Seat Sandal from Grasmere

Since moving to Kendal last year I'm steadily ticking off the Wainwrights that can be accessed from Grasmere. Grasmere is only about 30 minutes away from home, has ample (if not cheap) parking, and, most importantly, ice cream shops.

To tick off Seat Sandal I decided to follow the route on this site. Bagging my usual early spot in the car park I wandered through a sleepy Sunday morning Grasmere, displaying a few signs of the debauched antics of the night before (think discarded, half full pint glasses perched on dry stone walls rather than still drunk revellers).

Out the other side of the village on to the main road I discovered an almost empty layby that would have provided free parking, noted for future reference I decided not to let it put a dampener on the day. Dampness would arrive though in the form of some morning showers as I made my way steadily up the path that follows Tongue Gill. On my way I met a heavily ladened gentleman who was 5 days into the Coast to Coast walk. We chatted briefly and I learned that East to West was Wainwright's intended direction for the C2C and that he was heading for Shap. He had a LOT of gear and I hope he completes his adventure.

The walk up Tongue Gill was superb, I really do enjoy walking next to running water, it adds another dimension to a walk and enhances the relaxation effect. There were multiple little crossing of tributaries before the path steepened at the head of the valley where you cross Tongue Gill next to a little waterfall. From here the way steepens again and becomes more stony before a final pull up to Grisedale Hause.

The description of the route here said it was 'not as bad as it looks', which I would disagree with entirely. It is steep and alternatively loose scree or tricky little scrambles. The rocks were also wet and decidedly slippy. The worst of it is, as described, over quickly, followed by an equally steep but at least grassy final pull to the summit of Seat Sandal. As much as I didn't enjoy this final stretch, for anyone reading this and contemplating doing this route in reverse, don't!

The descent was long, uneventful, and painful on the toes, but at least the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. The sight of many (Herdwick?) lambs in the fields did provide some intermittent entertainment though. Back down the main road and into the village for an ice cream (£4 for a single scoop and a flake!) which I could at least enjoy sitting on a bench in the park as Grasmere was surprisingly quiet for a Sunday, in May, when the sun was shining.

MartinJ likes this post

By MartinJ on 24/05/26 at 9:52am (last edited 05/06/26 at 3:41pm)

Fired up by your report, I climbed Seat Sandal myself today (05/06/26). I was keen to have another look at the "horrible" ascent from Grisedale Hause. I've previously only descended this collector's piece. Would it be better on ascent?

The answer was a resounding "yes" - in fact, I really enjoyed it.

Certainly, there is some unavoidable scree at the bottom, but this is dry and well-behaved. The crux lies above this and looks distinctly unfriendly, being composed of a succession of slimy verticals poking out of loose black shale. BUT I then spotted a thin track heading off to the right. It looked unlikely but proved to be a succession of zig-zags that concluded satisfyingly right at the top of the slimy verticals.

From here, the climb was just your average steep uphill Lakeland walking, and I was tapping the summit cairn in no time at all.

Baggers in a hurry might like to know that there's some good roadside parking in a layby beside the old AA box on Dunmail Raise. This saves a good 500 feet of ascent and positions you nicely for the excellent path running alongside Raise Beck. Rather than reverse this route from the summit, I chose to make a beeline back to my starting point on Raise Beck. It's just tussocky grass at first, but eventually resolves itself into a rough but perfectly reasonable path.

Jimearl6 likes this post

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