Jayne - Good luck with the house move. Yes, I think I will try to include a walk description more often in future. BUT, there is a character limit so the description above is only about 2/3 of the length of the original description on the OFC board! - Andrew - Yes, the scree run took me back 40 years to a time when there were plenty of them! You are right about the short length of the walk - just 3.85 miles according to my GPS. John

said fornside 2007.11.04 at 23:34:52 PST

Jill, the scree was fine, honestly! As for the traverse, now I know the correct exit from the gill is on the west side, I will never need to do the traverse again - and nor will you!

said fornside 2007.11.04 at 10:50:16 PST

The Blease Road carpark at Threlkeld was bathed in sunshine. A short walk above the intake wall brought me to Gategill and the start of the Halls Fell ridge. Lovely sunshine and dry rock promised an enjoyable ascent. And so it was until the cloud settled on the summit just before we reached there. There had been a strong wind on the ascent but it felt reasonably warm until the cloud came down and the temperature dropped like a stone. An easy walk westwards leads to Gategill Fell top and a steep gully leads down to the Gategill Ridge. The gully isn't too bad in ascent but don't attempt the descent unless you are ok with steep drops. A brief respite on a grassy saddle made it very tempting to follow the ridge to the viewpoint of Knott Halloo and descend from there, but I had set my heart on an "Unfrequented Wainwright Route" so I turned right and set foot on the steep scree slope leading into the canyon. If Wainwright hadn't described the route I wouldn't have even contemplated it! But it was quite enjoyable - in fact it is probably one of the last good, uneroded, scree runs in the Lakes. The scree stones were a nice size and the steepness was just right to make for a trouble free and quick descent. The walls narrow and before you realise it you are in the canyon where the angle of descent eases but the ground becomes more rough and knobbly. At the foot of the canyon I moved to the west back of the gill and I now know that should have taken a narrow but obvious sheep trod which (unknown to me) led to a good path through the bracken and finished down a wall. But instead I moved back to the east bank as I had seen a ruined sheep fold and assumed there would be a good path leading down from it. In the event it wasn't too bad a decision but the final bit was a rough steep traverse through heather and the west bank was a much better option as I could clearly see as I looked over. In no time at all I was back at the carpark.

said fornside 2007.11.04 at 09:43:06 PST