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The Fellwalker by Peter John Farnworth
WALK 48 TUESDAY AUGUST 6th 1991After the hard, wet, dreadful day of yesterday, we were looking to the skies to see if there was a break in the weather. It was dry, but we could see mist again over the fells. We were feeling much better in ourselves following a good nights sleep and dry clothes to put on. It was a good thing we stayed at the YHA Hostel again, with their superb drying rooms, because I don't know how we would have gone on otherwise. Our walk today is to Lonscale Fell, this being situated at the side of Skiddaw (Keswick.) We would follow the road to the Gale Hotel, where we would take the side lane to the right, past the Hotel, and keep on till we come to the end of the lane where there is a car-park. From here we could see our route straight away. The path went past the Monument, erected to commemorate the deaths of three shepherds who died on the fells many years ago - in what circumstances I don't know. As we followed the path into the mist, well aware of where we where this time, we steadily climbed up the fell side. The higher we climbed, the more the mist increased, but by following the wire fence on our right we knew we were heading in the right direction. Also, we could hear Whit Beck, which runs on the far side of the fence. Still walking up the fell side, it levelled off near the top, at which point we saw a sheep pen (the marker we wanted.) From here we walked through an open gate in the fence to our right and, still following the fence, met up with a stone wall. At this point things got a little complicated, because on the wall there was a build up of stones (cairn), which gave the impression that this was the highest point, but with the mist still down we were unsure and not able to see too far.
So, out came the map, and we found that we had to pass between the stone wall and the wire fence, which came together at a 45% angle. When we were on the other side the mist, which was not too bad before, came down more, which concerned me a little. It was very flat here and after my last experience, I was not taking any chances, especially with the mist down the way it was. Knowing that the summit was very close to where we stood, we pace marked approximately a hundred and seventy paces to the summit in a north-easterly direction to the summit cairn. This would be the marker we would use on the return (I did the same thing in heavy mist when on the Howgills some years later.) I know it may seem a strange thing to do, but I remembered yesterday and the other days in which we have been caught out with the mist down and if you have ever been in these situations, you will understand why we did this. Mountains can be very lonely places at the best of times, but more so when you cannot see where you are going. You need all the help you can get, in whatever shape or form! We arrived at the summit of Lonscale Fell with the mist and rain falling, so we decided to just take the usual photograph and to go down as soon as possible. It was a pity really that the mist was down. It would have been nice to look over to Great Calva and Knott, where we had the bad day yesterday. But that’s the way it goes sometimes. We retraced our steps back, with the mist still falling, towards the open gate. We continued past it where we picked up another wire fence which brought us to the main tourist path from Skiddaw. I call it the main tourist path because it is well worn from a thousand boots wearing the path down to rock, or should I say a thousand and four boots?! Some two thirds down the path, we walked out of the mist and back into the land of the living, where we had some very good views over towards Derwent Water, Keswick, and the surrounding area. Another bad day, but another one to add to the list. Mountains walked that day: Lonscale Fell 79 [[]] Diagram & Stats
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