An adventure journal featuring a version of the Coledale Round in the Lake District – nine miles, four Wainwrights, 3,700 feet of ascent, and a very nearly broken Zoe.
I absolutely love hiking. It’s one of my favourite things to do outdoors. And while I’ve written a lot recently about the joy I get from seeking out short walks and doing them slowly, I do also still really love a big hike. By ‘big hike’ I mean something that has a sense of challenge to it. Maybe that’s because it is high, or long, or technical, or all three.
On my recent trip to Cumbria, Fiona and I did one such big hike. Big in my book, anyway. Actually, let me be honest (noting that my legs are really only used to the meandering and rolling hills of the Cotswolds at the moment), it was a massive walk day. We headed to do a version of the Coledale Round, which is a popular hiking route taking in a handful of Wainwrights from Braithwaite.
It wasn’t easy. And in all honesty, it wasn’t all fun. But it was spectacular. Let me tell you about it.
Our Coledale Round
Called the Coledale Round because it takes in the fells that surround Coledale Beck, hikes in this area generally start and finish in Braithwaite. To give you an overview, the one-paragraph version our Coledale Round route went something like this…
Starting in Braithwaite, we walked up Sleet How to Grisedale Pike, a three-mile slog which nearly broke me. There was some downhill to the pretty waterfalls at Coledale Hause, before we clambered up the scree slope and scramble of Eel Crag to Crag Hill and our one trig pillar of the day. We walked over The Scar to Sail, down the famous and well photographed zig zag path, and along the path between Causey Pike and Outerside to Stile End. To finish, we hiked over Barrow to get back to Braithwaite.
Here’s the route we followed in OS Maps.
The great thing about this route was we had lots of options. While we’d planned what we’d planned, there were a few bail-out points if we wanted to get off the high ground quickly, and even extra peaks to summit if we felt we hadn’t had enough.
For example, we didn’t do Hopegill Head, Sand Hill or Causey Pike on this occasion – all of which are popular Coledale Round summits. The hike was big enough for me this time, and while Causey Pike especially would have been a great one to bag as it’s so recognisable in the landscape, we decided it was not to be part of our Coledale Round route. I mean, this was a very decent circular walk without adding extras!
An Emotional Battle
It was a truly beautiful day, warm and sunny with very high cloud base. We’d spent the morning relaxing in Fiona’s beautiful cottage garden, making the decision to hike in the afternoon so we could finish our day with dinner in Keswick. Yes, we planned our hike around food – don’t you do this?!
Of course, this meant we didn’t beat the midday heat, far from it. Instead, we started at 11.30am with a packed lunch, with realistic plans to eat it at the top of Grisedale Pike. We reckoned the three miles from Braithwaite to the summit would take us 1.5 hours – so lunch at 1pm. Perfect.
The map, along with reports from Fiona’s previous hikes here, guaranteed a significant and drawn-out climb, which I knew I would find tough. I was anxious about the ascent, for sure, but the promise of cheese sandwiches and a flask of tea when I reached the top were carrots enough to supress the worry and get on with it.
The route up Grisedale Pike from Braithwaite was indeed an energy-sapping slog. There’s no other way to describe it. Heading uphill almost immediately, I was questioning my hiking abilities with the first mile. There was nothing technical about the climb, but it was steep, hot, and did not make me feel happy.
I was SO slow. It felt like Fiona was long gone, and I stopped more than once, wondering if I had it in me to catch her up. My feet hurt, my legs ached, I was uncomfortable, I was sweating, and I’d hardly put any dent in the 700m of ascent I needed to get done. And yes, I shed a few tears.
Boots Off on Grisedale Pike
I do think (even now) that if I had been on my own, I would have turned around and gone home. I didn’t want to do that, but that’s how I felt. But with Fiona a little ahead of me, I felt obliged to keep going. Which was no bad thing.
Fiona stopped to wait for me after a couple of miles, just before the steeper section over Sleet How, and we took a boots-off break together on the side of the hill. I had a blister forming on my heel – which I don’t recall having before – and that wasn’t helping my mood. I covered the blister, cooled down (I was definitely over-heating), had a drink and a snack, and got my emotions together.
That break worked wonders. Of course it did – and I should know that by now, shouldn’t I? The same happened on Helvellyn. And on Red Pike (although that one was fuelled by anaemia, of course). I wish I understood my brain a bit more. I also wish I was much fitter.
And yes, I know I can reasonably do something about both of those things, so it’s my own doing. Working on my physical and psychological fitness would be hugely beneficial, I have no doubt. But it’s easy to say ‘I wish’ when I’m half way up a mountain questioning what I’m doing, and apparently not so easy to action when I’m back home and able to crush a day hike without any issue (and recovering from a bulging disc – more on that in my recent weekly blog episode – there’s always an excuse).
A Very Late Lunch
Cooled down, hydrated and de-emotioned (technical term…), we got back to it. It was less than a mile to the summit of Grisedale Pike from this point, and while I was still ridiculously slow, my brain was at least in a much better place. As such, my legs now did as they were told and moved me forwards (and upwards) without all the complaining.
I did my best not to remind myself that the 791m of Grisedale Pike was not the highest point we’d be getting to on this Coledale Round hike of ours. But that was a small thing – for now, I was concentrating on that promised lunchbreak with 360-degree views of the surrounding fells.
Grisedale Pike delivered. The views from the rocky summit were stunning, and we found a perfectly comfortable spot to eat our cheese and cucumber sandwiches. From this vantage point we could see a whole lot of the Lake District, it was so incredibly beautiful.
We could also pick out our whole route for the rest of the afternoon; Fiona traced the footpaths we were due to hike with her finger in the sky and on the map. While we were not done with our ascent for the day, it all looked very doable – fun, even.
From this point on I was back to my usual happy hiking self. I didn’t suddenly find super fitness or mental strength of course, and it was still very hot indeed, but the feeling I should give up and go home disappeared, and I thoroughly enjoyed being out in the fells.
A Fun Scramble up Eel Crag
We descended Grisedale Pike, bypassing Hopegill Head and Sand Hill (as planned), taking the footpath over Pudding Beck (what a great name for a stream) and down to the waterfalls at Coledale Hause. Our half-way point of the day, or thereabouts, we had another short break here to filter water from Liza Beck. This was such a pretty spot, in a slight depression between a number of high peaks. The grass was soft and spongey, and it was sheltered thanks to the geography.
Rather than take the path all the way around and up Crag Hill, we had chosen to go straight up Eel Crag. Starting as a scree slope and ending in a scramble, this was a really fun part of our Coledale Round. Perhaps the most fun bit of the day (and much MUCH nicer than the ascent up Grisedale Pike!).
The scramble is easy enough, and there are a bunch of routes to choose from (just go up!). It helped that it was a perfectly dry and still day, probably the best conditions you could hope for when scrambling. We had completely dry rock, no wind to push us around, and plenty of opportunities to stop and take in the view.
With the scrambling done, we continued along a short but really beautiful ridge, before the summit opened up to a high plateau – complete with its trig pillar standing at 839m. Despite being a four Wainwright route, this is the only trig pillar on our Coledale Round.
The views from here were utterly spectacular – I could see the sea, and what seemed like the whole of the Lake District. What a place.
Zig Zagging Down Sail
There was still more undulation to come, but we had now broken the back of this hike – and I had definitely moved from hating everything after the first two miles to thinking hiking in the Lake District was the best possible way I could spend this particular Friday. Or any Friday, for that matter.
We headed down The Scar, which was a bit rocky in places but was footpath rather than scramble, and back up to Sail. Standing at 773m, Sail is one of the Lake District’s most recognisable Wainwrights, and as such is one of the most photographed.
We descended via the famous zig zagging path, which dominate the landscape but is there to protect the fell from hikers like me who might otherwise cause catastrophic erosion on this popular route. These zig zags are still steep, and my knees were very grateful I had my walking poles with me.
Back to Braithwaite
The footpath up Causey Pike stretched out in front of us, and it was strangely inviting, but it was not on our planned Coledale Round route, and it was getting late in the afternoon. We therefore went left at this junction to take the path over High Moss, with Causey Pike on our right and Outerside on our left. Still undulating, we skirted around Stile End and headed up to Barrow – our fourth and final Wainwright of our Coledale Round.
It is possible to do a lovely-looking circular walk from Braithwaite with the summit of Barrow (455m) as your midpoint, which would be a great option if you only have a short amount of time. It would make a lovely Sunday morning hike pre-roast dinner. Worth a look if you are in the area.
After a short break in the warm golden light of this Friday afternoon, now our only task was to bound down the steep grassy path back to Braithwaite. Very steep in places (my poles getting a workout again), it was a pretty way to end our hike. I can imagine this section gets a bit boggy at times, but we didn’t have that to worry about, at least.
Hiking Reflections
The circular high-level hike we called our Coledale Round was a little over nine miles long, included four Wainwrights, and over 3,700 feet of ascent. It took six hours in total (including all our breaks), which it definitely shouldn’t have, but that initial ascent up Grisedale Pike that nearly broke me took an absolute age. It’s a bit embarrassing really, and I was most frustrated about how hard I found it. Especially when the rest of the day – including that wonderful scramble up Eel Crag – was so much fun.
Regardless of how long it took, though, it really was a great day out. The views were more than worth all the effort of that initial climb. Now the pain of the ascent is only a memory, I put this day in the Lake District right up there as one of my favourites. Isn’t the brain weird? I mean, it can’t have been that bad – I could still move the next day!
Your Coledale Round
If you are reading this Coledale Round adventure journal thinking about hiking this route or something similar (here’s the route we followed in OS Maps), then you should definitely not let me put you off with all my talk of high emotions on Grisedale Pike. It’s a fantastic hike, and one I would even do again sometime. It would be easy enough to add Hopegill Head, Sand Hill and Causey Pike to make this a bigger day if you like – or you can shorten it by making use of one of the many other routes back into Braithwaite.
And as for me, I guess I will be trying to improve my physical and mental fitness before I head back to the Lake District.
Thanks to Fiona for a really great day out the fells. I look forward to the next one.
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