Whatever the Weather: a Week in the Western Lakes

We’re very lucky to live close enough to the Lakes to be able to hop across the A66 for day trips to Ambleside or Keswick every few weeks. But the truly wild and remote side of the Lakes in the West is just a little bit too far to be able to drive there and back in a day. This has led to something of a backlog of Wainwrights waiting to be walked in the area, so we booked a week in Wasdale to get as many fells ticked off as possible. I booked November to avoid the inevitable summer crowds which are drawn to Wastwater like magnets: this did however present a bit of a gamble weather wise. We were fairly lucky in the end, managing to get out into the hills on all but three days of the trip, and ticking off a total of eleven Wainwrights. Not bad, but we’ve still got one hundred and thirty four to go…

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I will earn a small commission from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you.  I only recommend products I have purchased myself and which I genuinely recommend.

The Cumbrian Coast

The logic behind booking a whole week in the Lakes was that, even if the weather was truly awful for several days in a row, we’d still be able to get out in the hills for at least one or two days. This turned out to be a wise decision as the first two days of our trip saw gale force winds at sea level which kept us well away from the fells! We instead ventured across to the Cumbrian coast, one of Britain’s least visited coastlines (why go to the beach when the Lake District is so near?).

The aim of both the Saturday and the Sunday was to get the dogs out for an hour of zooming around on the beach in the morning, in order to have a nice cosy (and quiet) afternoon in the cottage. On the Saturday we went to St. Bees – the start of Wainwright’s coast to coast route (at least we were doing some sort of Wainwright…). The original plan was to walk up to the lighthouse on the coast, but the rain and fog were thick enough that we probably wouldn’t have actually been able to see the lighthouse, so we decided to save ourselves the effort and stuck to the beach.

It seemed like every other dog walker in Cumbria had the same idea as us – the beach was surprisingly busy when we arrived. After an amble around the sand it started to rain sideways and we retreated back to the car – calling at Hartley’s beach shop and tea room for a take away hot drink and a box of chips. I don’t know if it was just because I was so cold my face was totally numb, but the hot chocolate was one of the best I can remember having for a long time!

On the Sunday we ventured a little further south to explore the beach at Seascale. Of the two beaches, Seascale was by far my favourite (probably helped by the fact that it was windy but not raining). We visited at low tide when the sand stretches for miles and miles, and compared to St. Bees, it was nearly empty.

Dog friendly rating: 5/5. The beaches at both St. Bees and Seascale are dog friendly year round, and our dogs had an amazing time sprinting around getting very sandy. If you have a reactive dog like Coal, I’d definitely recommend heading to Seascale rather than St. Bees, and going at low tide. We had acres of space and even though there were some other dogs in the distance, they weren’t anywhere near us at any point.

Middle Fell, Seatallan & Buckbarrow

The cottage where we were spending the week was in an absolutely amazing location right next to the footpath heading up Middle Fell. We therefore agreed that it would be absolutely criminal not to bag the three Wainwrights that we could do right from our front door on this five and a half mile route from WalkLakes, the Greendale round, which would net us three Wainwrights in one walk. Consulting the weather forecast for the week on Sunday night, Monday looked like the best weather day we were going to get, so we laced up our boots and set off bright and early the following morning.

Setting off up Middle Fell, the path is a grassy track which climbs steadily uphill almost all the way to the top. Looking back over Wastwater to the Screes was the perfect excuse to stop and have a breather on the way up! The views for the day looked promising, however, about three quarters of the way up we walked into a cloud and didn’t emerge again until the very end when we submitted the much smaller Buckbarrow.

The good grassy track that we’d followed to the top of Middle Fell became fainter and more indistinct as we progressed around the route – navigation skills are definitely a must if you’re doing this in poor weather. The path was very boggy in places, and it was easy to be lured away from the track when skirting especially deep patches! It had been very wet in the days before we did this walk and I have to admit the going was not overly pleasant: it was either bog, slippy rock or mud, and it felt like the inevitable coming to pass when I put my foot down a little too quickly and ended up on my bum!

Walking over to Seatallan wasn’t particularly taxing, footing aside. It was mostly flat until the final ascent to the summit, which got my heart pumping and which had no views for me to stop and admire while I got my breath back! Just some spooky sheep silently judging me in the fog.

We didn’t hang around on Seatallan, there being absolutely no views to appreciate, and made our way across to Buckbarrow. It’s quite a long, straightforward walk on a very faint path to Jos Naylor’s cairn, and then before you know it you’re at the summit cairn on Buckbarrow. And we finally dropped out of the cloud and got to see the view! That being said, the view was nice, but I don’t think it’ll be making my top ten list of best views from Wainwrights, which makes me feel better about not seeing any view from Middle Fell or Seatallan.

Descending back down the hillside was relatively quick and straightforward, but there were lots of paths criss-crossing which I think would make navigation harder if you weren’t 100% sure where you were going (again, I couldn’t recommend the OS Maps app more). At the very end the track steepens and you drop back down to the road fairly quickly – at least Sam did, while I dawdled and took a whole walk’s worth of photos to make up for the lack of photo opportunities earlier on.

Dog friendly rating: 3/5. There are sheep throughout this walk, so dogs will need to be kept under close control, preferably on a lead. On the plus side though there are no stiles and hardly any road walking at all. It felt like there was plenty of water for dogs to drink as we were constantly surrounded by bogs and puddles, but I’m not sure if it would be like that all year around, so if you’re going in summer you may want to take extra water for your dog to be on the safe side.

Rannerdale Knotts

Rannerdale Knotts is one of the more famous Wainwrights. People flock to climb its slopes, particularly in spring when the hillside is covered in bluebells. We therefore made a conscious decision to avoid the time of year when this happens in order to have a slightly quieter walk which would be less stressful both in terms of parking and for Coal with other dogs.

We followed the three and a half mile route which is on WalkLakes, although we started at the National Trust’s Buttermere car park where members can park for free, which changed the start and end slightly. Be warned if you choose to park here, it does get busy – when we arrived back at the car at lunch time, it was completely full with people still arriving, despite the fact it was a grey and overcast Tuesday in November.

We quickly joined a grassy path, which steepened for a short stretch before levelling out for an easy meander along the ridge to the top. The views over Buttermere and Crummock Water were beautiful, despite the grey and overcast weather – I’ve got about fifty photos of the same view on my camera! In next to no time we were at the summit and at this point the wind really started to pick up, so we hastily began our descent along the rocky path just below the summit.

This was steeper for longer than the way we came up, and at times it was like walking through a stream, so I chose to pick my way down carefully after my trip the day before! Sam on the other hand skipped down like the mountain goat he is and waited for me at the bottom. Hilariously, there was a group of young walkers waiting across from him, who waited until I’d descended to ask me if this was the best way to the top – obviously I look more friendly and approachable than Sam!

Once you’re down from the hill, the route leads you for a short time along the edge of Crummock Water – here we diverted away from the main route to walk through the woods to return to the car park. All in all this took us about two hours and was the perfect length to dodge the lunch time rain shower – however, we still had half a day of reasonably good weather left, and therefore while we were out this way we decided to pop over to Robinson to bag the summit. Annoyingly we had missed it out when we did the Newlands Round, and it’s not in an otherwise easy to get to location, so it made sense to save a big drive at a later date.

Dog friendly rating: 3.5/5. Like most Lakeland walks you can expect to find sheep throughout this walk. However, there’s a great opportunity for water loving pups to have a dip in Crummock Water, as well as in the stream in the woods on your return. There is one stile to navigate which has a dog gate large enough for dogs up to labrador size – so anyone with a giant breed might need to find a creative solution!

Robinson

Most people bagging the Wainwrights tick off Robinson as part of the Newlands Round. However, we didn’t know this when we did the Newlands Round, and to be honest even if we’d known that I don’t think we’d have had the energy to drag ourselves over there anyway! We therefore made the short drive up from Buttermere to Newlands Hause to walk the mile and a half to the summit of Robinson as a linear route. There’s free roadside parking here for a reasonable number of cars, and it is also a starting point to get to Knott Rigg and Ard Crags. Additionally, the impressive Moss Force waterfall is right next to the road and easily accessible from the parking area here.

I started out optimistic and with high hopes for this walk. After a steep but short ascent away from the parking area, we were rewarded with a stunning view over the valley (probably one of my favourite views of the week). Looking across to Robinson it didn’t really look too far. Cue every step on this walk which wasn’t on a steep slope being through interminable, ankle deep bog – it took two days under the radiator for my boots to fully dry out (handily the next day was a total write off weather wise so they weren’t needed).

The final, steeper section of the ascent was rocky under foot but at least dry. I was starting to feel it in my legs at this point, but I’m not sure whether this was due to the climb being long and steep or having already climbed a hill in the morning. I’m inclined to think it was the latter, even if at the time it certainly felt long and steep – having wet feet always makes me a bit ratty on a walk.

Coming down from the summit was a lot faster than going up – it’s gradual enough that you don’t need to be overly cautious when picking your way down, and a good job too as when we were nearly back to the car the heavens opened – I’m always thrilled by the timing when that happens!

Dog friendly rating – 3/5. Again, this is another walk with sheep throughout. Merry decided on this trip that he wants to chase sheep now (aged 7), luckily he’s always attached to me so he can’t do anything more than yank me enthusiastically in their direction – he got nowhere near the sheep but did manage to successfully drag me into deeper sections of bog on several occasions on this walk (the joys of dog ownership). As a result of said bogs, there was plenty of water along the way for them to drink – I’m unsure if it would be boggy in summer but I think it might be. On the plus side at least there were no stiles!

Illgill Head & Whin Rigg

After we’d done the Greendale round on Monday, the next Wainwrights in the area we set our sights on were Illgill Head and Whin Rigg. They we right opposite our cottage – in fact they were the view from our bedroom window! Most routes which take in these two summits include a walk along the Wastwater screes and the shores of the lake, however, this is apparently not very nice walking, so we chose the alternative route in our Walking the Wainwrights book which starts from the quiet forestry plantation at Miterdale. There’s a similar route on AllTrails but this adds on a fair distance by starting from Nether Wasdale.

The walk up from Miterdale is stunning – it’s a long walk out which is mostly flat but gradually gains height before turning to finally tackle the last ascent of Illgill Head. You start out on an enclosed farm track, passing through the farmyard to countryside which gets wilder and remoter as you go on. In particular we both loved the view of Burnmoor Tarn as we neared the end of the outward leg – we even agreed that it was better than the view from the summit of either fell.

After such a leisurely walk out, it was a bit of a shock to the system to start the steep climb up Illgill Head. Frequent stops were had to ‘enjoy the view’ back towards Wasdale Head – it’s an impressive sight, especially seeing Kirk Fell and Yewbarrow rise dramatically out of the earth – they reminded me of ice cream scoops which are just starting to melt. We also saw a lot of ‘star jelly’ on our way up – if you’ve got a spare half an hour to go down an internet rabbit hole, Google it.

From the summit of Illgill head, it’s an easy walk over to Whin Rigg, where you have a long descent which is mostly very gradual and therefore a nice easy end to the walk. Dropping back through Miterdale forest was beautiful, with the autumn colours out in full force. I bet there’s loads of shorter routes which could be explored in the forest too.

Dog friendly rating – 3.5/5. We saw both sheep and cows on our walk, but the forest in Miterdale offers a chance to let your dog have a run off the lead. When we were walking through the farmyard, we did get mobbed by about six collies, but the farmer was there and called them off straight away and we got through without any dramas. There were a few gates to pass through but no stiles – so all easily manageable.

Where we stayed

We stayed at The Screes, a cosy cottage in an unbelievable location in Wasdale. The cottage is well equipped, with a comfortable living room and bedroom. It’s also the first time the pans in the kitchen have been big enough for me to not need to use a pan brought from home! I loved waking up in the morning, taking the dogs out for a wee and looking out over the incredible view of the screes.

Dog friendly rating – 4/5. The cottage is perfect for dog owners, spacious enough that the dogs weren’t constantly under our feet, with hard floors which are easy to clean. The outside area is shared with another cottage and it’s only a small gravel area which is designated for use by the Screes, so instead we just walked them down to the footpath by the cottage which was in no way a chore – we even saw a badger one evening!

If you’ve enjoyed reading this blog today, make sure you subscribe below: