High Pike - Carrock Fell

Joe Jackson

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High Pike and Carrock Fell are two of the most north easterly Wainwrights in the Lake District and this great walk explores them both. Starting off in the tiny hamlet of Bowscale, the first section follows the road into the village of Mosedale and then along the valley floor of the same name. Keep your eyes open along this stretch as when I was walking here I was a bird of prey soaring effortlessly on the thermals, spiraling higher into the sky. After studying the photos I think it was a Buzzard. From the end of Mosedale the route follows a faint path alongside Grainsgill Beck, past the disused Carrock Mines and up onto the high plateau near Great Lingy Hill. The path then passes the bothy called Lingy Hut which provides excellent shelter if the weather closes in! High Pike is the first peak summited today with a nice bench, good sized shelter and trig column at the top. The views north are uninterrupted and superb. The route across to Carrock Fell is fairly easy to follow other then the peat hag right in the middle. A path tries to go around but fails to. The best way is to make your own judgement to try and stay dry. The summit of Carrock Fell is an inspiring place, with the enclosure wall and cairn from an ancient iron age hillfort surrounding the top. On the south side of the fort wall are three rooms. These rooms are not related to the fort, but of a later medieval sheiling settlement. The summit really is a place lost in history and well worth exploring. The descent follows a path down to a gully where it becomes one of the steepest paths I've ever walked on! The descent is quick with the last few kilometres following the road back to Bowscale.

England - North England - Cumbria - Lake District - North East