Hardknott, Boot, Great How, Brotherikeld, Cumbria.
[16.5 km] Tue 09 Jul 2013

OS Grid Ref: NY 21363 01118
Lat/Long: +54.3994, -03.212782

The weather continued warm and sunny. I was heading for a walk in the Eskdale area but instead of driving via the Birker Fell road I thought Hardknott may be a bit shorter. I was heading north up Dunnerdale and had just passed though Seathwaite when I met a large Forestry lorry loaded with logs coming the other way. I reversed into a passing place to let him through and my left back wheel dropped off the tarmac road. As I tried to drive out I didn’t have enough grip with the front wheels and so was stuck.

I walked up the road to Turner Hall Farm and the Farmer drove his land rover back to where I was and towed me out. I gave him a tenner though he didn’t ask for anything. I’d lost almost an hour. I continued north then drove over Hardknott Pass. The road was badly rutted in places and I would have been better off going the Birker Fell way. I reached the small parking area at the bottom of the west side of Hardknott. The first part of my walk was a couple of miles along the road to Boot. Although the road is mostly narrow and single track there were a few places where it would have been safe to leave a car. I reached the branch road to Boot and turned right to follow the lane to its end.

The narrow gauge railway that still exists as far as Dalegarth used to terminate here at Boot. It became the terminus in 1870 to connect the village and mine to the main line at Ravenglass. This terminus closed in 1913. Over the narrow stone bridge is the old Corn Mill but it didn't seem to be open to visitors.

I headed up the path on the old corpse road which used to be used to bring the dead of Wasdale over to Eskdale for burial. I wanted to follow a path near to Whillan Beck but there wasn’t a signpost to it. I continued too far up the path to find it so carried on to the collection of old Peat storing huts dating back to the early 1700s and still used in the 1920s. On Brat’s Moss I took a sheep track to the right and managed to join the path I’d originally intended using. I followed it over Eskdale Moor then turned right along a very faint track to find Lambford Bridge over Whillan Beck.

It’s a substantial footbridge but wasn’t in the position shown on the map. It must have been built in a new location while the old bridge was abandoned. I was heading for Great How on Eskdale Fell so decided to head north and climb up Oliver Gill. The going was difficult in places because of high ferns. The map shows a path higher up but I couldn’t see any sign of it. Approaching Oliver Gill I came across a path with little sign of use. As I climbed the steep sided gill it eventually petered out.

There were enough sheep tracks to follow up to a flat area by a tributary. Then I headed straight up the fell towards Raven Crag and views down to Eskdale. The views were very hazy due to the heat. Below Great How was a very clear tarn which I thought unusual as they are mostly dark a murky in summer. Great How is unusual as there is an Ordnance Survey trig point marked on the large scale map but not the 1:25K or 1:50k maps. The mystery was solved when I found it. It wasn’t the usual trig post but a low copper bolt set in the rock.

There were no paths of any sort in the area and on the descent I had to pick my way through the boggy fell. Eventually I came across the path by Catcove Beck and followed it for a while before descending to a lower path by Scale Gill. The going was now easy to Taw House where I was unsure about reaching the footbridge at Brotherikeld. The map doesn’t show a path but when I reached it a sign pointed to the bridge along a permissive path. Over the bridge I turned right and the short walk back to the car.