If you’ve been following my recent posts, you’ll know that we spent a week in the Lakes in April. After a few bumps in the road which limited us to shorter walks, the stars finally aligned. On our last full day, we got some beautiful sunshine and the vet cleared Coal for longer walks. Hurray! My main goal for the week had been to bag a fell which has been high on my list for a while, and we were finally going to do it: Haystacks.
I’ve put Haystacks off dozens of times in the past. It was too far from where we were staying, too cloudy or too busy. I wanted a day when the conditions were perfect and this time around, we finally got the day I’d been waiting for. We chose a 6.8 mile circular route from WalkLakes which would also bag us another Wainwright, Fleetwith Pike.
Starting from Gatesgarth
Parking is pay & display at Gatesgarth car park in Buttermere. It’s £5 for up to 3 hours or £7 for 12 hours. We got there at 8.30am on a sunny Thursday in April and there were plenty of spaces, despite the beautiful weather forecast. It was full when we got back though! (Make sure you’ve got some pennies for the ice cream van).
Scarth Gap scrambling
After a stroll along the short end of Buttermere, it’s straight up. The ascent up Haystacks is my favourite kind of uphill: steep enough to gain elevation quickly, but not overly horrible. It’s a gradient where if you can keep putting one foot steadily in front of the other, you’ll be fine. This carries on for about 90% of the way up through Scarth Gap, then, as you near the summit, the real fun starts. Here, you need three points of contact for a few scrambly sections. It’s all good fun though, and never for so long that you start worrying you’ve gone off piste. No one wants to become crag-fast! There are a few faint trails, so keep your wits about you to make sure you’re on the right one.
Haystacks summit views
As you climb the view over Buttermere and Crummock Water gets better and better. When you reach the summit, there’s a great view wherever you look. You’ve got the Newlands fells in one direction and the High Stile Ridge and Pillar in the other. Haystacks is a very rocky summit with a number of cairns being potential candidates for the summit. We summited about three of them just to be on the safe side!
Coming down towards Innominate Tarn was less rocky than the ascent, and if you wanted to avoid the scrambly bits then this would be a better approach. Haystacks was Wainwright’s favourite fell and Innominate Tarn is his final resting place. It’s a lovely peaceful spot. Given that this was Wainwright’s favourite fell we couldn’t believe that we had it to ourselves – not that I’m complaining!
Bridging the gap
Walking across from Haystacks to Fleetwith Pike was just a pleasure – at least, on a sunny day with balmy temperatures of 15°C. Pillar forms a hulking mass to the side, and looking across I vividly recalled how much I didn’t enjoy the climb up there. It’s possibly the closest I’ve come to saying ‘no, no thank you, guess I’m not doing the Wainwrights after all’. It was a long slog! Kirk Fell and Great Gable appear as well – with Kirk Fell looking decidedly innocuous from this angle (we know the truth).
We dropped down to Warnscale Bothy, where we then began another climb. The path winds up through the old slate mine, and care should be taken to stay on the trail. Fleetwith Pike is actually a little bigger than Haystacks, but the final approach is much less dramatic. No scrambling here, just a few grassy, boggy patches on a relatively gentle incline. Although, at this point we were free-styling, having missed the turn off for the WalkLakes route.
Fleetwith Pike
We’d been constantly remarking on how quiet the route was. We saw a grand total of three other people on Haystacks, which, as Wainwright’s favourite, we expected to be the busier of the two fells. So, we couldn’t believe it when we arrived at the summit of Fleetwith Pike to find a borderline crowd of people! In fairness by this point it was lunchtime, so Haystacks might have gotten busier after we left. And, Fleetwith Pike does have (in our opinion) a better view. Sorry, Wainwright.
On Haystacks we’d bumped into a chap doing a 17 mile route. He was also visiting Brandreth, Grey Knotts, Base Brown, Great Gable and Green Gable. Feeling rather ashamed by our piddly by comparison walk, I did eye up Brandreth and Grey Knotts for a quick detour as we climbed up Fleetwith Pike. I decided not to mention it to Sam at that point, thinking I’d wait and see how I felt after Fleetwith Pike. Sam is more used to being on his feet all day than I am and I knew he’d be game. I also knew he wouldn’t let me back out if I got tired and changed my mind! Which is exactly what happened – silence paid off. Piddly walks and proud!
Going down… and down
It feels like quite a long walk down off Fleetwith Pike. It’s a grassy trail back down to Warnscale Bothy, and then a long stretch on a loose rocky path. Firm enough underfoot that it’s not true scree, but loose enough underfoot that you really need to pay attention. This felt like it went on forever… and ever…
Eventually the path improves, becoming less rocky, and then flattening for one final walk back along the valley. All in all a lovely walk and I’d highly recommend: it definitely lived up to expectations. Best of all, the ice cream van was parked at the car park when we got back. It would’ve been rude not to!
Dog friendly rating: Haystacks & Fleetwith Pike
Dog friendly rating: 4/5. I’ll preface this by saying that only fit adult dogs should attempt this walk. The route is stile free and has several tarns where water loving dogs can have a dip. Dogs will cope with the scrambly sections on Haystacks more easily than a human, but be prepared to give them a hand if they need one. As with all fell walks, expect to see sheep at any time.
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