Words & Photos Martin Salter-Smith

May 01 2010

On an early spring day of welcome blue skies after weeks of rain and snow I started out from Grizebeck and headed up the lane past Ashlack Hall, with the chuckling Grize Beck, the “stream of the pigs”, close at hand.

The Hall is a 16th century manor house, once owned by the Royalist Kirkby family. Beyond it, following grass tracks, I met only sheep. Past Knittleton farm I began to climb onto rough open fell land, crossing tiny streams, a tiny road and a string of tiny tarns.

Pit dwellings and ancient enclosures on the swelling of a low ridge recalled Bronze Age times when men lived and travelled on the higher ground, away from the tangled swamps of the valleys. Ahead, my path skirted below the ridge and I carried on, crossing another single-track road by the mysterious Giant’s Grave and then tackling the steep climb onto Blawith Knott.

I crested the summit to see a sweep of hills in the distance, from Black Combe all the way round to the Helvellyn range. Turning, I took in Morecambe Bay, the Furness 
Peninsula and the Duddon Estuary, while below me, the Woodland Fells were a patchwork of green fields and golden bracken.

I came swiftly down to Lang Tarn, in a miniature valley below the summit. Named by a humorous Viking, this “long” tarn is the smallest named tarn on any Ordnance Survey map of the Lake District. Further on, I kept to the marshy depression of Mere Sike until I reached its crossing of the main bridleway from Blawith to Woodland, once a well-trodden pack-horse route linking the Furness Fells with the main route to the port of Ravenglass.

Onwards once more, I passed over the shoulder of Wool Knott and down to the shores of Beacon Tarn. I have swum here on summer evenings, in water like silk, scrambling out later up onto 
sun-warmed rocks.

The Cumbria Way passes along the shore of the tarn, but at the end of this tranquil sheet of water I left it and struck up the slopes to find the path over Beacon Fell itself. From the summit my eyes leaped north to the brightness of Coniston Water and the heights of the Old Man, dusted with snow. I snuggled down below the topmost rocks to enjoy my butties and my flask of hot coffee.

Returning, I followed grassy paths past the farms of Cockenskell and Tottlebank, crossing over my outward route and descending the gloriously soft turfy path to Fell Gate. Another old track led me past the sadly abandoned farms of Far Houses and Well Wood and down to my starting point outside the Greyhound Inn.

Distance: 10.5 miles/17km Ascent: 1885ft/574m Time: 5-6 hours Start/finish: Greyhound Inn, Grizebeck (GR: SD 238852) Map: Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer sheet OL6 (English Lakes – South Western area) Information: Broughton, 01229 716115 Travel: X7 Barrow to Millom; 511 Ulverston to Millom

Technical Spec
Cross A5092 and follow lane to Ashlack Hall. Continue through gates and follow track to Knittleton Farm. Leave on access lane to junction with minor road, turn L then pick up bridleway L. Join narrow road and follow for 200m, turn R past tarns and pass W of ancient settlement. Follow obvious path NE to Giant’s Grave. NE to summit of Blawith Knott, N to Lang Tarn and along Mere Sike. Cross bridleway at High Kep and follow obvious path ENE passing W of Wool Knott. W side of Beacon Tarn, cross stream and climb to summit of Beacon Fell. Return by E side of tarn, pass E of Wool Knott, path to W of Cockenskell, follow to Tottlebank. Track W to Giant’s Grave, continue SW to Fell Gate, lane to Far Houses, then Well Wood, Tenter Bank Farm and so back to start.