Dawson Pike, Walna Scar, White Maiden and White Pike
18 February 2006
After some indecision about where to walk today, I decided to stay near to
Broughton again, and, inspired by the sight of Dawson Pike on the map near Pikes
yesterday, I decided to visit it, and to make the walk a decent length by
extending it to include the infrequently visited tops of Walna Scar, White
Maiden and White Pike.
On a beautiful morning,
From above Broughton Mills, a view up the Lickle valley, with yesterday's fells
of Caw and Pikes on the left, and today's White Pike, White Maiden and Walna
Scar on the right, with the diminutive Dawson Pike somewhere near the col in the
middle
A view through a gap in the felled trees on Broughton Moor
George on the forest road
As we reach the stile at the end of the forest, a view ahead towards the moor
proper, with White Pike on the right
Stephen and George on Natty Bridge
Dawson Pike. Quite why this nondescript lump is deserving of a name on the OS
maps is unclear, but it certainly needed visiting nonetheless!
George does a bit of exploring of his own
On the summit of Dawson Pike
From Dawson Pike, looking back to yesterday's summits, Pikes (left), Caw
(centre), and Green Pikes (right)
We continued along the path to reach the quarries of Walna Scar
Huge piles of slate waste line the hillside. Here we look across one to Harter
Fell and the Scafells
Looking past a quarry building to the Walna Scar Road working its way across the
slopes of Walna Scar to the col between Walna Scar and Brown Pike
Having reached the top of the pass, and seen the only other walkers of the
holiday (who we cunningly avoided by a short-cut), we reach the summit of Walna
Scar the hill, here looking south to White Maiden (left), and White Pike
(centre-right), with Caw poking in behind.
Looking down to Coniston Water
And south to the sea
From White Maiden, looking north across Walna Scar to Grey Friar (left) behind
the slopes of Dow Crag (centre-left disappearing into the cloud), Buck Pike and
Brown Pike, and
Coniston Old Man (right, appearing to merge with Brown Pike)
And a superb view of the snowy Scafells
George and Stephen on White Maiden
From White Pike, a view across Dawson Pike to Caw. We need to get down there,
somehow
And from the same point looking down on Caw Moss and the Broughton Moor forest.
That direction looks more promising, but still very steep with lots of little
crags
By heading roughly for the gap between the two wet patches in the previous
photograph, we managed to keep to steep grass almost all the way down, and found
a track running along near the base of the hill at around the 415m contour, not
marked on the OS map, which neatly took us back to the bridleway
Looking down the Lickle valley
A last look back at White Pike and some of the locals. White Pike, despite being
598 metres (1962 feet) high, a "proper" fell, and easily walkable from Coniston,
is not even included on a walk in Wainwright's "Outlying Fells" book (though
Walna Scar and White Maiden are). Although included in
Bill Birkett's 541 Complete Lakeland Fells, it must be rarely visited: it is
a grand fell, and deserves better.
And a waterfall across the Lickle valley which took my eye, sliding appealingly
across the surface of this rock.
In total, 10.2km, 616 metres of ascent, 3 hours 59 mins (including 1 hour 9 mins
stopped)
Lake District long weekend, February 2006
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