The Great Outdoors Spring 2019

Always take a map and compass with you. ©Crown copyright 2019 Ordnance Survey. Media 058/17

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Start/Finish
Bowness Knott
car park (free)
GR: NY110153
From the car park follow the track
beside Ennerdale Water. Take the
irst bridge across the River Liza
and at the next junction turn L to
cross Woundell Beck.
2
100m after the Woundell
Beck bridge take the track
branching R, uphill through the
trees. This soon emerges through
a gate to climb a steep, heathery
hillside. Continue on the clear
track, keeping above the
plantations to your L before
descending to cross Low Beck, and
climb the bank on the other side.
Steeple & Pillar from Ennerdale
Lake District ENGLAND
17.6km/10.9 miles/8 hours
Ascent 1060m/3050ft^5

I’D RECENTLY MOVED

back to Cumbria ater

seven years living in the

north-west Highlands.

Although returning to

walk in the Lakeland fells

felt like reconnecting with

old friends, I was missing

something. I was missing

some wildness.

Diverse as Cumbria’s

mountains are, they’re

nearly all undeniably busy.

here’s just not the solitude

you routinely ind in the

Highlands. So it seemed like

the ideal moment for a irst

visit to what is supposed to

be the Lakes’ wildest and

quietest valley. Ennerdale’s

tranquillity is a result of

it having no roads and its

location in the west of the

Lake District, far from the

easiest access points.

3

Take the track R, leading up

the ridge, and follow it all the

way to Steeple’s summit. From

there, follow the obvious path

across the narrow linking ridge

leading up to Scoat Fell.

4

From Scoat Fell traverse the

bouldery terrain to the cairn

on Black Crag and then down to

Wind Gap. From there it’s 140m

ascent to the surprisingly lat

summit plateau of Pillar.

5

Descend the north-west

ridge. Make your way down

the rocky parts of the ridge and

pick up a faint grassy trod aiming

for High Beck. Cross the beck by

the fence (this could be tricky if

the beck is in spate).

6

Climb the stile in the fence

above the beck and follow

the boggy path all the way down

through the conifer plantations

until it is beside the deep gorge of

Low Beck. Soon after it meets a

forestry track. Turn L here and

follow this track all the way back

to point 2 (Woundell Beck) and

then back to the car park.

Gradient proile Metres above sea level

David Marsh

enjoys a wild

corner of

Lakeland

The Great Outdoors Spring 2019 93