Having supported the east fence route once (2002), done my round via the direct line (2005) and supported the direct line once (2011) I think things have changed.


The east fence line used to be horrendous but may well have improved in the intervening years - I've never been tempted to go back on it. The direct route I suspect was a lot easier seven/eight years ago as the heather was very short, in fact most of the ground down to the vehicle track up the valley was on bilberries or grass, you only had the ground between the track and the river that was difficult. Last year the heather was much higher - about mid shin height - and picking up the trod was a matter of keeping your eyes peeled.

I don't know if there's an equivalent point lower down the river but the direct route has an option of crossing the river using the fence as a bridge about 200m further upstream. This is useful if the Calder is running high.

The other alternative if the river is high is going via Skiddaw House - it was mentioned on a thread some years ago - it doesn't have as much descent/reascent as either the direct or the east fence but is slightly longer (about 400m from memory). With the exception of the pull up to the Cloven Stone it's very runnable.