Haystacks & Fleetwith Pike

With a weekend break booked in Cumbria near Workington and Cockermouth we decided we'd have to tackle a couple of Wainwrights when we were down and after dealing with a 4 hour delay on the M74 to start things off, we eventually made it down on the Friday night and would be heading off early the next day for our walk.

I decided it would be best to start with Wainwright's favourite walk taking in Haystacks and Fleetwith Pike in the Buttermere Valley. We'd get to see some nice scenery at one of the nicer and quieter lakes that the Lake District is famed for but of course the star attractions are "the Fells" and it didn't take long driving to Gatesgarth Farm at the start of the walk to see why... Mellsbreak as you pass Loweswater was very intimidating and impressive looking!

It reminded me a little of a mini-Switzerland with dramatic hills and peaks strutting straight up from the edge of scenic lakes but if anyone else has been lucky enough to be blown away looking at the north face of the Eiger then it doesn't quite have that jaw-dropping wow factor x10 for scale but it's local-ish and only took us (or would have normally minus the exploded petrol tanker delay) a couple of hours to get there from Glasgow so I couldn't complain.

After reading up on a few guides from Walkhighlands and Walklakes we had decided on our route and parked up at Gatesgarth Farm at the foot of the impressive looking Fleetwith Pike at the end of the Buttermere valley.

From there we crossed a field to the bottom of High Crag where a path would head diagonally up to the left towards Haystacks.

Looking left along the path, up towards Fleetwith Pike on the left side with Haystacks and it's many small summits to the right:

Looking right along the path towards Lake Buttermere:

Heading up the path we see the first of several 'terrorist balaclava lambs' during the walk and up to the right is Haystacks in the distance:

Up the path we go and it's a good one so fairly easy going to begin with as it snakes up the hill to between Haystacks and High Crag:

Looking down to the left towards the impressive looking Fleetwith Pike, I really wanted to finish going down the ridge to Gatesgarth but have had to compromise for Y's lack of enthusiasm to do so and concede such a finish to the walk and so the path you can see going down on the right will be our final descent of the day:

Looking ahead to the rest of the walk as we continue up the path towards Scarth Gap Pass:

Haystacks soon looms into view as we reach a small plateau with a dinosaur-head-shaped rock!

The path crosses a small burn (sorry stream, i'm in England! ) and gets a bit steeper, onwards...

Fleetwith Pike looking a lot like Holy Isle on Arran but beached on land!!

Looking back down the path with High Crag on the left. You can make out another path heading towards it but we decided that would be a bit of a tough extra addition to our walk during the planning stages and decided to give it a miss, glad we did!

Aha, Haystacks ahoy, and it looks like a nice easy path with some easy scrambling is ahead:

High Stile as we take in the view during the ascent of Haystacks:

Someone on the summit of Haystacks in the distance and now we're up a bit higher it looks like the scrambling is not as easy looking as before...

Luckily we would meet these lovely "veteran hillwalkers" on the right on the way up and they enjoyed having a chat with us as we did the light scrambling up to the summit of Haystacks:

Looking down towards Gatesgarth Farm where we started, it didn't take too long to get this high up and the views you are rewarded with are brilliant:

Haystacks is a maze of summits and crags and I can see why Wainwright said it was his favourite and also why he had his ashes scattered on Inominate Tarn nearby. In the distance you can see High Crag looking impressive compared to the smaller Haystacks:

A hop, skip and jump later and we're on the summit of Haystacks, below us to the south east is Inominate Tarn along with some more friends we made and had a good blether with:

There are a few summits like this so we climbed them all just to be safe:

Looking west from Haystacks you can see Ennerdale Water down the next valley:

So Haystacks was fun and very social and we decide to continue on along to Inominate Tarn where Wainrights ashes were spread, lookout for dirt in your boots!

Time to head in that direction...

Looking back towards Haystacks we say goodbye to our summit companions:

The path winds between large rocky outcrops with the occasional stunning view down Buttermere:

The path continues along the edge like this for quite a while and it's a very enjoyable and scenic walk:

Round a few more corners and past several crags the view opens out to reveal the side of Fleetwith Pike and the old slate mine:

Yup, I think the Lake District is definitely up there for scenery and luckily we're at the quiet part compared to other areas, according to our older friends, although if this is a quiet mountain walk in England I can't imagine what a busy one is like after the numbers of people we've seen so far including all the fell runners at this point! Maybe i'm just used to quieter and remoter Scottish Hills...

Looking back again towards Haystacks:

We head towards the slate mine on the side of Fleetwith Pike to find the path up the back of it to the summit:

I couldn't agree more! :clap:

On reaching the slate building I'm surprised to find that it's a Bothy and have a quick chat with the Maintenance guy and his friend here to shelter from some rain:

We head up from the Bothy to find the path and see the path we have just came from off of Haystacks:

We find the slate mine after heading up the hill for a bit:

Looking back towards Great Gable, covered in cloud and with a steady stream of fell runners coming off it!

The path from the slate mine isn't very clear so we follow bits and pieces of path through the hillside:

We've just been there!

Another very fit looking 'veteran walker' overtakes us and reaches the summit of Fleetwith Pike first:

The final ascent of Fleetwith isn't the most scenic, especially surrounded by clouds of rain...

...but once you make the summit the reward is simply stunning!

Moody yet very pretty:

Unfortunately we don't get to head down here to take the ridge back to Gatesgarth so we turn back and find another path down towards the slate mine:

Almost there as we look along towards Haystacks, High Crag and High Stile:

We reach the Bothy and now just have a straightforward path to follow down Warnscale Beck and the side of Fleetwith Pike:

Passing a nice waterfall on the way:

Spot the Bothy! Another one is hidden across the gorge on the way down:

The path down is quite rocky but the view makes up for it, just be careful not to trip on the way down because of it!

Haystacks looking very different from this angle with one of it's many subsidiary peaks jutting out:

Ahh, easy going for the final stretch:

Haystacks looms above...

Another comedy terrorist-lamb!

A final look at Lake Buttermere:

And at Fleetwith Pike:

Done and done, Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks can be ticked off the list and our first taste of "Wainwright bagging" has been a good one so we'll definitely be back again at some point to find a few more good ones to go up. As far as first Wainwrights go I think we chose well with these two as it had a little of everything and the area was beautiful, a perfect introduction to the Lake District:

From here the Fleetwith Pike ridge looks fun but i'm glad we took the safe option as Y wouldn't have enjoyed what could have been a slippery grass descent:

I would recommend this walk to anyone, it can be done in an afternoon or you could combine it with many of the other surrounding peaks of which there are many. The views were ever changing and often spectacular and everyone we met was friendly, definitely a wee gem of a place and it is no wonder that the English cherish it as much as we cherish our hills.