OS Grid ref: NY 31847 25601 Lat/Long: 54.620929, -3.056994
Driving north along the M6 was rather blustery. Passing Tebay
both windsocks were horizontal with the westerly wind. I was
beginning to think my planned Blencathra walk may be too
difficult so was mentally planning an alternative low-level
walk. I reached the car park at Threlkeld and was the only car
there.
Kilnhow Beck.
Path above the car park.
View from Blease Gill.
My objective was to investigate a sheep track route I’d seen up
Blease GIll that I saw a couple of weeks ago. The wind had
subsided a bit so I set off on my planned route. Up the
picturesque path by the river I continued up to the gate. I
followed the path shown on the map that climbs Blease Fell
roughly NW with the wall to my left. It was a grassy path and
easay going. I kept gaining altitude to a small flat area where
the sheep track took me to the right and in an almost straight
line high above Blease Gill heading NE.
Distant rain.
Heading up the 'Gulch'
It was technically easy but a bit exposed. Below I could see the
‘gulch’ and possible routes. Last time I was here I climbed the
east side via the old sheepfold but that is definitely the
worst. I could see fairly easy terrain on the north side and so
it turned out to be. I reached the bed of the gill and wandered
up towards Gategill Fell ridge. The weather had cleared a bit
but I could see rain was on the way. On the Blencathra summit
path I reached the trig point concrete ring at ground level then
started the zig zag descent towards Scales Fell.
Blencathra trip point replacement ring is now damaged.
A66 from Scales Fell.
It was here that I met the first walkers of the day. The rain
started on the descent to the path above Scales Farm. I reached
the A66 and followed the path to the old road then kept with the
road all the way back to the car park. The rain continued to be
quite heavy and eventually got through my waterproofs
