A Quality Mountain Day on Ullscarf
Exploring well-known fells by little-known ways is always exciting. I parked at Steel End at the southern tip of Thirlmere (NY320129) and walked the short distance along the lane to the barns at Stenkin. A public footpath took me onto the open fell via Westhead and a steep climb up alongside a wood. Once above the intake wall the path lead up behind Birk Crag, then swung downhill towards Harrop Tarn. I left it and picked a way up through the valley drained by Ullscarf Gill.
The going is rough beside the beck, but the scenery is lovely. There are lots of little rock outcrops that give short steps of easy scrambling, and you can pick your own route up through these, or just avoid them all together if you wish. There are also a lot of interesting contour features here for those practicing their ML navigation, and it's possible to spend a full day looking for knolls, spurs, re-entrants, and other fun finds. My way lead to the large cairn above Nab Crags, then handrailed the steep ground to the south that falls into Wythburn. The ridge above Castle Crag and Black Crags gave easy walking, and I soon found myself moving away from the edge and towards Black Knott, just below the flat summit plateau of Ullscarf.
Rough grassland lead me upwards. Skylarks and meadow pipits sang all around, and at one point a small brown bird flew from beneath my feet, revealing a lovely cupped nest of a meadow pipit.
The summit of Ullscarf is marked by a large cairn. The views on this occasion were stunning. Bowfell, Esk Pike, Scafell Pike, Great End and Great Gable dominated the view to the west, while the Helvellyn range filled the view to the east.
I followed the path southwards over rough, occasionally boggy ground to reach the well-trodden pass at Greenup Edge. This is the main through route for those heading from Borrowdale to Grasmere, and quite a few other walkers were out enjoying the sunshine.
I turned left, down the long valley of Wythburn. This is a wet place to wander, but it's a nice secluded valley. A peregrine flew from Castle Crag as I descended, and lower down a roe deer grazed nonchalantly as I passed.
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