Always take a map and compass with you.©Crown copyright 2019 Ordnance Survey. Media 051/190km 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20500
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61 Start/Finish
Patterdale pay-and-
display car park
GR: NY395159
Behind hotel, take path around
base of Arnison Crag, then up spur
SW (wide path to shoulder, then
almost none) to Birks. At base of
St Sunday Crag, contour L then up
SE to col: turn W over Gavel Pike
to St Sunday Crag.Cofa Pike to Catstye Cam
Lake District ENGLAND
20km/12.5 miles/8-9 hours
Ascent 1450m/4900ft^3
BE ON CATSTYE CAM
as the evening shadows
rise from the valley floor
like the sea rising around
a rock-stranded mariner.
And then the sun goes
down in scarlet and orange
behind a jagged skyline.
So many pass down
Swirral Edge, but so few
realise that the perfect way
to dispel the nervous energy
from the scrambling is a
soothing sunset on Catstye
Cam. I sat there with just
two others – a grey-haired
daddy and a young daughter
as lively as a squirrel. Red
Tarn faded to a pool of slaty
purple; the low sunbeams
picked out the spurlines
of St Sunday with a gold-
tipped pen. And then we2
Go SW by Deepdale Hause
and Cofa Pike to Fairfield.
Down W (care at first) to
Grisedale Hause. Contour NW
above tarn, then straight up
Dollywaggon Pike.3
Follow drops on R over
Nethermost Pike to
Helvellyn. Pass trig point to cairn
at top of Swirral Edge. Down NE(close to crest is safest) and still
NE up Catstye Cam.4
Down gently E then steeply
SE to join wide path L of
Red Tarn Beck, then R of
Glenridding Beck. Opposite old
mines, contour R above wall
around slope of Birkhouse Moor.5
Keep ahead across Mires
Beck, and above wood
to wall gate 200m up from
plantation. Turn down L beside
wall to Lanty’s Tarn.6
Wide path R down to
tarred lane. Follow lane E
down valley to edge of Patterdale.
Turn R into village.Gradient profile Metres above sea level
Ronald Turnbull
takes the long
way up Catstye
Cam
The Great OutdoorsAugust 2019 91