Carrock Fell
Walk date – 3rd October 2026
Distance – 4.8 miles
Weather – dry and sunny, a mix of fair weather and darker cloud, cool breeze at height
There was one route up Carrock Fell which we hadn’t used before and so we were interested in using it, discovering if it still existed on the ground, and what it was like if it did. However, it had to be put in the pending tray as the recent strong winds discouraged us from attempting it. Today looked like being a better day with calmer winds, extensive sunshine and excellent visibility, although the last two were on the optimistic side as can be seen from the photos. We don’t usually take to the hills at the weekend but as good weather was forecast for Saturday, when parking space might be at a premium, we didn’t have much of a choice given that the following days of weather didn’t look at all promising. We decided to give it a try on the basis that there is usually plenty of off road parking available so we made a reasonably early start and headed off to Caldbeck Common for today’s walk up to Carrock Fell.
Route
Caldbeck Common (off road parking) – Quaker Hill – Mine track – Carrock Beck – Path to col between Carrock Fell and High Pike – Miton Hill – Round Knott – Carrock Fell – Descent path from Carrock Fell – Footbridge across Carrock Beck – Caldbeck Common off road parking
We parked just up the hill from the ford crossing of Carrock beck and set off along the old mine track which crosses Quaker Hill. Its a lovely sunny morning with a light breeze and some fair weather cloud here and there. Carrock Fell was in view all the way along the track.
The track over Quaker Hill rises gently but steadily, eventually meets a path coming across from Calebreck and, at the junction, the two paths become one and it levels out for a while. We are some distance from that point at the moment and once we are beyond the junction we will begin to look out for the path to our left. In the meantime we have, from L to R, a view of the Miton Hill portion of Carrock Fell, High Pike and West Fell.
We are much further along from the junction at this point, the two paths have become one and we are looking out for a path to our left. Although we can see a path rising up the fell side on the left we can see no way of getting over to it at the moment. Its going up towards the gully towards the top left of the shot but it will need a zoom in to see it though.
Eventually we came to this point where a trodden path appeared beside the main track. As we stood debating whether this was the path we were looking for a couple of walkers passed by us who exchanged greetings with us before continuing on along the main track which leads up to the now disused mining area full of spoil heaps. See our walk of 15th Jan 2024 (https://www.wainwrightwalking.co.uk/high-pike/) for details of that area. They went on their way and, as we had already decided that this was the path we were looking for, so did we.
We followed the grassy path which eventually led us to this point over to Carrock beck. J leaped across it a little further up, as I could have done as the beck is not very wide at this point. But I decided to try ‘the crossing’ instead. It may need a zoom in but towards the lower centre of the shot a small green mound of vegetation jutting out into the beck can be seen, and in doing so restricts the space the beck can flow through while providing a handy step to put a foot on. As J was already on this side of the bank he held out a helping hand just in case the grassy clump on my side or the mound jutting into the beck gave way. Neither of them did but I’ve included the photo of ‘the crossing’ just for its entertainment value.
Once across I took this shot of High Pike looking upstream from the beck.
A look back at our route across as the path we are now on begins to rise, as does the track we left a few minutes ago. It will need another zoom but it is possible to see where the two tracks part company and our route across.
A view of the former mine workings below the Sunny Bank path from a ‘get your breath back’ stop. Part of the route out of the valley bottom was particularly steep although it was mercifully short so we didn’t have to suffer for very long!
The view back down the grassy path towards West Fell.
The path we were following eventually leads up to the col between High Pike and Carrock Fell. Part of the route between the two can be seen over on the right skyline so we haven’t much further to go now. The path we’re on leads us over towards the left of the shot where it is clearly visible. As we reached the point at which the path begins to turn towards the col we began seeing other walkers who were crossing over.
Next to appear, coming down the small rise over on the left, was the path between High Pike and Carrock Fell …..
….. and then, almost without realising it, we found ourselves looking up at the Miton Hill path. From now on we were on familiar paths although we weren’t looking forward to what we knew was waiting for us, the squelchy trek between Miton Hill and Carrock Fell.
Part way up the hill I took a look back from the path up Miton Hill and its continuation over to High Pike. Darker clouds had now begun to drift across High Pike and a cool breeze made its presence felt. My gloves went on.
The first view of Carrock Fell summit as we neared the top of Miton Fell. More heavy cloud above that too.
A couple of minutes later we were by the cairn on Miton Hill with the view of Carrock Fell at the far end. The heavy cloud is still with us but at least there are some blue bits here and there.
We had a ‘sun and shade’ view of Lonscale Fell, Jenkin Hill, Lower Man and Skiddaw as we walked along the soggy plateau …..
….. and a very shaded one of Blencathra and Mungrisedale Common …..
….. and a view of The Tongue (L) leading over to Bowscale Fell (C) with Foule Crag (R) on Blencathra towering over both.
Just below Round Knott I managed to find a dry spot from which to record our progress along the wet plateau. Its quite flat so walking across it should be quick and easy but it holds a great deal of water and having to frequently divert around the various puddles, pools and very extensive and muddy parts takes up a lot of time.
We did manage to find a section of dry path below Round Knott but it quickly deteriorated into the usual squelch a bit further along.
Another look back to Round Knott as we entered another pathful of squelch.
We leave Round Knott behind and the route begins to climb towards the summit of Carrock Fell. Knott is on the distant skyline and Coombe Height is below it over on the left. From here the route became somewhat drier and eventually we reached the rocky area just below the summit. Its not a steep climb to the top …..
….. and here we are, at the summit cairn and wind shelter with a view of Blencathra in the distance. I don’t remember a shelter being there when we were last up here in 2022 so perhaps its a new addition or maybe I just wasn’t paying attention at the time.
Its a fine cairn now which wasn’t the case when I took a shot of it in 2018. We were the only ones up here so we decided to sit in the shelter and have something to eat sheltered from the lively breeze. By the time five minutes had passed the place was crowded with walkers coming from all directions!
After our break we braved the breeze again so I could take a few shots from the summit area. This one looks along the Caldew Valley towards Skiddaw and its neighbours …..
….. this is looking across to Miton Hill with a shaded High Pike on the skyline …..
….. another view of Knott, which always seems to grab any sunlight that’s on offer, and Combe Height …..
….. and a look over to Blencathra and Bowscale Fell. I have no idea what the white line across the middle of the photo is as there was nothing on the camera lens or on the subsequent photos. Perhaps it was nothing more than a peephole in the cloud which allowed a single shaft of sunlight through.
Beyond The Tongue (leading up to Bowscale Fell) we could see a very hazy outline of the fells towards the southeast and although I thought I could make out the shape of Red Screes with Caudale Moor opposite it, making a sort of elongated U shape over towards the left, I can’t be certain.
Carrock Fell’s summit cairn on its rocky plinth …..
….. and another view of it from a little further round. Everyone who arrived when we were in the wind shelter has now departed so we are by ourselves again although we can see more walkers heading our way. We’d decided to make our way back down to the car by this time and so we left the summit, picked our way through the rocks, found the path we needed and began the descent.
Sunshine lit up High Pike every now and again during our descent but we were in the shade for much of it …..
….. although we did get one or two sunny spells, such as this one, on the way down and …..
….. this one of the sheepfold below West Fell towards the end of the descent which I had never noticed before during the number of times we’ve used this path to descend. Perhaps it was too gloomy on previous occasions.
Back down on the road at the ford crossing where Carrock beck was in full flow and running swiftly across the road. We used the bridge instead …..
….. where the beck was rapidly tumbling over the rocks and creating lots of white water.
Over the bridge and back on the road now where the car is parked just around the corner at the top of the hill and all that’s left for us to do is walk up the road and dump our stuff in it. So that’s the end of today’s walk and although it wasn’t long in terms of mileage we did find the path we’d never used before and a very nice path it was too. Even the weather was nice, just for a change.