In the Lakeland Fells: The Lake District Four Valleys Walk

The approximate route taken without diversions

The topography of the western Lake District is so aligned that four of the seven main valleys converge on the relatively small area between Great Gable and Honister Pass. The advantage of this to the hiker is that these four valleys can be linked by a circular walk through some of the finest scenery in the National Park that is no more than a longish day's outing in the fells.

This route which I've called here the Four Valleys Walk leaves Wasdale Head to cross Black Sail into Ennerdale before skirting the very upper reaches of the Buttermere valley and returning over Brandreth and Green Gable to Styhead Tarn in Borrowdale. From here the return is over Styhead Pass to Wasdale and the start point. My deviation to the fell called Base Brown - the only Wainwright in the region I had not climbed - added 2 miles and considerable ascent but a better diversion would be Great Gable if you haven't been up there before. Without deviations it's a walk of 15k or about nine and a half miles and an ascent of 3700ft. Great Gable adds 500 feet of ascent and perhaps half a mile (you can return from the summit directly to Styhead) while my version was eleven and a half miles and 4200 feet of ascent which fully justified the pint in the Head afterwards.

If some of the photos look as though they were taken on different days it's because they were - my camera died and I was forced to dig out old pictures along the route and no - I did not spend the whole day in the Wasdale Head Hotel!

Pillar and Mosedale in early morning light

There was something satisfying about being up at 6AM in a Wasdale Head that I seemed to have completely to myself. A short breakfast and I headed up past the pub and along the bank of the stream - the route here goes left in front of the shop, past the bar entrance at the side and right along the river bank - until I left the valley track and turned left into Mosedale with Pillar at its head and the seemingly unbroken wall of Yewbarrow and Red Pike on the left. For a while at least I was alone as the early light painted the fells in rich reds and golds that revealed every fold of the hills.

The path soon steepened as the climb to Black Sail was reached and hard work replaced serenity. After crossing the stream I climbed steeply to gain the upper valley before the gradient relented. The line of sunlight moved steadily lower until it reached me as I gained Black Sail Pass. Here I left the Wasdale Valley and entered the wilds of Ennerdale; the upper reaches of which are only accessible to the walker and the mountain biker as no road extends up here.

Walking up Mosedale from Wasdale Head at dawn

After pausing to admire the sublime scenery of the pass - if you head a short way north west along the ridge to Looking Stead the views are even better - I followed the path down in warm sunlight to the wooden footbridge that crosses the River Liza in the valley floor. The valley here is still a thousand feet above sea level so its a short descent and a nice one in almost any weather. This area is one of my favorite in the Lakes and always reminds me more of the remote Scottish highlands than the relatively busy Lake District but the hordes don't come here - they would have to walk too far from their cars! After the bridge which is a short distance up the path from the Youth Hostel I headed right towards Great Gable at the head of Ennerdale. For this walk it's essential to follow one of the paths up to the left before a prominent ridge is reached that rises ahead to Green Gable. The path to the right of this is the route to Great Gable but that's another walk.

from black sail looking towards honister

Black Sail Pass is the route into Ennerdale from Wasdale

Presently I joined a good path that climbed steeply in a shady gully to gain the edge of the plateau above. The route isn't obvious from nearer the Youth Hostel but it becomes clear as the aforementioned ridge is approached. From up here on the high ground connecting Haystacks with Brandreth and Grey Knotts a new vista opened up of the Buttermere valley with Grasmoor beyond and following the path roughly eastwards past a fence took me into the heathery upper reaches of that valley towards Fleetwith Pike and Honister. That is where this path heads to but only as far as where it met the Honister to Great Gable path.

My first actual summit of the morning - and it was still early - was Brandreth which I reached after 3000 feet of ascent and sat down to enjoy the views down to Buttermere and Crummock Water on one side and my final valley of Borrowdale on the other. From here it was just a case of following the wide easy ridge towards Green Gable though I deviated to Base Brown which was the one

The beautiful upper part of Ennerdale is 6 miles from the road

"Wainwright" of the area I had not climbed. It was a a nice place for lunch but further than it looked and meant I had ascended precisely 4000 feet by the time I'd reached Green Gable. The path up on the left side of the ridge led on to Great Gable but I had no need to go up again - it's a steep and stony climb but not hard and well worth doing if you haven't been up before though there are easier ways up Great Gable than trekking through four Lakeland valleys!

My way led finally down to the left which again was very rough and stony at first but soon met a path constructed of stone steps that made the going easier down to Styhead Tarn about a thousand feet lower in the Upper part of the fourth valley - Borrowdale. In places the river must run a little way underground as it can be heard out of sight below the stones - frustrating if you had run out of water on a warm day. The path

The path crosses the River Liza just above the Youth Hostel

here to the left goes to Seathwaite while my route led a little way up to Styhead Pass and on down back to Wasdale Head which comes into sight just after the pass indicating that it is all downhill from here. Once in the valley, the path passes the Church of St Olaf which is reputedly England's smallest before emerging at the Green just past the small campsite. From here the pub is not far...