Holiday in Lake District – Haystacks

Again a damp day with light rain, drizzle and mist. We first stopped off at one of the cafes in the village of Buttermere where we had a coffee yesterday evening to pick up some sandwiches for lunch – and they were very nice as well.

We drove to the start of our walk today but only 2 or 4 miles up the road to the car park at Gatesgarth Farm. As we were getting our walking boots on, another car parked next to us and a family got out. Just then it started to rain. They had a few minutes walk away from the car park but then returned to get back in their car and leave.

Once we had our boots on and rucksacks ready, from there our route took us a short distance further along the road to a stile, then along Warnscale Bottom on a bridleway.

The old track was flat to begin with then started to climb up the steeper ground beneath Fleetwith Pike passing close to a deep gully carrying Warnscale Beck. As it reached a col leading onwards to Honister Quarry, a footpath branched off to the right which led us to a small crag which provided a bit of shelter so we had a quick break and a snack.

As we were sitting there, a patch of mist cleared and gave us a view down to Buttermere lake and village.

Continuing onwards, we followed the meandering path on this peculiar summit of Haystacks, passing Blackbeck Tarn and then the larger Innominate Tarn.

Soon we were at the highest point, marked by a cairn around an old iron fence post (which looked very like a section of old rail from an old mine).

Again following the path, we passed a couple of easy scrambles downwards, arriving at a crossroads of footpaths at Scarth Gap: straight on continued onwards to High Crag, while crossing this path was a route from Black Sail Youth Hostel in Ennerdale below leading down to Gatesgarth Farm or, at a junction by Peggy's Bridge, to the village of Buttermere.

We followed the route back to Gatesgarth Farm and were back at our starting point.