Lingmoor Fell
Walk date – 13th September 2024
Distance – 6.6 miles
Weather – sunny with cloudy spells, cold wind on summit, light breeze elsewhere
An unexpected good weather day was forecast for today and we almost missed it as it was only by chance that we noticed the forecast. Since our last walk all those little necessities, which usually arrive all at once for one reason or another, have required dealing with so we haven’t really had much spare time to get out on the fells. Anyway, all that having been dealt with we were free to turn our attention to where we might walk today. We opted for Lingmoor Fell, one of those fells that tends to get forgotten about as its a ‘stand alone’ fell and only rises to a medium height of 1,538 feet/469 metres. However the position it occupies does mean that the surrounding views are breathtaking and well worth the walk up to the summit to take a look at them. Consequently there are several shots of the Langdale Pikes, Bowfell and Crinkle Crags in today’s walk report.
Route
Elterwater – Dale End path – Bield Crag path – Ridge wall route – Brown Howe (Lingmell summit) – Birk Knott descent route – Blea Tarn car park – road walk via Busk House and Dale End farm – Elterwater
The Britannia Inn which I always take a shot of as we pass by it on our walk through the village from the almost empty parking area at Walthwaite Bottom. I didn’t think anyone would be interested in a view of the public toilets which are behind me on the other side of the road. Moving swiftly on, we dropped down the hill, crossed the bridge and followed the road round to the right and eventually turned right onto the beginning of the very rough path leading to …..
….. the gate at the top which J is just about to close and from where we continue on to the Dale End path. The steady climb up to this point had warmed us up nicely so we took the opportunity to remove a layer. On the way up there was a little incident which I only noticed when I looked back as I heard J shouting something. A van with a trailer attached was parked at the side of the road but it was very slowly making its way backwards down the hill. J shouted across to a chap working on a house nearby while another walker just behind him put a rock under the wheels hoping to stop the whole thing going any further. The chap who owned the van/trailer came rushing across as soon as J let him know what was happening. I suppose the handbrake wasn’t fully engaged.
From the Dale End path we had a lovely view of the Coniston Fells with Wetherlam, just left of centre, being the most prominent. Just behind it to the right right are Swirl How, Great Carrs and Little Carrs.
Here’s our turn off point and where we’ll begin the climb through the bracken and heather (also known as ling hence the name of the fell). We’ve already removed one layer and had to remove another by the time we reached the second gate. We were now down to t-shirt level and thinking that perhaps the long trousers we were wearing weren’t all that necessary today. There was a slight frost covering rooftops at home when we had set off so we weren’t taking a chance on wearing shorts. Just as well we didn’t but more of that later on. Further up the path we came across a chap taking a breather on an old wooden bench so we had a short chat about this and that before we carried on. He didn’t appear anywhere on the path behind us after that so we have no idea where he went after we left.
A partial view of the Langdale Pikes plus the little hump of Sergeant Man on the skyline. We’re still climbing the Bield Crag path at this point and it becomes very steep in places, a fact which was remarked upon by a passing walker to the effect that for such a moderate height fell he hadn’t expected it to be needing such an effort to climb.
Thankfully a few more or less level sections appear from time to time where walkers can take a bit of a breather and enjoy the surrounding views. From one such section here’s the view across Great Langdale towards the Helvellyn group. Clough Head and the Dodds are just behind them to the left.
Looking across the Lang How/Blea Rigg ridge to the Fairfield Horseshoe. The most prominent fells are the rounded hump of Fairfield and the pointed top of Great Rigg over to the left. Hart Crag is just appearing on the centre skyline followed by just a glimpse of Dove Crag which in turn drops down to High Pike.
We’re almost at the top of Bield Crag at this point from where we have this view of Red Screes, left skyline, and Froswick, Ill Bell and Yoke on the right.
A little further up the path from where we have a view of Elter Water and Windermere.
We arrived at the stone bench where, of course, we sat for a few minutes just because its there. Nearby is the path coming up from the old quarrying area the route we used on our last walk up here in December 2021. A young couple arrived from that path and took a few minutes to get their breath back and take some photos before setting off again.
We carried on from the stone bench gradually gaining height and eventually got our first view of Cold Pike, Pike O’Blisco, Crinkle Crags and Bowfell. We also got a view of the very cloudy skies which had been creeping up on us and which, with some dismay, we had been noticing for some time. One of the layers we had removed earlier now went back on again.
J, now wearing his summer weight mid layer, leads the way over the various humps and bumps which make up Lingmoor’s ridge line. The temperature has dropped a few degrees and, thanks to the cloud cover, everything now looks very dreary.
Eventually Brown How, the summit of Lingmoor Fell, comes into view. It was certainly living up to its name today.
There’s still some distance to go before we reach the top of it though so we plod on over the ridge line which, just like life in general, is full of ups and downs.
A glimmer of sunlight brushed the tops of the Langdale Pikes so I took a quick shot of them just in case we didn’t get any more sunlight landing on them.
The summit cairn on Brown How as we approach the stile which has lost the top section of its ‘grab’ post since we were last up here.
It was very cold and windy up here and the cloudy skies had plunged all the surrounding scenery into deep shadow and the summit shots suffered as a result. Here’s the summit cairn backed by Wetherlam and some of the other Coniston fells …..
….. the Langdale Pikes, looking very dour …..
….. Cold Pike, Pike O’Blisco, Crinkle Crags and Bowfell all looking rather bleak as well …..
….. and beyond the stile Windermere was looking a bit chilly too. By now I was very cold and keen to get some shelter from the cold wind so I went off to the left of the shot where J had found a more sheltered spot for us to take a break. It wasn’t sheltered enough though and we both put back on all the layers we had been removing on the way up, even our gloves went on which we’d had the foresight to bring but which we hadn’t worn until now. The flask of hot coffee went down a treat. A short distance away a group of three who were also taking a break had put on their thick jackets and woolly hats.
It was too cold to hang around any longer so we began making our way back down using the path leading directly back down to the car park across the road from Blea Tarn. I took the above shot thinking that I might as well take one last shot of Bowfell and its neighbours now that the sun had obviously gone home for the rest of the day and then …..
….. I began to follow J who was already making his way down. As we descended he said to me ” I bet the sun will come out again just as we reach the road” …..
….. although it appeared again sooner than either of us expected. As we reached the stile crossing over to the Bleatarn House path I noticed that Great Langdale and The Band were bathed in sunlight again as the cloud began to break up. This is a close up shot taken from some distance back from the stile as we had to make a detour around this very boggy area.
Looking back at Brown How as we continue our descent.
A zoom in shot of the summit area of Brown How.
My grandfather used to have a saying which was “Well, I’m fair capped!” This meant that he was greatly surprised by something. Having given up on seeing any more sunny views I was surprised to see how quickly things were changing. Just a short while ago we had overcast skies and a cold wind and just look at it now, sunshine on the Pikes and The Band and blue sky appearing again. “I’m fair capped!”
Now that the sun had got its hat on there was no stopping me so be prepared for more of the same …..
….. the Langdale Pikes …..
….. Bowfell and The Band …..
….. an even sunnier Bowfell …..
….. and Mickleden lit up like a Christmas tree …..
….. and finally, a closer look at Mickleden.
Blea Tarn was somewhat in shadow but …..
….. patience paid off in the end and we finally had a sunny view of it. The car park hidden in the trees across the road from the tarn is just below us and it didn’t take us long to reach it. The path meets the road just below the car park and once there we had a short break for drinks and to remove our top layers now we were back in the much warmer, and wind free, valley.
A glimpse of Little Langdale Tarn from the road walk back but …..
….. some distance further along is a better view of the tarn and its setting beneath Wetherlam and its neighbours.
We turned off the road eventually and made our way over to Dale End farm. There is a large area set aside for car parking, £5 for the day, which I assume is part of the farm and that’s the track leading down into it. At the farmhouse itself there is also a self-service refreshment stand which offers tea, coffee, cold drinks, cakes and other snacks. I can’t offer an opinion on it as we weren’t in need of refreshment so we didn’t stop but it looked very nice.
As we reached the village we noticed that the new building in the grounds of the independently operated Elterwater Hostel was more or less complete. I looked it up and found that the new building had replaced the former staff accommodation building and had been built on the same site. ‘The accommodation will comprise a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom family home for the hostel manager, two ensuite bedrooms for the existing staff with much improved kitchen/ living space, a ‘snug’ for use as a lounge area/relief staff accommodation, a utility room with shower area with both external and internal access and a two-bedroom owners flat above.’ according to the site I visited for further information. I must admit it all looked very ‘swish’.
We’re about to cross the bridge in Elterwater village and make our way back to the parking area in Walthwaite Bottom. Lots more people around now than when we set out, the outdoor tables at the Britannia were full of customers, as was the cafe on the corner, so we weren’t surprised to see a full car park when we got back to it. I almost forgot to mention it but the van/trailer incident I mentioned earlier seemed to have been resolved as we saw the van/trailer again as we walked down towards the village. It had been turned around and was now parked facing down the hill on the opposite side of the lane, presumably now with its handbrake fully engaged. All’s well that end well!