Ennerdale, Herdus, Great Bourne, Starling Dodd, Floutern Tarn, Cumbria. Wed 25 Apr 2007

A lane runs from Ennerdale Bridge and along the north shore of Ennerdale Water. As soon as it gets close to the water’s edge it ceases to be public and becomes private at a car park. However the car park wasn’t near enough to my walk so I decided to park in a small lay-bye at Whins. I headed along the road towards Bowness Knott and left the road to head up the fell by Rake Beck. The wind was quite gusty even at this low altitude and increased as I gained altitude. Higher up I got nearer to the pine trees and found some shelter. I was hoping to get to the summit of the Knott so set off into the pine trees to find it. I didn’t get far before hitting an impenetrable jungle and had to retreat to the open fell.

Interesting cairn on Brown How.

At Brown How I met the path at the base of the steep climb up Great Bourne. A strange mound of stones was ahead which at first looked like a large cairn, then possibly a sheepfold, then on closer inspection was neither. It had a well constructed hollow interior and looked more like a stone igloo with the top part of the roof removed. There was no obvious ground level entry. The wind was now quite strong and as I climbed by the river the higher waterfalls were being blown vertically upwards.

At the top I turned left to have a quick look a Herdus which was marked with a small cairn. Turning back I crossed an expanse of rough ground then a very stony way up to Great Bourne and its trig point. The views were good with some sunny patches but the wind seemed to be getting stronger. I descended to the east and picked up a reasonable path which I followed towards Starling Dodd in the distance.

Great Bourne trig point

Starling Dodd summit and
Red Pike in the distance.

As I started the final climb things started to get very interesting. The wind was incredible and the final flat before the cairn was a battle to keep on my feet. I judged the speed to be about 80mph. I was just able to sit down and get a little shelter behind the stones and take a photo before setting off down the north side of the mountain as quickly as possible to find some shelter from the screaming wind. I was being knocked all over the place until I found a safe retreat behind a rocky outcrop. Then everything changed as I sat in still air and sunshine.

It was warm and idyllic and was the perfect place to have my lunch and take in the wonderful views. I then headed off NW across open fell and began a steep descent down to Floutern Tarn. There was no path but the going wasn’t too bad. I had to keep fairly high as I wanted to reach the head of the pass without crossing the very boggy ground by the tarn. Even at the top of the pass it was difficult crossing the bog to get to the main path. Once I got there my difficulties weren’t over. I was back in the wind again and the going was incredibly difficult as there was no shelter anywhere. As the descent of Gill Beck steepened the wind eased a bit and I followed the path back to the road at Whins and my car.

Northern view from Starling Dodd.