Words & Photos Andy Stothert

December 03 2009

Places like Buttermere, Wasdale and Eskdale, for me, have a different and more exotic appeal than the land in the east of the Lake District. Not better, just different, and in the main due to the fact that these valleys and fells are slightly more remote (from the motorway) than the eastern fells.

So, because they lay just outside the comfort zone in my head marked “day out” they draw me there for a few days at a time, and become a holiday or expedition.

Buttermere could also be the most obviously beautiful place on the planet, and its encircling fells are a complete joy to grind under y’r boots. Or trainers or pumps or whatever it is you trendy outdoor types do your leisure eroding in nowadays. One of the greatest walks here is the traverse of everything on the southern side of valley. Everything from Haystacks to Herdus: the great divide between Ennerdale and Buttermere. This line of soaring fells stretches over seven miles from end to end with the only real interruption of any note breaking your stride at Scarth Gap. I’d walked this lot several times on aborted attempts to get right round the Ennerdale skyline, but had always jumped ship at Red Pike when walking from Buttermere. But one very fine sunny day last year I got to Red Pike and just carried on walking for no particular reason.

Despite having sauntered along this exact same ridge several times before, nothing seemed familiar after Red Pike. This was late February by the way, and a butterfly fluttered by while I was dining on Seat. Weird – a butterfly at 2000 feet in February?

The day starts (early) by leaving the campsite, enjoying the views from the northern shore of Buttermere and striding manfully up Warnscale Bottom, before that magical mile to the top of Haystacks. A quick knee-jarring descent to Scarth Gap is followed by the butterfly fell and then the fearful ascent of Gamlin End, which used to strike terror into legs of fellwalkers until the scree was tamed by a very nice manufactured path. From there you just keep on walking, and life becomes very risky indeed as there is a temptation to look everywhere but the place where the next step is landing. The main path cuts out the northern rim of High Crag, but this, the rim, should be followed more than religiously. High Stile comes and goes, Red Pike is well named, and then the miles disappear in a flurry of wide open spaces across Starling Dodd and Great Borne. And that’s it really: follow the fence off down to Floutern, turn right and plod the four deserted miles back down to Buttermere, just as the moon rises over the fells, the butterflies go to ground, and the locals start to howl in The Fish.

Distance: 16 miles/26km Ascent: 3640ft/1110m Time: 8-11 hours Start/finish: Buttermere car park/campsite (GR: NY 173169) Maps: Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer sheet OL4 (The English Lakes – North Western area); Harvey Maps 1:25,000 Superwalker, Lakeland West; OS 1:50,000 Landranger sheet 89 (West Cumbria); BMC 1:40,000 British Mountain Maps, Lake District Information: Keswick TIC, 01768 772645

Technical Spec
Follow path on N side of lake (and short stretch of road) to Gatesgarth Farm, then track S and SE along Warnscale Bottom ascending to path W to Haystacks. Descend W to Scarth Gap, ascend Seat, NW to High Crag, following precipice generally NW to High Stile and Red Pike. Descend NW then W to Little Dodd, climb W to Starling Dodd and Great Borne, then descend N with fence to Floutern Pass. Follow path E to Scale Beck, SE to Scale Bridge, then NE to village.