Mickleden, Angle Tarn, Stake Pass, Pike of Stickle, Dungeon Ghyll, Cumbria.
[ 16 km] Wed 16 Jul 2008

One of the problems with walking in the Cumbrian Langdales area is where to park. There are car parks but they’re all pay & display. So anyone walking the fells for more that 4hours will need to pay a fortune. So I continued up the valley, past Wall End and part way up the Blea Tarn road where there is plenty of off-road parking. I had an objective for the day’s walk but didn’t hold out much hope of achieving it. I’d read about an 18th century Packwoman’s grave in unconsecrated ground somewhere on the Rossett Gill path at the head of Mickleden. I left the car and set off steeply downhill. The weather was overcast and didn’t look too good for the rest of the day.

Pike of Stickle and Mickleden

I passed the car park at the Old Dungeon Ghyll and then along the stony path up Mickleden. A couple of miles up the valley was a parked National Trust land rover. There was nobody about but up ahead I could see bags of stones by the path running up Rossett Gill. Near them were a couple of figures so I reckoned that would be the driver etc. I continued up hoping to speak to them as they went about their pathbuilding. As I got higher I couldn’t see them anymore and it turned out they’d gone even higher. I was hoping they could give some information on the missing grave.

I got to where the grave is supposed to be. I didn’t know what it looked like and the whole area was a mass of deep ferns. To make matters worse the rain started and it was heavy enough for me to put all my waterproofs on. I searched all over but found nothing so continued up the newly reconstructed path to the ridge above Angle Tarn. There was still no sign of the path workers but up ahead on the path to Esk Hause were more bags of stones so they could be up there. I descended part way to the tarn then turned right to follow the path to Stake Pass.

View down into Mickleden

No matter what the weather conditions this path is always horribly wet in places and I wonder if the path fairies will ever get round to working their magic on it. There is another path which heads for Stake Pass via Rossett Pike. It’s a path I’ve never tried so must put it on my list for investigation. About half way to Stake Pass I came to a rock outcrop above Mansey Pike. Behind was some shelter so I stopped for lunch and to take in the views up to Pike of Stickle, which I where I was heading next. The path across Martcrag Moor is another area of horrible bog and in need of the pathfairies. The wind began to get up as I approached Pike of Stickle and it was an interesting scramble to climb the last few metres to the summit.

There were now plenty of people about and looking across to Harrison Stickle I could see even more. I descended to the east and joined the descent path on the NE side of Dungeon Ghyll. The first part is very exposed and one trip here could be a one way journey to the river below. It soon changes to more open fell side and then a nice walk to Pike Howe. This is another good viewpoint for the Langdale Valley. I didn’t descend directly to the road but followed a pleasant track at a higher level which followed the contour back to the Old Dungeon Ghyll. I passed through the full car park and back up the road past Wall End to the car.