Fairfield, St Sunday Crag, Birks & Arnison Crag - Thursday 14 May 2015
Route
Patterdale - Grisedale Valley - Grisedale Tarn - Hause Gap - Fairfield - Cofa Pike - Deepdale Hause - St Sunday Crag - Gavel Pike - Birks - Trough Head - Arnison Crag - Glenamara Park - Patterdale
Parking
Plenty in Patterdale - both free and expensive. The White Lion offers all day parking for £4.
Mileage
12 miles
Terrain
Valley floor, good mountain paths. The ascent to Fairfield is on a loose stony scree path. The descent from Cofa Pike to Deepdale Hause is steep in places but safe if appropriate care is taken.
Weather
Dull & overcast however the visibility was surprisingly good.
Time Taken
6hrs 45mins
Total Ascent
3907ft (1191m)
Wainwrights
4
Map
OL5 - The English Lakes - North Eastern Area
Patterdale - Grisedale Valley - Grisedale Tarn - Hause Gap - Fairfield - Cofa Pike - Deepdale Hause - St Sunday Crag - Gavel Pike - Birks - Trough Head - Arnison Crag - Glenamara Park - Patterdale
Parking
Plenty in Patterdale - both free and expensive. The White Lion offers all day parking for £4.
Mileage
12 miles
Terrain
Valley floor, good mountain paths. The ascent to Fairfield is on a loose stony scree path. The descent from Cofa Pike to Deepdale Hause is steep in places but safe if appropriate care is taken.
Weather
Dull & overcast however the visibility was surprisingly good.
Time Taken
6hrs 45mins
Total Ascent
3907ft (1191m)
Wainwrights
4
Map
OL5 - The English Lakes - North Eastern Area
GPX File
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Walk Description
We have spent many enjoyable days on The Eastern Fells and one route we have always toyed with doing was this one. The walk up the Grisedale Valley is simply superb with the huge bulk of St Sunday Crag to the left and the Helvellyn Range to the front & right. The feeling is of travelling through a giant amphitheatre all the way to Grisedale Tarn. All that is left to do is summit Fairfield, St Sunday et al and you have a walk that is both enjoyable and truly memorable.
The walk started in the popular village of Patterdale where, if you get there early enough there is free parking to be had but failing that The White Lion Car Park normally has spaces available (£4 all day). Leaving the village we made our way towards Glenridding before heading off left on the clearly marked "Lane to Grisedale" which heads uphill before emerging on to farmland and an excellent tarmac path that soon turns into a good track. There then began a truly delightful amble up through this glorious valley and the route kept its gentle undulation before crossing Grisedale Beck where the steep ascent up to the climbing hut at Ruthwaite Lodge comes as a bit of a surprise.
Once at Ruthwaite it was then a case of climbing sometimes gently, sometimes steeply to The Brothers Parting Stone before the idyllic Grisedale Tarn just jumped out at us. Even on a dull day this area is a fantastic place to be. Standing at the tarn with Fairfield to the left, Seat Sandal to the front and the bulk of Dollywagon Pike to the right is a scene you should not want to leave in a hurry - and we didn't. Tearing ourselves away, we walked over to the left of the tarn to Hause Gap and at this point we could see many walkers coming up from Grasmere, the majority of which were on the Coast to Coast.
The path to Fairfield leaves Hause Gap and heads steeply uphill on a loose stony path that needs a little bit of care taking but is easy enough. This was quite a slog up but soon enough the flat plateau on the summit of Fairfield was reached. We have been up on Fairfield many times but for some reason it always seems different when you approach it from another direction - in mist it can be a dangerous place. The summit was busy therefore we didn't hang about and headed off down the slope towards Cofa Pike, the descent of which down to Deepdale Hause is tricky therefore we took our time. There was now a long and gradual ascent up to the summit of St Sunday Crag with superb views over to the Helvellyn Range and back to Cofa Pike & Fairfield.
From St Sunday Crag, Gavel Pike looked too inviting not to go over and bag therefore we diverted off our original route to visit the fell before heading back over to Birks from where there is a tricky bit of navigating to take the easiest path to Arnison Crag via Trough Head. The path follows the broken wall down to Trough Head before swinging right to cross a dry beck where it was just a case of climbing up the other side and then following the undulating ridge to reach the summit of Arnison Crag. The views over Ullswater & Place Fell from this little fell are well worth the diversion and on leaving the summit it was just a case of following the wall below through Glenamara Park to eventually come out at the back of The Patterdale Hotel.
Despite this not being a day for any decent photographs it is a super walk to do, particularly the wonderful amble through the Grisedale valley.
The walk started in the popular village of Patterdale where, if you get there early enough there is free parking to be had but failing that The White Lion Car Park normally has spaces available (£4 all day). Leaving the village we made our way towards Glenridding before heading off left on the clearly marked "Lane to Grisedale" which heads uphill before emerging on to farmland and an excellent tarmac path that soon turns into a good track. There then began a truly delightful amble up through this glorious valley and the route kept its gentle undulation before crossing Grisedale Beck where the steep ascent up to the climbing hut at Ruthwaite Lodge comes as a bit of a surprise.
Once at Ruthwaite it was then a case of climbing sometimes gently, sometimes steeply to The Brothers Parting Stone before the idyllic Grisedale Tarn just jumped out at us. Even on a dull day this area is a fantastic place to be. Standing at the tarn with Fairfield to the left, Seat Sandal to the front and the bulk of Dollywagon Pike to the right is a scene you should not want to leave in a hurry - and we didn't. Tearing ourselves away, we walked over to the left of the tarn to Hause Gap and at this point we could see many walkers coming up from Grasmere, the majority of which were on the Coast to Coast.
The path to Fairfield leaves Hause Gap and heads steeply uphill on a loose stony path that needs a little bit of care taking but is easy enough. This was quite a slog up but soon enough the flat plateau on the summit of Fairfield was reached. We have been up on Fairfield many times but for some reason it always seems different when you approach it from another direction - in mist it can be a dangerous place. The summit was busy therefore we didn't hang about and headed off down the slope towards Cofa Pike, the descent of which down to Deepdale Hause is tricky therefore we took our time. There was now a long and gradual ascent up to the summit of St Sunday Crag with superb views over to the Helvellyn Range and back to Cofa Pike & Fairfield.
From St Sunday Crag, Gavel Pike looked too inviting not to go over and bag therefore we diverted off our original route to visit the fell before heading back over to Birks from where there is a tricky bit of navigating to take the easiest path to Arnison Crag via Trough Head. The path follows the broken wall down to Trough Head before swinging right to cross a dry beck where it was just a case of climbing up the other side and then following the undulating ridge to reach the summit of Arnison Crag. The views over Ullswater & Place Fell from this little fell are well worth the diversion and on leaving the summit it was just a case of following the wall below through Glenamara Park to eventually come out at the back of The Patterdale Hotel.
Despite this not being a day for any decent photographs it is a super walk to do, particularly the wonderful amble through the Grisedale valley.
Leaving Patterdale the route heads up the lane leading to Helvellyn and the Grisedale Valley
A paper bridge? All will be revealed!
Wainwright's 'free digs' were receiving a bit of a facelift
The red paper bridge in the Grisedale Valley. It was only up for a couple of weeks then dismantled & recycled.
We couldn't be bothered going over to it.
We couldn't be bothered going over to it.
Looking back down Grisedale
Ruthwaite Lodge Climbing Hut
The Brothers Parting Stone
Grisedale Tarn & Seat Sandal
The steep ascent up to Fairfield
Looking back down the ascent of Fairfield to Seat Sandal & Grisedale Tarn.
This was a loose stone/scree path in places but was generally ok underfoot.
This was a loose stone/scree path in places but was generally ok underfoot.
Fells everywhere with Seat Sandal prominent
Great Rigg
On the summit of Fairfield
Cofa Pike & St Sunday Crag - this was a particularly lovely part of the walk today
Dave & Fudge on the summit of Cofa Pike
Cawk Cove from Cofa Pike
St Sunday Crag
The summit of Cofa Pike with Fairfield providing a stunning backdrop
The steep and scrambly descent off Cofa Pike down to Deepdale Hause
Helvellyn & Striding Edge
Looking back to Cofa Pike
Fairfield, Seat Sandal & Grisedale Tarn
The final part of the ascent to St Sunday Crag
The summit of St Sunday Crag
Heading to Gavel Pike
The summit of Birks - Fudge was quite underwhelmed by the Cairn
Leaving Birks we headed for Arnison Crag ahead
The summit of Arnison Crag
Dropping off Arnison Crag to the wall which would be our handrail back to Patterdale