Route: Crag Fell and Grike
Area: Western Lake District
Date of walk: 26th March 2014
Walkers: Andrew
Distance: 7.2 miles
Ascent: 1,600 feet
Weather: sunshine and blue skies, cloudier later on
It was a beautiful sunny morning but cloud was forecast to come in from the east later on so without ado I was off and at the starting line by 8.30am – the starting line being Bleach Green car park just beyond Ennerdale village
The two fells in my sights are on the very western edge of the lake district and their remote location makes them very quiet – I didn’t see another person on the tops
Having left the car park, I climbed up through the woods and then onto open fellside to reach the summit of Crag Fell, from where there were tremendous views of Ennerdale. The ridge walk to Grike was a very simple affair, so simple that I felt rather guilty ticking it off as another fell climbed
The walk from Grike went downhill both in the literal sense and scenically as I followed a track through a recently felled conifer forest. Having walked through this wasteland there followed a pleasant walk through Ennerdale village and back to the start along quiet roads and tracks
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Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)
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Bleach Green car park, with Crag Fell and Grike beyond
I follow the track towards Crag Farm
Ennerdale Water, with Great Borne and Bowness Knott in the background
Heading into the woods below Crag Fell and Grike
The path heads up through the woods before emerging onto open fellside just ahead
Western end of Ennerdale Water, the weir can be seen at the bottom left of the lake
Revelin Crag
Ennerdale Water
Looking west towards the Irish Sea
Bowness Knott and Great Borne on the far side of Ennerdale Water
Zooming in on Sellafield and the Irish Sea
Summit of Crag Fell looking towards the head of Ennerdale
On the left is the High Stile Range, which has Buttermere at its other foot
Pillar and Steeple
The easy down and up to Grike ahead
A view back to Crag Fell and the western fells
Summit of Grike looking towards the Irish Sea
Looking back to Crag Fell, with Pillar and Steeple beyond
Start of the easy descent towards the felled conifer plantations
The Irish Sea, with Sellafield just visible
Not a particularly attractive photo but it describes this section of the walk
That’s better - back down to valley level and a peep of Ennerdale Water
Walking back along the quiet road towards Ennerdale, with Crag Fell up there on the right
From the bridge just before the car park, the River Ehen which flows out of the western end of Ennerdale Water
On the way back I stopped the car to take this zoomed in photo of Criffel in Scotland
