Skiddaw to Great Calva

[Corniceman]

During Easter week I decided to take the family on a nice walk. Two eight year olds who kept asking "daddy when are we going to cross the river" with great excitement and an 11 year old who moaned crossing the car park behind the shops in Keswick that this walk was boring and too long. 9 hours later we arrived at bus stop in Threlkeld. Ok you all know the walk I mean but most of us jog it or as much as we can.

Cutting a long and possibly boring story short, its the first time I have ever really taken real care with route finding on this leg, and the first time I have ever a) missed the trod left of Hare Crag in favour of following the path/trod onto the summit of hare Crag instaed...and also traversed too far across blencathra and hit the gatskil fell top instead of halls Fell.

Question is.... I have always dropped left (north of Hare crag and ended up wading Heather over too the Skiddaw House Track and the marker poles on GC. With the kids we waded off the summit of Hare Crag and got caught in a miriad of Heather, ditches and bogs. can you continie on the good track over the summit of HC and then head for GC rather than go left. Does the track continue?

[Nee Bother]

It does................its my preferred route

[Baggins]

Yes its the way I always go, its very runnable after the swampy patch

My navigator on my BG went that way as well and he's been supporting BGs for 20+ years

[DazTheSlug]

if you want to keep your feet dry, you could always do like me and Irish Carol did on our recce, when we completely missed the Hare Crag ridge in the clag and ended up down at Whitewater Dash!
from there tis but a short jog back along the main path to Dead Beck. and I don't think we actually lost that much time (he says, desperately trying to justify his appalling navigational skills )

[Baggins]

if you want to keep your feet dry, you could always do like me and Irish Carol did on our recce, when we completely missed the Hare Crag ridge in the clag and ended up down at Whitewater Dash!
from there tis but a short jog back along the main path to Dead Beck. and I don't think we actually lost that much time (he says, desperately trying to justify his appalling navigational skills

Yes you do


Cause I've done it as well

It was at night and misty but there's still no excuse

[andy k]

I was shocked by how the path over Hare Crag has turned into a mushy motorway. I looked at it once in May last year and there was little obvious over the top. Last week it was unmissable and very cut up.

A clear path is also appearing on the upper section of Clough Head again this has cut over the last over the last few months.