Raven Crag ramble
Walk date – 20th November 2024
Distance – 5.3 miles
Weather – dry and sunny, very cold, slight northerly breeze
A short walk today just to get our ‘fell legs’ back in trim after a five week lay off which was the result of nothing drastic but simply a combination of poor weather and general circumstances. The sort of circumstances in which domestic appliances decree that it is time for them to stop working, spring a leak or some other annoyance which results in normal life being put on hold until things get fixed. Everyone will have gone through a phase thus described so I won’t bore viewers with the details. J’s volunteering day has been cancelled until the end of November following a stormy weekend at the back end of October during which the gale force winds created havoc on, and in, the building in which the volunteering takes place. The first couple of weeks of November were wind free, resulting in very foggy, grey, damp weather which hung over us day after day. However, since last weekend we have had extremely cold weather coming down from the north (windscreen scraping much in evidence as a result) but it has been dry, sunny and wind free. Local walks along level footpaths are all well and good but to get one’s ‘fell legs’ back necessarily involves more than simply walking ‘along’ something, it needs to involve walking ‘up’ something, hence our decision to walk up Raven Crag today. We haven’t set foot on it for eight years so a visit is long overdue, it has plenty of ‘up’ although its not very high and the forest road route is generally firm underfoot. In the clear northern air visibility was excellent today and everything sparkled in the sunlight. I haven’t posted a lot of photos in this report as I am trying to eke out the storage package allotted by our web hosting service. No doubt the time will come when we have used it all and then we will have some decisions to make. Until that happens we’ll keep posting walk reports just with fewer photos.
Route
Bridge End farm (off road parking) – Thirlmere Dam road – Forest road (via Shoulthwaite Moss – The Benn – Sippling Crag) – Raven Crag – Shoulthwaite Banks – Thirlmere Dam road – Bridge End Farm
Looking across the A591 towards Great Dodd from our off road parking near Bridge End farm.
Walking along the Thirlmere dam road towards Bridge End farm with a view of Raven Crag (L) and The Benn (R). The road was mostly in the shadow of the trees so it was a very chilly walk along here.
Cows and their very young calves at Bridge End farm. As we stopped and looked over the wall the black calf approached its mother and began taking a drink of milk, she gave us a very loud moo by way of a warning. The rest of the group took no notice of us whatsoever, too busy eating I think.
The rather splendid tower which Manchester Corporation built when the dam was under construction although there is no information nearby as to its purpose. Its the first time we’ve seen it without a screen of trees surrounding it.
Further along is this equally splendid set of plaques commemorating the building and opening of the dam or acknowledging a significant anniversary of the same. We are out of the tree shade and into some sunshine at last.
Raven Crag towering above us as we walk towards the end of the dam. Motorists will be dismayed by the fact that the access road over the dam is blocked by barriers at both ends of the dam itself. The road and car parks along the western side of the lake are open, you just can’t cross the dam in your car any more.
The view across St John’s in the Vale from the west shore road at Thirlmere. Bridge End farm is below us and on the left skyline opposite us is the little pimple of Calfhow Pike with Great Dodd just to the right of centre.
The Scots Pines on High Rigg’s Wren Crag are on the skyline above one of Bridge End farm’s outbuildings.
The footpath sign which appears just before we turn off onto the forest track. There is a similar sign at Bridge End farm and the footpath between the two is a short cut. The path is shown as a dashed red line on our route map. As it was such a lovely day we decided to walk the long way round today.
There are two footbridges to cross on the way over, the one in the shot crosses a small stream, the second one, which isn’t in shot, crosses the beginning of St John’s Beck which arises out of Meethom Dub.
Just around the corner from the signpost we left the tarmac road and turned left onto this forest track which runs alongside Shoulthwaite Moss. As can be seen its a wide track with a firm surface which presumably the wagons going to and from the nearby disused quarry would have used. The area is still used and we have seen bags of rocks delivered by lorries along here which are later transported by helicopter to wherever they are needed on the fells. We were back in the shade along here and as we rounded the bend and headed northwards our eyes and noses began watering profusely as the northerly breeze made its presence felt.
A view of the Skiddaw group across Shoulthwaite Moss. It all looks very nice but, by ‘eck, it was cold along this section of the track.
Further round now and Lonscale Fell has come into view and becomes part of the Skiddaw group photo.
The various humps, bumps and knobbly bits of High Rigg beyond Shoulthwaite Moss. High Rigg’s summit is the higher section to the left of centre.
The forest track gains height steadily and eventually we were treated to a partially sunny view of Iron Crag across Shoulthwaite Gill. These crags are the on the eastern side of Bleaberry Fell. The western side of that fell looks much friendlier than this eastern side.
A look ahead along the forest track and …..
….. at the top of the rise there is a junction in the track. The left hand track, which we followed to this point, is the one which goes over The Benn, the hill rising up on the right in this shot. We didn’t follow the track over The Benn but re-traced our steps back to the junction and took the right hand path which promptly turns back on itself and begins rising again.
A splendid view of Iron Crag from further up the track and with the sunlight landing on it it looked more like silver than iron. I had tried to get good shots of it as soon as it came into view but was thwarted by fencing, bushes and trees. Suddenly along came a clearing and this fabulous view of Iron Crag ended up being the chosen one.
A look back from the track towards Sippling Crag although the craggy parts on view in the shot are not the very top of the crag.
Another sunny shot of Iron Crag, although today it was referred to as ‘Silver Crag’ for obvious reasons.
Further up the track we were treated to a distant view of the Skiddaw group although the brown bracken filled slopes of Bleaberry Fell were masking part of the group.
Making our way over to the viewing platform on Raven Crag and the wonderful views to be had from it …..
….. starting with Blencathra with the houses of Threlkeld just visible below it …..
….. looking over to Clough Head, Calfhow Pike and Raise with its sprinkling of snow. We had some rain during Saturday/Sunday night which fell as snow on these higher eastern fells. Couldn’t see snow anywhere else so the rain must have been confined to the east of the park …..
….. Raise and Whiteside got a dusting too …..
….. as did Helvellyn, Lower Man and Browncove Crags …..
….. the jewel in the crown is, of course ,the view along Thirlmere flanked by fells on both sides. In today’s clear weather the view from this lowly point in the Lake District was spectacular.
Eventually we had to make our way back down to the deer gate and begin our descent. As we did so we were pleased that we had chosen to go the long way round because the state of the path was precarious to say the least.
The view from our descent path down the steep, icy and stony path down from Raven Crag. The path is now badly eroded, where you used to walk on the surface you now walk in deep and stony gullies, parts of which were very slippery as the water which has found its way down them had frozen, parts that weren’t frozen were very loose so it was necessary to make sure of your footing before taking a step, and even then we both had slithery episodes. Note to self – make sure you have your spikes with you in future.
It was a relief to step onto terra firma as we reached the first of two forest tracks. We crossed over this and continued our slithery way down through the forest to the next track where we could stand on firm ground yet again.
The view across Thirlmere from the second forest road when we reached it, with no sign of the snow melting up there. We first saw the snow on Monday as we drove into Keswick so it must be extremely cold up there. Its chilly enough down here, the sun is shining but there’s little warmth coming from it, the northerly air stream is making sure of that although on the plus side the air is always clear when it comes from that direction.
We were almost down when I spotted this cairn perched on top of an old tree stump over on my left. If it is supposed to be a waymarker cairn then it is too far away from the path to be of much use, perhaps somebody fancied building a cairn on a sawn off tree stump just for the fun of it.
J holds the gate open for me as I walk the last few steps down the path and onto the equally icy patch of road just in front of the gate.
Walking back across the dam with look along Thirlmere which I couldn’t do when we started out as the sun was shining directly in my eyes and making the surroundings look black.
Back at Bridge End farm and the cow and calf nursery field. We weren’t moo’ed at this time although the cow in the centre of the shot gave us a long, hard look while she was feeding her calf. The two brown ones were too busy eating the hay which had been brought for them, the one who warned us off earlier is standing over on the right and keeping an eye on her calf who has wandered off to investigate something or other. A peaceful scene all watched over by The Benn, the hill in the background. So, we’ve come to the end of today’s walk and a very pleasant one it has been even though it was a very chilly one during some sections of it. However we were well wrapped up and gloved up, we just need to remember to put the spikes in our packs in readiness for more frosty and icy walks this coming winter. A few more tissues would have been welcome today too.