My long-held plan had been to approach this hill from Sadgill – a location not accessible to a vehicle of Bertie’s size. Last July I drove up Long Sleddale to Sadgill and having done so wasn’t in any rush to drive that road again (4.5 miles of overgrown hedges such that Erica was often being brushed on both sides, fortunately I only met two other vehicles although one was a bin lorry!) but as I was driving support for Mick that day I wasn’t at liberty to go and bag my hill.
With a bike at my disposal this week, I thought it would be
a good solution to cycle in to Sadgill from the A6. Reading the logs on hill-bagging.co.uk,
to see if I could glean any information about ascending Tarn Crag via Stockdale and Great
Howe (so as to make a circuit of the outing, descending via the main track from the Gatescarth Pass), I happened upon a single mention
of someone approaching from Shap. That held great appeal: as we were spending the night there, we wouldn’t have to
drive anywhere, meaning Mick could have a lie-in. I perused the map and quickly came up with a plan.
Having used the track over the Gatescarth Pass via Sadgill a
number of times before, and having never been into Wet Sleddale (and I doubt I
ever would have found a reason to but for this hill), I was happy indeed to
find myself there today – even though I found myself bare-leggedly wading
through a patch of nettles within metres of leaving the A6 (I didn’t take that
short-cut on the way back)! Once beyond the reservoir, the old, often grassy track was a delight. The first view of Mosedale Cottage bothy
was impressive too – a glow of white paint on a building that was larger than I
expected, nestled against some trees far up the valley.
It was just before 0930 when I reached my summit and the
breeze up there was a little cool on my bare arms and legs, but not enough to make
me reach for an extra layer. I took in the hazy views, took some snaps, looked up where
the official summit lay, visited all other contenders for the high point, let
Mick know my progress, and headed off to retrace my steps. A few minutes later
I passed the only person I saw the whole time I was out (the day after a Bank
Holiday, and during school holidays; I’ll wager that few valleys further west
were as quiet!).
It was some hours later, when I looked at the map, that I
realised that with minimal thought I could have made a lollipop of the walk by
taking the E ridge to drop down to the S side of Wet Sleddale Reservoir.
Careless of me not to notice at the time, but it was no great hardship to enjoy
the valley in the opposite direction – particularly with the sun having
moved such that it was now being shown off to better advantage.
I’d expected the descent to be quicker than it was. I reckon someone had been out and snuck a whole lot of ascent into the return leg
that I’m sure hadn’t been there two hours earlier.
In case I’ve not conveyed already: it was an excellent
outing, even with the incident where I plunged both feet into the only bit of bog around. It’s rather a shame I didn’t have Mick with me, as it would very much
have been his cup of tea too, but his legs were resting after his far harder
efforts yesterday.
Snaps from the day:
Looking up the valley to Mosedale Cottage, far away (first snap) then closer to (second snap) 
