Walk Description

Saturday morning dawned grey and misty and with a hearty full English breakfast inside us, Steve and I set out for Eskdale.  We had no problems parking at Dalegarth and after a quick visit to the Station shop we set off on the walk.  The early morning rain had slowed to a drizzle, allowing us to start the walk without full waterproofs. We were going to use the stepping stones near St Catherine's Church to cross the River Esk, however the previous week's rain had left the Esk too full to even attempt the crossing.  We followed the north bank of the Esk until we reached the footbridge at Gill Force.  As we reached the un-named tarn, we were lucky enough to see a heron.  It stayed just long enough for us to photograph.  We then spent a little while exploring the tarn.  Steve spotted a newt hiding  amongst the tadpoles and managed to catch it so that we could have a closer look at it.

We reached the delightful Doctor Bridge approx 11:30, which is when we were due to meet Lin and Chris.  Having walked to and from the road a number of times and taken a plethora of macro shots of the glorioous woodland spring flowers, Lin and Chris finally arrived and we retraced our steps back to Low Birker Fell Farm.  From here we headed south east and climbed the obvious path next to the woods.  We then took the old grassy zig zag peat "road" up the steepest part of the fell and stopped to get out breath back at an old roofless stone hut.  There are a number of these stone huts at the end of peat roads, just below the skyline.  They were used to store peat , which was used as a source of fuel.

Once we reached the plateau we headed towards Birker Forcce and then took the path across the moor towards Tarn Crag and Low Birker Tarn.  We stopped for a lunch break below Great Whinscale and the headed for the col between Crook Crag and Green Crag, where we were rewarded with blue skies and the sight of the Coniston Fells.  Steve decided to attack Green Crag via a scrambling path, whilst Lin, Chris and I picked our way up a grassy rake to the summit.  At the top Lin ran to the summit cairn where she gave a triumphant shout.
We took our time at the summit, enjoying the views, watching the clouds clear from the Scafells, Bowfell and the Crinckle Crags.  The highest peaks didn't stay cloud free for long but we were enjoying ourselves in the warm sunshine.  After a good rest we left Green Crag and made our way north east across the moor toward Long Crag.  Here we encountered a rather boggy section.  Steve, Chris and I were stopped in our tracks when Lin screamed - she was up to her knees in the bog.  A few photos later, we helped her out and watched as she poured waterout of her boots and wrang out her socks.  It was to be soggy feet for Lin now until we got back to the cars.

We continued across the moor towards Harter Fell.  We all managed to cross the infant Spothow Gill and the fence without any further mishaps.  We then continued along the main path from Harter Fell towards Eskdale, until we reached the footpath leading back across Spothow Gill towards Penny Hill Farm.  The sheep just above Penny Hill Farm were being very vocal, one of the ewes was separated from the flock and stranded above the fell wall.  A bit of judicious manoevering reunited the ewe with her lamb and a quiet peacefulness descended on the valley.  Our path skirted Penny Hill Farm and then took us straight to Doctor Bridge where we returned to Dalegarth Station along the road.  It had been an interesting walk and of course we had had excellent company.