This walk starts from Seathwaite in the Lake District. My Pathfinder Guide advertised that the village has a cafe, but there was no sign of it. Wikipedia mentions that Seathwaite is the wettest inhabited place in England – luckily for me, the weather was glorious. A local farmer provides car parking in a field for a small fee.
As you look up from the car park, the peaks look pretty daunting and the walk starts with a tough climb straight up the valley side. Actually, most of this walk involves climbing or descending – the book wasn’t kidding when it wrote “you need to be reasonably fit to tackle it”. The first peak is Green Gable, offering spectacular views of Scafell Pike and Buttermere. After a steep descent and a scramble back up, you then reach Great Gable itself (site of a memorial to members of the National Trust who died in World War 1). The long descent down to Styhead Tarn is arduous, then the sensible choice is to take the path back via Stockley Bridge. I took the more difficult route to see the waterfalls at Taylorgill – the path is ill-defined and tracks the areas of peat bog, so not recommended.
The walk was booked at 6 miles and my phone recorded 25000 steps and 231 floors climbed.
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