Date completed: 4th June 2016. Three years to the day since I decided, for the first time, to extend my little project and set out to bag the Outlying Fells, beginning with walk 71.
Weather conditions: I expected cool and cloudy, so packed accordingly. Cloudy it was, in the morning, but also quite warm and muggy, and it turned out to be one of those rarer days that improved as it went on. From about 2.30pm onwards I was walking in the sun and going quite pink, the fleece in my pack being just excess baggage all day.
Summits bagged: Kinmont Buck Barrow (1754’ above sea level, number 40 of my second round), Buck Barrow (1799’, no. 41), Stoupdale Head (1548’, no. 42), White Combe (1361’, no. 43) and Black Combe (1970’, no. 44).
The first two are in the Whit Fell chapter. I previously bagged them on walk 85 in August 2014. The last three are the Black Combe chapter and were previously visited on walk 74 in October 2013.
Additional Birketts can be claimed at Great Paddy Crag (1,745′, #289 on that list by altitude), which manages to squeeze itself, unnoticed, between the two Buck Barrows; Stoneside Hill (1,385′, #429) which is a more obvious summit; and finally, Black Combe’s south top (1,926′, #236).
Start and end points: Started at Bootle station, which is actually in the village of Hycemoor, 1.5 miles from Bootle itself. Finished at Silecroft station.
Both are on the Cumbrian Coast line that connects Workington, Barrow and Lancaster. This is definitely one of Britain’s most beautiful rail routes — which is just as well seeing as it takes a bloody long time to trundle round it, and the service is not always reliable. Just as on my last visit to Silecroft (walk 74), I had problems getting home, thanks this time to a cancelled service. See the commentary.
The walk fitted, with 10 minutes to spare, between the 1049 arrival at Bootle (left Preston 0842 — this is a Saturday-only service) and the 1640 departure from Silecroft. There is usually, on Saturdays, a 1718 at Silecroft which would be easier to reach in the time, but this was the one that got cancelled on the day.
Distance walked: 14 miles approximately.
Total ascent: 3250 feet approximately.
Pub at end: The Miners Arms, Silecroft. When I visited here at the end of walk 74 it was packed, because a wake was going on. Today, despite it being a sunny Saturday afternoon, it was mostly empty, and feels very 1980s and plastic, though served good beer. Note well that it opens only at 6pm on weekdays, and there are no other refreshments available in Silecroft (including at the railway station) — a very good argument for only doing this walk on a Saturday or Sunday.
I also ended up having dinner and a couple of pints in the Furness Railway, a gigantic Wetherspoons about five minutes walk from Barrow station. I could review it, but it’s a Wetherspoons — you know what you’ll get, these pubs do what they do well (and cheaply) enough, but are not places riddled with charm.
Route: This is a good walk with excellent views, though it has its faults too. Gradients are almost all easy, with the only steepness being the last mile of the descent, but as the figures above indicate there is also a lot of climbing: the final haul up to the top of Black Combe felt endless. Although generally a dry walk, there is one appalling, unavoidable swamp at about the halfway point, one of the worst I’ve encountered. Whichever mode of transport you use to get here, it is remote, and as noted above, if you do it on a weekday there are no refreshments at the end. But the views make it worth the bother. Kinmont Buck Barrow and Buck Barrow could be omitted to make it a shorter and easier walk, but I think then it would also be a less interesting one.
From Bootle station, take the road back to Bootle village for about a half mile until it passes the first farm on the left at a sharp bend, then turn left up a pleasant lane signposted as a footpath. The whole walk is visible in advance in these early stages, with Kinmont Buck Barrow directly ahead (see picture above), Stoneside Hill in the centre then Black Combe rising massively to the right.
When the lane ends at the main road go straight over down the road signposted Corney. Follow this for about a half-mile. Ignore the first track off to the right, going up the tarmac slope instead, and look instead for the public footpath signpost at the top: this is very hard to see, but it is there.
The path is a little overgrown at first but it does quickly improve into a pleasant track through the woods by Kinmont Beck. It crosses the beck a couple of times (the first bridge is pictured here) — stick with it until it crosses the beck by a plank footbridge (and a sign that I will bet is ignored by every single person who comes this way) then climbs away from it. The path leads up to then crosses the Fell Road, meeting it at the sign pictured here — which on the day I passed had a kettle sat on top of it. After that it disappears for a while though does re-emerge further up, becoming the right-of-way marked on the map that is heading up to Burn Moor and Whit Fell. I followed it for a while, but there is no real need to. I would just make a beeline for Kinmont BB which has been visible throughout: there are no hazards to worry about and also no sense that any particular route up this slope is better than any other.
The haul up Kinmont BB ends just as it is starting to become tedious. One could linger here if one desires, but the summit of Buck Barrow is only a few minutes away and is preferable, so make your way over there (climbing the intervening wall at the junction to make it easier) and have lunch.
The path down to the Fell Road is clear and the descent easy. Go straight over and up the prominent little peak of Stoneside Hill: a nice summit, and a shame that it is not a Wainwright in place of Stoupdale Head (see the note on the Black Combe page). It is a Birkett, though.
Enjoy it, because the next passage is not a pleasant one, as it requires the negotiation of a dreadful mire in the depression below. The guidebook warns about it, but underplays it; it’s bad, and all the more so for not actually looking like a problem at first. In the end I negotiated it (and not without at least two mud-filled-boot moments) by awkwardly clambering along the fence — and when you see it you’ll realise that cannot be done with any dignity. It doesn’t ruin the day but it’s a very good argument for not doing this walk by car and thus having to come back this way.
After that it’s all easy, but you still have plenty of walking to do. Follow the route depicted on page 171 of volume 8, up to the nondescript top of Stoupdale Head. After that point I headed down to White Combe, topped with its large tumulus that is clearly visible, but bear in mind this is a diversion for bagging reasons and if you follow my route here you will have to retrace most of these steps — though White Combe is worth a visit as it has the best of all views of the splendid estuary of the Duddon, which is seen in its entirety and in intimate detail.
Whether you visit White Combe or not, the final goal of the walk, Black Combe, is very obvious, and the climb up to it easy — but long. Once at the top, visit also the south summit, then drop down to the prominent track to the west and just follow this all the way down to its terminus on the lane at Whicham.
Last time I was here (walk 74) I was beguiled by the signpost here pointing to the A595; but my advice is to ignore it. The walk can actually be finished without any walking on the main road. Turn left instead at this signpost, then right at the public footpath sign past the little cluster of buildings. This path leads across two fields, across the road (and past the mirror at which I took the self-portrait included at the end of this page), right past the cottage, and down to the end of the lane to Silecroft. The Miner’s Arms and the station are about 200 yards further on.
Commentary: In terms of both the number of walks and the number of summits, the Outlying Fells occupied about a third of my first round; so it’s logical to assume they need to occupy about a third of my second round too. I don’t want to have them all bunched up at the end again, so at least for now I am going to set a target of doing about one walk in three on the periphery. In fact, today’s efforts mean I have accumulated 11 OFs out of the last three, and only one from the main 214. I think I’ve done my duty to volume 8 for a while, then.
I actually planned this walk for last weekend, when there were engineering works north of Lancaster and no trains running to either Windermere or Penrith as a result, so I was looking for options on the Cumbrian Coast line and this stood out as the one with most potential. In the end I was not in the mood for a trip last Saturday but just held it over to today.
God, it’s a long way round to that corner of England though — and it very much does feel like a corner, for once that’s not entirely a metaphor. Like when something is stored in a box in the corner of a cupboard, you really have to make an effort to get here. I left home on the usual 0646 train from Hebden Bridge and was not walking until just over four hours later. Nor did I then get home until after 10pm, thanks to the cancellation of a service.
I didn’t mind, as such; I had dinner in the colossal Wetherspoons near Barrow station and left there, in the end, on the 1917 to Preston. (Unlike at the end of walk 74 [see the commentary on that page] I did not go ballistic at the train staff.) But it did bring home, again, what it must be like living in such a corner. Silecroft, once more, exhibited a profound sense of neglect.
Anything else to add? Not really, because I’m resisting the temptation to say anything about the upcoming EU referendum (23rd June). I don’t promise to maintain this resistance however. And another walk is planned before that date anyway, so we’ll see how it goes.
The 214 Wainwright fells: without a car 