Low Pike And Scandale Beck

A visit to my mother-in-law in the Lake District last week gave me the chance to spend a day on the fells. Years ago I'd set out from Ambleside to walk the Fairfield Horseshoe via Heron Pike and Great Rigg, but had taken the wrong path off Fairfield's misty summit and ended up in Patterdale after scrambling over Cofa Pike and reaching the lofty viewpoint of St Sunday Crag (a spectacular route, I might add). This time my vague plan was to complete the second half of the horseshoe by taking in Low Pike, High Pike, Dove Crag and Hart Crag, then return to Ambleside on a clear track along the eastern flank of Scandale. I really wasn't sure how much of this ambitious route I'd manage to do, as it was a raw winter's day and there was snow on the tops. But it didn't matter: plans should always be flexible and able to adjust to circumstance; and anyhow, I was delighted simply to be out in the hills and the fresh air. And the air was certainly fresh, though I felt quite comfortable wearing two fleeces, hat, gloves and neck warmer, and a body-hugging base layer. The photo of Scandale Beck was taken from Low Sweden Bridge.      

My daypack felt good and snug on my back. I hadn't done anything like this for a few months, and I glowed in the familiar feelings you experience at the start of a walk: excitement, anticipation and a strong sense of release from the usual bonds of habit and routine which fetter so much of our life. These feelings can sometimes border on ecstasy. As I climbed, the views opened up; here I'm looking west towards the Langdale Pikes . . . 

. . . and to Loughrigg across the valley of the river Rothay.

Ambleside . . .

. . . and Lake Windermere . . .

. . . receded behind me as I hit the snow line.

Eating lunch on the summit cairn of Low Pike (508m, 1667 ft), I considered my options. Half the day had gone and I was only a quarter-way round my route. It was turning colder and the weather was deteriorating. The snow was getting deeper and the path increasingly harder to trace; in some places my boots were sinking in up to six inches of snow. Off the path the wet and grassy slopes — patchily blanketed with an unstable covering of snow — were treacherous. For me it would have been foolish, and physically and mentally challenging, to go on, although a well-equipped couple — the only hillwalkers I saw all day — did pass me, intending to complete the whole horseshoe. This is the view of High Pike from Low Pike . . .    

. . . and this is the bleak trough of Scandale. Scandale Beck has its source on Bakestones Moss high up at the valley head.

I turned back the way I'd come and quickly regained the easier slopes. Halfway down I branched off along a slabbed path which led to the valley bottom, where I found this beautiful packhorse bridge spanning the beck. A well-made track followed the tumbling stream through woodland and back to Ambleside.