11/03/17 - Bowfell and the Old Dungeon Ghyll

Distance - 10 Miles
Geocaches - 2
Wainwrights Ticked - Bow Fell (2960ft), Esk Pike (2903ft) and Rossett Pike (2136ft)
Walk Inspiration - Walking the Wainwrights, Route 18

A week spent checking the weather reports in the Langdale Valley.  It changed from rain to mist and finally settled on fog.  Wall to wall fog.  All day fog.

Its going to be a tough ask to blog a walk, when for most of it, we could just about see our feet.

There's three pubs in the valley.  The CAMRA good beer guide has the famous Old Dungeon Ghyll hotel to knock off and that will be waiting for us after the walk.  We are starting from the New Dungeon Ghyll, our home for the night, where there is an adjacent National Trust pub/cinema/vegan restaurant/creche called the Sticklebarn.

A footpath on the valley floor takes us from New to Old, where we pick up the farm track to the unfortunately named Stool End Farm.  We meet the farmer and his overeager puppy, Lassie.

Stool End Farm and the Fog

The land mass behind is called the Band and this forms our gateway to the Mountains.  Once we are at 600 feet, we hit the fog and see nothing.    And its a shame - I have the feeling the views would have been spectacular.

The height is quickly gained and before we know it, we are at the summit of Bowfell, following another group of idiots walkers.  The path runs across broken rocks and is about 20m below the non trig point mounted peak.  Feeling like we might as well get to the peak, we leave the path, scramble up and see nothing.  We are reminded on how easy it is to get lost, as three of us, each with a GPS, spend a good 15 minutes trying to work out how to get back on course.   My excuse?  My glasses are steamed, beaded with water and I cannot actually see my screen display.

With some relief, we find our way across the featureless terrain of Bowfell Buttress, drop to Ore Gap and regain height to Esk Pike.  The path is along the edge of the mountain, across a flat stone walkway.  Again, I imagine the views to Scafell would have been magnificent.  But I have no idea.

Esk Hause marks the turning point to civilisation and the first shelter seen on route.  There's a Geocache to grab, whilst my companions munch on their tried and tested mountain food of Pork Scratchings and Mars Bars.

We drop down to Angle Tarn and argue about whether it is there or not.  Its now 2:30pm and a group of lads are coming up and asking directions to Scafell.   With no map / gps / clue, the following day, I complete a quick search on BBC News for mountain rescue missions.

Its a long descent, picking our way down a path running across Rossett Pike.  Very occasionally, we get a glimpse of what we could have won.

First time the camera has been out

Its a seemingly never ending descent along Rossett Gill, to a path junction and my second and final Geocache of the day.  We pick up the Cumbria Way which safely delivers us home.

Dropping down through the gloom

Cumbria Way delivers us along the Valley Floor

And then the day is saved.  There is something rather special about walking straight off the mountains into a welcoming bar.

The Old Dungeon Ghyll, Theakstons Old Peculiar and Esthwaite Bitter 

The ODG

I've been wanting to check out this famous mountaineering bar for as long as I have been walking.  Every patron here has experienced the same as us today and there is a rather comforting smell of Goretex warming gently next to the bar centre point, the log burner.

One walker has taken things a touch too far and is drying his boots and his socks, choosing to sit sandy shaw style, roasting his tootsies at the best seat of the house.

The bar men - the only dry people here - enjoy their jobs and there is a high degree of banter.

Hitting the warmth has not done my camera the best of service, but I manage to just about record the selection for posterity.

Six of the Best

If it wasn't for that last 3/4 mile back to the New, we would have stayed and worked our way along.