BB1710 : The Sticklers

Thursday 21st March 2017

There are two Lake District hills that have been referred to on these pages as “mini-Matterhorns”.  Neither is a “full” Wainwright.

The one more visited is Lang How which, being 60 feet or so higher than its celebrated neighbour Silver How, really deserves to have made it into the Central Fells book in its own right rather than just a passing reference.

The other, Stickle Pike, is not, as you may have thought, in the Langdales but lies much further south-west, above Dunnerdale.  This is a fraction lower but does make it into Wainwright's geriatrics’ Outlying Fells book.  Of the two, it is the more striking, especially from a distance.  As far as I can tell, we have only visited it once before - more than 10 years ago on BB0622.

Then it was chosen as a “Bryan special” for an August wet day and buffeting winds.  This time it was March which had reverted to being like a lion. Heavy rain and hail had blighted the past few days and strong northerly winds were now forecast.

We parked at Broughton Mill’s Blacksmith’s Arms where the landlord kindly gave us permission despite the fact that we would not return before lunchtime closing at 2:30 and would be long gone before the evening session.  

Thank you, kind sir.  We shall return one day and do the honourable thing.

Or things!

Objective number one was Great Stickle (actually lower than Stickle Pike).  

It was the first time for a long time that I have tried to follow Wainwright’s detailed instructions and that I found difficult.  Partly it is because of the long paragraphs written in his own handwriting. Admirably neat but not easy to read, even when enlarged.  Partly also because the book is over 40 years old.  There might be an updated version available but mine isn’t.  I am not complaining that his instructions are inaccurate; merely that time has changed things both on the ground and in my eyes so we soon reverted to navigating by map.

From the summit trig point you could clearly see our main objective- Stickle Pike living up to its Alpine reputation.

Fortunately, on arrival and as predicted by AW, there proved to be, on its eastern flank, an easy path to the summit.  There had been no-one else on the fell.  We were the only Sticklers.

It was now bang on noon and regular readers will know what happened. Stickler Tony demanded his lunch stop.  However, even he agreed that the wind was too strong to linger there so we coaxed him down to Stickle Tarn for a much more pleasant place to eat.

Now we had a bit of a dilemma.  Should we follow the Wainwright route round the eastern “least interesting” side of the valley?  Or should we head north and add another Outlying Fell- Caw, to the list of conquests?  

Decision point would be when we reached the Kiln Bank Cross (which is a road), an area somewhat spoilt by the obvious after-effects of marauding off road vehicles.  We chose Caw and headed off up Park Head Road (which is a path).  

We did spot someone on the Caw summit.  However, once we realised that it would be quite a challenging climb through rock and snow, we decided instead to opt out and return by a path most appropriately named “Long Mire”.  Not surprisingly after all the rain we had had, it was rather wet under foot at times.  However, to be fair, so far the walk had been remarkably dry considering the recent weather.

We emerged at Stephenson Ground and took the Comitibus photo on a handy stone bench in glorious sunshine.

After a bit of road work, hard on the feet compared with before, we turned south on a path which took us across fields and through a wood to a second chance to sunbathe.  

More fields followed then a wood where it seem that a tremendous wind had funnelled its way through the middle, judging by the line of naturally felled trees blocking the path.  Someone had kindly marked the revised route with red ribbon around trees so the obstacles were by-passed and we were able to drop down to and across the Lind End bridge without problem.  

From there it was a short walk back to the car but, sadly, not to the Blacksmith's bar.  Instead, we travelled most of the way home, back to the Mason’s Arms at Strawberry Bank for the celebrations.  We Sticklers for tradition sat by the ancient fireplace with its roaring log fire, sipping our ale. It is a wonder that we are not still there!

Don, Thursday 23rd March 2017

Comitibus: Don, Martin, Stan, Tony

Bonus picture for Margaret

Coniston Fells as seen on the way home

Map shown: OS 1:25k

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1710 .

To discover which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing - although it may not be that up to date - or for the totals of the mileages and heightages (ditto) see the Excel file: BB Log.

You can navigate to the required report via the Home Page

Photos have been gleaned from many sources
although mostly from me and other BOOTboys. Likewise written comment.

I apologise if I have failed to acknowledge properly the source or infringed
copyright.  Please let me know and I will do my best to put things right.

Unless stated otherwise, please feel free to download the material if you wish.
A reference back to this website would be appreciated.

   E-mail addresses on this web site are protected by

 Spam Trawlers will be further frustrated by
 Spam Blocker: help fight spam e-mail!  

BOOTboys 2017

BOOT boys
If you want to join
The BOOTboys
Inter-Galactic
Fan Club
let us know and
you will receive
automatic notification
of new BOOTboys reports

Click on
to contact us.

For the Index pages
of our various outings
click on the relevant
link below:

The photos & maps
on these pages
will normally retain
reasonable quality
if you expand
your screen
to view them.

BOOTboys^© is a Lakeland Enterprise production brought to you by
Comitibus Communications^©