Sun 18 Jun 2016
 |
On Irton Pike with Wasdale Fells in the background |
Here beginneth a tale of woe!
We
set off to Eskdale Green and climbed the tree-clothed slopes above Miterdale to
Irton Pike. The top of Irton Fell is now cleared, the resulting wilderness not
at all pleasant, especially under the grey skies on this day.
 |
Irton Fell |
We followed AW's
route until we reached the 'massive heap of stones' about which he had called
for investigation in 1974. By moving over a little to the north we had a
magnificent view into Wasdale, with Yewbarrow and Great Gable prominent.
 |
An unusual view of Wasdale |
 |
Wainright's pile of stones hidden in grass |
Once
over the stile there is a pleasant path through the trees. A weak sun belatedly
graced our walk to the summit of the Pike and we enjoyed a great panorama over
the coastal plain.
 |
The edge of the Lake District |
The
path drops suddenly down to more of the forest and Andrew decided to descend
the steep way. I, as on my visit in 2011, didn't feel comfortable staggering
down the rough slope, so I went back to where an old track took me down to the
road. Andrew was not waiting there as we
had agreed, so after a short while I walked to where AW's route emerges, and
shouted his name but got no replies. I decided to leg it the two miles back
to the car in Eskdale Green, thinking he might have done the same to find me.
No luck there, so I drove back and fortunately met him on the road! Instead of
using AW's path to emerge on the road he had walked through the trees along a crossing
path to join mine, but as I was late due to having fallen backwards into a bush
of prickly gorse on the way down, we missed each other. The problem was partly
caused by our having different maps of the route. After it was all straightened
out we resolved never to separate again unless both of us have identical maps!
We then drove to Dalegarth, and set off to visit Boat How. I had done this walk also in 2011 and the first section of it along a path shown by Wainwright had been delightful in May sunshine with flowers and bird-song, including a cuckoo, as far as the stone hut. But the climb up the steep slope (it doesn't look so bad on AW's map) where there were very hard grass tussocks, had been tedious and tiring and I had already walked the Devoke Water circuit that day. At the time I thought a clockwise perambulation would have been better. So today I suggested we reverse Wainwright's route and walk it clockwise. Big mistake. (I occasionally make bad choices...)
So
we climbed up by the ruined huts above Boot to try and locate the old cairns
shown by AW. I remembered not finding the cairns last time, but had located the
stone circles.
 |
Map-reading? Well, er... |
 |
The wrong cairns! |
This time we located lots of really old cairns but they weren't in the right place! We wondered how we had gone wrong.
It
soon turned out that we had taken a path that was leading us too far to
the left of Acre Hows. Realising my mistake, (another one) we did an about turn
and tried to take a pathless short cut (another bad mistake) to the
circles but floundered over the highest tussocks of grass I have ever come
across! I fell over several times: unhurt, but it was incredibly tiring. Thank
goodness the ground was dry!
 |
One of the stone circles |
In the darkening sky we made but a cursory inspection of the circles and as we still couldn't locate AW's ancient cairns we headed off on the wrong track towards Boat How (another silly mistake, I confess, but I was almost exhausted by this time). I later realised we should have been on the ridge, so by changing direction slightly we eventually got there.
 |
Boat How (in 2011) |
 |
Old stone shelter near Boat How (2011) |
I
had noted on my first visit here that the reward for the tiring climb had not
been worth the effort, and today I felt the same, with lowering skies and the
temperature dropping. After Andrew's obligatory 'Banzai!' we didn't stay long.
 |
Burn Moor Tarn (2016) |
We
had intended to drop down by the stone hut, but we met the same tussocks which
had so tired me on my earlier visit and also on our 'short cut' just mentioned.
I couldn't face another session of moorland gymnastics, and falling sideways, so we
walked back along the path we'd come by, the weather worsening even more to a
cold drabness, and reached the huddle of stone ruins we had passed on the
ascent.
So Andrew
had visited the summit of Boat How, but because of my decision to reverse the
direction of the route he had missed most of
the circles and all the ancient cairns. He will make another attempt
sometime, I'm sure, in better weather; but for me - I've had enough of Boat
How!
We
had a much-needed drink in Boot and then headed home, not arriving till about
nine o'clock. Talk about tired!
Boat
How? Huh!
