Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks

Walk date – 26th March 2025

Distance – 6.6 miles

Weather – a mixed bag today, sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy, but always with a blustery and chilly breeze, very hazy, no rain

 

We had a walk over a couple of old favourites today, Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks, which we haven’t visited since 15th February 2019, a gap of six years. We could have done with a little more sunshine and a lot less wind but on the whole we had a good walk with lots of superb views of the surrounding fells. There are other fells we haven’t visited for even longer than that but as many of them are over in the west we are looking forward to longer daylight hours when the clocks go forward an hour this weekend, not to mention some warmer weather in which to walk them. We are more than ready to discard gloves, hats, mid-layers, winter trousers and jackets and all the rest of the gear that winter walking requires, get the t-shirts and shorts out of their winter storage and walk the fells in warm sunshine once again.


Route

Honister slate mine – mine road – Black Star – Fleetwith Pike – Dubs Quarry – Warnscale Beck – Little Round How – Blackbeck Tarn – Innominate Tarn – Haystacks – Innominate Tarn – Blackbeck Tarn – Little Round How – Warnscale Beck – Dubs Quarry – Dismantled tramline – Honister Slate Mine

A couple of views from the car park at the Honister mine – over on the right are Honister Crags the summit of which is Black Star and below the crags is the mine road which we will be using today. On the left is the path climbing up to the dismantled tramway route which we will be using on our return leg. That large grey cloud looked rather ominous but nothing wet fell out of it.

I also took a look down the Honister Pass road where the mine’s slate men figures stand watch over it where nothing was happening other than the clouds casting gloomy shadows over Hindscarth.

We set off along the steep mine road and where we had a ‘get your breath back’ pause at this flatter area  before tackling the next and even steeper section of the road.

A couple of vans belonging to the mine had just come down the road causing us to step to the side until they passed by. No complaints from us though, we were pleased to have an excuse for stopping for a minute or two.

The mine road eventually leads us out onto what we call the Honister Henge track. It has the look and feel of a henge as it has a series of large and upright stones at intervals along its route.

Before we turned off the track I took a look back across the lower slopes of Grey Knotts at the various misty humps and bumps beyond. To the left of the middle foreground is Rosthwaite Fell, otherwise known as Bessyboot. That in turn rises up Thornythwaite Fell to Combe Head, and beyond that is the mist shrouded summit of Glaramara. The distant skyline has High Raise (C) dropping down to Greenup Edge. I looked along the track before we turned off and saw that the corrugated mine building, a photo of which can be seen on our 7th Jan 2018 walk, still hadn’t been completely swallowed up by the spoil heaps although it was now leaning at a very crazy angle.

The walk over to Black Star was very pleasant as we had our backs to the wind and a sunny spell came along. The automatic weather station is still standing in its usual postition though how it has escaped being blown over in several years worth of gales is baffling. Here’s J peering down into Honister Pass from the summit area. There are hundreds of feet of near vertical drop from this point so he didn’t stay longer than was necessary for me to take this shot.

I also took some shots of some of the views from Black Star – this one looks over to Robinson with High Snockrigg to its left …..

….. this is Hindscarth (C) with Littledale Edge to its left and Hindscarth Edge to its right …..

….. and straight across Honister Pass are the crags of Dale Head.

Three peaks in one shot, nearest the camera is Black Star, then Fleetwith Pike followed by High Crag above Buttermere.

The next section of our walk will be via the path from Black Star over to Fleetwith Pike. We exchanged greetings with a couple who arrived at Black Star as we were leaving but we didn’t see them again so no idea where they went after leaving the top. They definitely didn’t follow us along the path over to Fleetwith Pike.

Robinson (L) and Hindscarth (R) joined together by Littledale Edge above which just the top of Causey Pike can be seen. Taken as we were approaching Fleetwith Pike.

On the summit of Fleetwith Pike now with its great view of High Crag, High Stile, Red Pike (almost) and Dodd. Even with all the haze around it still takes your breath away.

Opposite them on the other side of Buttermere is Robinson dropping down to the flattish area of High Snockrigg and below that are Rannerdale Knotts. Beyond High Snockrigg is a sunny Whiteless Pike rising up to Thirdgill Head Man followed by Wandope. The skyline view is of Grasmoor and Crag Hill.

Robinson, Littledale Edge and Hindscarth again.

Alas the neat and tidy columnar cairn on Fleetwith Pike’s summit is no more and we presumed what remains of it has been just been heaped into this disorderly jumble. Fleetwith Pike’s summit and the fabulous view from it deserves something much better than this lowly and dishevelled pile of stones.

The afore-mentioned fabulous view from the summit of Fleetwith Pike where walkers can look along Buttermere and Crummock Water, gaze at the fells which stand alongside them and marvel at what nature has provided for us to look at. Its a shame that there’s so much haze and cloud around today but nature has decided that’s what the conditions will be today. Even so its still a cracking view.

To our left Haystacks with its countless heathery hillocks sprawls along below us before coming to an end at Scarth Gap. Hazy and lacking definition it may be but at least we can see it which is more than can be said for Kirk Fell just behind it which has been covered with cloud all the time it has been in our view.

Having viewed all that was on offer today we set off back down Fleetwith and made our way down to the Warnscale Beck crossing.

Much further down we reach the spoil heaps around Dubs Quarry and in the bottom left corner of the shot just a small section of the Dubs Hut bothy rooftop is in view. Across from us Warnscale Beck meanders its way down into Buttermere and the footpath we will be following up to Haystacks is snaking its way across the fellside just beyond the beck crossing.

Dubs Hut bothy is owned by the Honister Slate Mine Company but, with the permission of the mine company, was re-furbished by the Mountain Bothies Association and then re-opened in 2017. J had a look inside and reported back. ‘Spotlessly clean’ was his verdict.

We made our way from the bothy down to the crossing of Warnscale Beck and took up the path leading over to Innominate Tarn and Haystacks. Along the way we spotted this fabulous view of the High Stile ridge above Buttermere.

Grey Knotts from the path over to …..

….. the crossing at Blackbeck Tarn. The cloud looks like its beginning to lift from Kirk Fell at last.

A shot of the path leading up from the crossing of Black Beck taken from Green Crag. The path becomes very rough from the beck crossing point onwards although it is pitched above the flattish green area just to the right of centre.

The view from the rough path after we had crossed Black Beck where Grasmoor (R) towered above all its neighbours.

A look across at Green Crag now that we’ve reached the sunny flattish green area I mentioned previously. Behind me is the pitched path referred to and as I was climbing them my right hand back muscles began to trouble me again. Lots of ‘ouch’ followed, a walker coming down them said he’d uttered plenty of them when he’d climbed Red Pike earlier and J’s plated ankle is also beginning to grumble. Both of us have these problems whenever we’re walking over rough paths or ground.

Very windy and blowing straight at us at Innominate Tarn when we reached it, as can be seen from the waves on its surface. We had planned to take a coffee break at the tarn but thought better of it and found a more sheltered spot further up the path away from the tarn area. Pillar, on the right behind the tarn, is also now clear of cloud

Looking back to Innominate Tarn, Grey Knotts and Brandreth as we continue on up the path to Haystacks. We took a wind speed reading just before we climbed onto the summit which showed 19 point something mph so we knew that once we put our heads above the parapet the speed would be a bit more than that. The fell-top assessors had a maximum reading of 6.4 mph and they were on Fairfield which is much higher than Haystacks!

Not only was it windier on Haystacks summit but we also found a group of school age youngsters clustered around the iron post. When they left they were immediately replaced by two chaps who stood beside it and talked to each other for a long time. I had to take these summit shots from just below the iron post. Above is a fine view of Robinson and High Snockrigg with Grasmoor, Wandope, Crag Hill and Sail on the left skyline …..

….. Robinson, Littledale Edge and Hindscarth with the Skiddaw group just showing above Littledale Edge …..

….. Hindscarth, Hindscarth Edge and Dale Head on the skyline with Fleetwith Pike just below Dale Head.

We dropped down from the summit area to the un-named tarn just below it and walked along the path to the other end …..

….. and along the way was the fabulous sight of High Crag in full sun. Wonder what the wind speed was up there today?

Great Gable never lost its cloud cap today while Green Gable on the other side of Windy Gap hasn’t had one at all …..

….. below Great Gable, Kirk Fell has finally rid itself of its cloud covering and, haze notwithstanding, is standing out clearly now.

A unexpected view of Crummock Water as we reach the end of the tarn and begin to make our way back down.

Grey Knotts and Brandreth above Innominate Tarn as we descend from Haystacks.

Back at the tarn and where we’ve decided to return to Blackbeck Tarn via the alternative route round the back of the tarn …..

….. with a view towards Robinson, Grasmoor and their neighbouring fells along the way.

Back down to Blackbeck Tarn now where we followed the grassy path, rather than the usual pitched path, to pick up the path back to …..

….. Little Round How where we will descend to the crossing of Warnscale Beck. After crossing the beck we will keep to the dismantled tramway which is crossing the grassland at the top right of the shot. The mine road path can be seen heading up towards the pointed tops of the spoil heaps but we walked part of that on our outward leg and didn’t want to repeat it.

After crossing Warnscale Beck we headed up the grassy slope towards the spoil heaps and …..

….. onto the dismantled tramway where I took a look back towards Haystacks. We have a lot of cloud above us now and the sunshine has been gone for some time …..

….. and as we approached the former drum house we could see where it had gone to, eastward over to the Dodds and the Helvellyn range. We, meanwhile, are still under some heavy cloud which, together with the chilly wind, is keeping the temperature down. As we live beyond the Helvellyn range we should be back in the sunshine once we get back home, and once we get past the drum house and start dropping down we’ll  get some shelter from the wind too. Happy thoughts.

Honister mine and car park from the cutting …..

….. and just a short time later we were approaching the car park and more than ready for a sit down on a comfortable seat. Best of all the sun is still shining over in the east so we won’t have too long to wait until we are back in the sunshine again. Well folks, that’s us done for the day, we’ve both got aching bits but nothing that won’t benefit from relaxing with a hot drink as we chat about the events of the day. Its not been too bad a day and although there was plenty of haze, cloud and wind we’ve had a very enjoyable walk and some superb views. The weather outlook is looking likely to be chilly and windy, more autumnal than springlike, so in the meantime we’ll just have to wait and see what turns up.