Doing it in Duddon...

Surprisingly, it is still possible to get away from the summer holiday crowds on some Lakeland fells. Even more surprisingly there are a few valleys, mostly tucked away on the western side, that see few visitors in this otherwise manic land bursting at the seams with summer visitors seeking the inspiration of the likes of Beatrix Potter, William Wordsworth and Arthur Wainwright... Despite being right on our doorstep, we generally prefer to reserve outings on the more well known Lake District Fells for the relative solitude that autumn and winter bring.

The peaceful upper Duddon Valley with Little Stand in the background.

It's a wild and wet, almost autumnal, August Sunday evening in Lancaster and the nights are starting to draw in (pretty much dark by 21:30). We're just back from a lovely weekend spent with a fine assortment of our Lancaster University Hiking Club friends at the Dale Head bunkhouse in Duddon Valley. It's a lovely secluded spot, just south of the Hardknott and Wrynose passes road. This steep, precipitous lane receives significant tourist traffic through the summer, offering a cut through from the Central Lakes to the popular valleys of Eskdale and Wasdale of the west. Turning off this road at its lowest point between the two passes at Cockley Beck leads down a narrow and much less frequented lane through hay meadows of the upper Duddon Valley. The Dale Head bunkhouse is based in a collection of old stone farm buildings amongst the meadows, surrounded by craggy hillsides, dashing upland becks and softer flushes of young deciduous woodland, gradually developing in the former conifer dominated Dunnerdale Forest on the slopes of Harter Fell.

Seathwaite Tarn (Reservoir)

Pike of Blisco.

Imogen and I arrived over at Dale Head after dark on Friday evening and settled in to the lively, convivial atmosphere in the bunkbarn. Thanks to Mark for providing a selection of fine northern ales in mini-kegs from Booths supermarkets across Cumbria. The mattresses were very comfortable and I slept very well in the country air and awoke refreshed on Saturday despite the late night.

We were a large group, so there were several parties heading out on differing activities on the Saturday. Sam was running a fell race in Borrowdale and two separate groups were heading off to climb; one lot on Dow Crag, the other on Long Scar (south side of Pike of Blisco). A significant number of us however headed out on foot from Dale Head, south along the River Duddon, ultimately aiming for Seathwaite Tarn on the western side of the Coniston Fells. The day started fairly warm and sunny, just as well as there were two sets of dubious stepping stones for us to traverse the river and back. At the second crossing, Mark took an impressive, full body plunge into the Duddon following an interesting manoeuvre over one of the large boulders forming the stepping stones! After this, Jim was then inspired to cool off with a full head plunge (see video above). All fun and games! We ascended up to Seathwaite Tarn, and then up the ridge leading to Grey Friar. This was a new Fell for me; as it is an outlier of the Coniston group. There are good views from the ascent and the summit, always good to see the hills we know so well from a slightly different angle. After Grey Friar, we continued across to Great Carrs and down to the top of the Wrynose Pass. Heading up on the north side of the pass, we observed Tom, Harriett, Daniel and Daphne climbing on Long Scar off to the right of the path. We continued up, passing Red Tarn and on up to where Crinkle Crags begins. From this point, we headed off due south along the almost level finger of high ground leading to Little Stand (741 m). This juts out into the head of the Duddon Valley. As a result, the descent down its nose, back to Cockley Beck can certainly be described as a direct, efficient and mostly pathless way down grass, boulders, heather and lastly a small amount of bracken and bog in order to loose the required 500 m of altitude to the bunkhouse below. Very satisfying indeed. The weather had gradually turned more autumnal as the day progressed and by late afternoon/early evening, there was a brisk westerly wind bringing increasing cloud and ultimately persistent drizzle to valley level. We had another very enjoyable evening in the bunkhouse filled with antics and acrobatics thanks to what can only be described as a 'flexibility challenge' game involving picking up a small cardboard box off the floor using your teeth, all the time without using your hands for support. Enough said on that, hopefully it paints the picture :-).

Enjoying much merriment in the Dale Head bunkbarn on Saturday evening.

On Sunday, the wind was still a prominent feature, but the clouds were whipping across at a fairly high level and the rain had ceased. A group of us headed out, again crossing the stepping stones leading to the riverside footpath following the River Duddon. This time however, we took the forestry tracks leading gradually up through Dunnerdale Forest. This wraps around the eastern, southern and western flanks of Harter Fell, and we followed it right around to the western side of the Fell. It is a lovely little Fell with hundreds of little crags and rocky outcrops. The path to the summit from the west weaves through these and quickly leads you to the keep-like summit area where there are several turret-like crags guarding all flanks of the mountain. After a nice lunch stop in the shelter of one of the summit crags, it was time for a bit more pathless activity through long cotton grass and bog on the eastern side as we headed back down towards a now mostly felled area of the forest near Castle How. This little crag rose above the River Duddon immediately opposite the bunkbarn, however in order to avoid a steep hack through deep bracken, we diverted northwards slightly to Black Hall farm and then back south along the River. Most satisfyingly, this enabled us to pass through (once again, as we re-joined the end of our route from Saturday) a field with the highest density of Hardwick's (sheep) that most of us had ever seen! Lovely little herdwicks.

A great weekend, thanks to Harriett for sorting out the bunkbarn and to Jim, Richard, Imogen, Lorna, Sam, Daniel Daphne, Harriett, Tom, Fran, John, Mark, Jenny, Andy, Ben, Calum and Steven for your company on this summer gathering in the hills.