High Stile - Cumbria 4 July 2015.

Ennerdale to Buttermere via High Stile
Cumbria
Distance 10km Climb 835m
Saturday 4 July 2015

I drove across to the Lakes early morning to meet up with friends for a walk from Ennerdale.  We left the Low Gillerthwaite Field Centre 130m and headed down the track east.  

At an opening in the wood block to our left we took a footpath north which then turns further north east up towards Red Pike. On my drive over the weather was very wet with some local flooding, now as we started walking it was overcast and misty.  The forecast for this area said the weather would improve about 10.00. 

At 10.00 we were still walking up Red Pike and the mist was clearing as we climbed, so we could see the views below but not up. 

As we were approaching Red Pike 755m the mist came down again behind us and prevented us seeing the view.  After a short break next to what is shown on the map as Pile of Stones we turned south and headed across Red Pike through the mist along the rocky outcrop area of ridge. 

The mist lifted for a brief second or two and we could see far below, before it covered us again. 

Another short climb up some rocks and we started heading further along the ridge in a south east direction.  The map shows this is Chapel Crags. 

It was a shame about the mist, as we crossed High Stile 806m the lack of visibility meant we had to check our navigation, it took us a few minutes to return to follow the old fence posts.  A short move south following the posts took us Eagle Crag and along Comb Crags. 

Briefly the mist cleared and we could see Buttermere far below to our left, this disappeared almost as soon as it appeared.

The ground was undulating across Comb Crags as we climbed and dropped the various rises until we had a climb up to High Crag 744m.  Moving across Comb Crags the wind had picked up and was starting to hit us with sharp, strong gusts, it was not moving the mist.  On High Crag we had a short rest in the shelter of the cairn.

After a quick snack we set off down the steep side of Camlin End. The mist was all around us as we fought to keep on our feet through the gusts of strong wind which was trying to knock us over. The mist only started to clear as we lost height coming down Camlin End.

To our front we could see Hay Stacks clear of any mist. 

A climb up to The Seat 561m before we dropped again to the path junction on the Scarth Gap Pass.  It had been our intention to move up Hay Stacks but due to the time and the distance we still had to travel to our finish we decided to move north down Scarth Gap Pass.

Walking down Scarth Gap Pass the sun came out and it was turning very warm.  We had only seen a few walkers all day, now as the sun came out and we were lower down we came across a lot more walkers. 

The path reached the south eastern corner of Buttermere. Which has a path on the south west side, which we followed north west up through Burtness Wood. 

At the top we turned right over a couple of footbridges and followed the path into Buttermere 110m.  

After a couple of drinks the transport arrived to return us to the Low Gillerthwaite Field Centre.         

We had covered just over 10km with 835m climb.

More to follow

Boz North

Details correct at time of walking.

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