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Carrock Fell and High Pike

Date & start time: Monday 28th June 2010, 10.56 am start.

Location of Start : Mosedale Common, Mungrisdale, Cumbria, Uk ( NY 353 338 )

Places visited : Carrock Fell, Round Knott, DryGill Head, High Pike and back via Carrock Beck.

Walk details : 5.75 mls, 1750 ft, 4 hrs 30 mins including lunch.

Highest point : Carrock Fell, 2165 ft - 660 m.

Walked with : Tre and Jason, Ann and the dogs, Stan, Ern, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Sunny skies but a keen breeze, definitely cooler than of recent weeks.

 

 Carrock Fell - High Pike at EveryTrail

 

A walk today around the Back o' Skiddaw but on the eastern side above Mungrisdale.

We've talked and exchanged many emails with Tre and Jason for quite some time

but today was the first occasion we had walked with them since we first met up one hot day in Borrowdale last summer.

They were staying in Keswick so the Northern fells were an obvious choice.

Parking on the roadside of the common next to the Further Syke Quarry.

In the background is the open ridge of Berrier Hill.

The only major climb of the day and it starts straight from the car !

We cross the "Apron of Stones" (described on the O.S 1:25k map) past the quarry pit and up towards that tree on the skyline.

Tre and Jason haven't been out here before so I point out the extensive view, all the way over to the Pennines.

Unspoiled countryside looking south east across Mosedale Moss

Great News when we got home: The Berrier Wind farm application has been turned down so the view will be protected.

Click here for the BBC News Report.

   
We climb the last section of the Gill . . .
. . . It's warm work out of the wind in the small valley.

The dogs decided it was a bit warm too.

Check out where they have run to in the left hand picture above . . . did they remember the stream or do they just smell the water ?

The old sheepfold on the path towards the top.

Unlike the rest of the area, Carrock Fell is a granite type rock rather than Skiddaw Slate.

Very different scenery to the other local fells.

Tre and Ann looking north from the top of the climb.

The top of Carrock Fell has an ancient fort marked on the map.

We pass through the fallen walls of the old enclosure and its shape can still be made out on the ground.

The summit ahead, as are Jason and myself.

The large cairn on the summit presumably post-dates the old enclosure by many centuries.

The view is extensive from this lofty summit.

In the old days there would have been a very different climate and more trees in the valleys and lower slopes.

This would have been a good defensive location for the Ancient Britons to build their village.

" Did someone mention lunch ? "

Sheltering out of the strong and cool breeze, the summit shelter was a nice place for lunch.

Harry checking out the possibility of any left-overs.

The wind blown skies reflect the ground level conditions.

Two bad hair days !

Big skies . . .

above the open grass moorlands of the Skiddaw fells.

Our next objective was High Pike away in the distance.

The route was relatively simple but would be trickier if the path was obscured by mist or a fall of winter snow.

Crossing the top of Drygill Beck valley.

The bright colour of the exposed subsoil was very noticeable today, probably due to the recent hot spell of weather.

We reach the memorial chair on the summit of High Pike.

Bowscale, Bannerdale and Blencathra form a backdrop for this southerly view.

[ The chair is a modern replacement for the wrought iron one shown in the Wainwright books.]

The summit trig,

looking back at out route across from Carrock Fell in the distance.

A modern plaque replaces the Survey plate on the top of short pillar.

Walking down to and crossing the Cumbria Way track,

towards the remnants of the upper Driggith Mine workings.

Tre and I put the world to right or maybe we were discussing the old mines.

A fence protects us and the sheep from an open mine working.

The others haven't seen what they are walking across yet !

 

" Driggith Mine, which had produced copper and lead, had been reopened for barytes in 1926, but came under new ownership no less than three times during the 1940s. East Potts Gill Mine commenced in 1942 for barytes, and soon this essential war mineral for munitions was being produced from the Back Vein where barytes formed a rib a full six feet in width. The outcrop of Sandbeds East was discovered in 1927, but exploration and production did not proceed till 1946. Sandbeds West Mine, which was a continuation of the lodes worked in Sandbeds East, was not discovered till 1956.

The veins varied in width from a few inches to twenty feet, though not all the filling was barytes. The main gangue mineral was quartz, with barytes averaging a thickness of just under two feet. Some 150,000 tons of dressed barytes were produced from the mines of Caldbeck. Operations ceased in 1966 with the closure of the Sandbeds mines."

Information gleaned from

Lakeland Mining Heritage by Alen McFadzean and Ian Tyler.

Click here for the full web page and further links

plus a photo of the old mine when working.

 

   

Most of the signs of the old mine have been removed

but one or two remain . . . but are not giving away any secrets now of the work that used to go on here.

We look at a piece of waste rock from the spoil heap and wonder about it's mineral contents.

[ A full list of minerals found at the mine (and their pictures) can be found here ]

Walking out along the old mine track,

we make our way down the valley on the last section of the walk.

Crossing Carrock Beck.

The Last time we tried this the stream was in flood and I seem to remember getting rather wet !

The cars are over there somewhere.

The Caldbeck Common ponies are a local attraction.

Saying hello to two of the smaller fell ponies.

Sorry we've only got dog treats today !

They obviously didn't mind a biscuit for a change.

Back to where we started, the car waiting by the foot of our morning climb.

- - - o o o - - -

   
On the way back we stopped off for some fresh, free range eggs.
They were so fresh they were still warm.

Local eggs courtesy of Mosedale End Farm

B&B too if you wanted it.

Post walk refreshments courtesy of The Mill Inn

 

Can you spot the contradiction ?

 

The sign at the back says "Football Free Zone "

but the beer has a definite sporting name.

 

Has there been some sort of competion on recently ?

 

Did we win ???

 

Still . . . the beer tasted good.

   

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon 75 or my Canon G10 digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . a hat or a hair cut ( I chose the latter the following day )

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