was an all-fours scramble up wet vegetation, keeping off the flat sloping slabs as much as possible. I had to make a couple of awkward steps after working out a viable route over the rocks I couldn't avoid, but eventually, I was past the steepest ground and feeling a bit safer. Once I got past the rock, the gradient quickly eased, and I emerged onto the ridge to be met by a strong cold wind; gloves, hat and hood were all quickly deployed.

From scrambling to plodding in a few short minutes; I walked up the broad grassy ridge to a subsidiary summit before walking back to the summit of Bowscale Fell. I walked up to the subsidiary summit cairns because I have never been here when it has not been misty and I wasn't sure where the actual summit of Bowscale Fell was. From the cairns on the summit of the western ridge, which runs parallel to The Tongue, I could see that the summit is obviously higher. I looked over the edge at my all-fours ascent route and I could see a grassy rake beyond the rocks where I had climbed; it seems to lead to the opposite side of the tarn to where I started. I walked across the shallow depression whilst being battered by a strong wind; the easy gradient on the climb to the summit was made hard by the wind.

I walked past a large cairn to the summit shelter; it looks exactly like Wainwright's 40-year-old drawing and didn't do much to shelter me from the wind. The path to Bannerdale crags is obvious, I have never seen it before because of mist; the wind was cold and hard in my face, making walking difficult, and I decided to shorten my planned walk. An obvious path takes you over wet ground until you start the climb to Bannerdale Crags; I kept away from the edge in that strong wind for fear it might blow me down the crags. I arrived at the viewpoint cairn without too much of a view and walked over to the small cairn at the true summit of Bannerdale Crags.

From the summit I headed directly towards the broad ridge of White Horse Bent; as I lost a little bit of height I was sheltered from the wind by Blencathra. There was a faint path at first but it disappeared at the top of a small rise; I could see the broad ridge as it started to descend slowly and I kept to the right to avoid pools of water that I could see ahead. Once I got past the pools I kept to the crest of the ridge until I could see a path down to the right, running alongside River Glenderamackin. I could several other walkers on the path running across the flanks of Scales Fell towards Scales Tarn; they would have had no real indication of the strength of the wind on the ridge.

I decided that I didn't need to descend all of the way to the foot of the ridge and dropped down to the right, a little more steeply than keeping to the ridge, to reach the path by the side of the river. Soon after joining the path I used a wide wooden footbridge to get across the river and walked up an obvious path to Mousethwaite Comb. I followed a faint path towards Souther Fell, the easy gradient becomes a bit of slog to especially where the going gets boggy. The path heading towards the summit ridge misses the substantial viewpoint cairn so I headed directly to it across fairly lush vegetation. The wasn't much of a view and it started to rain; a faint path leading up to the ridge disappears in a muddy swamp but the ridge path was easily found nearby.

There is an easy climb along the broad and sometimes swampy ridge to the summit of Souther Fell; an untidy few stones on top of a small rock outcrop, barely higher than the surrounding ground. The path across the plain, wide ridge continues with a slight descent and re-ascent before dropping more steeply towards Mungrisdale. The steepening surface is sheep-shorn grass that becomes extremely slippery when wet so I walked on the dead bracken at the side of it; it becomes rougher with a couple of exposed rock steps to get down. I got down to the junction of a fence and a wall on the natural descent route; there was high barbed wire and a stern keep-out notice.

There was a helpful notice with instructions on how to find the one mile short-cut that avoids a simple hundred yard walk across an empty field back to Mungrisdale.

Andy Wallace 17^th March 2007

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