Stonethwaite, Glaramara, Allen Crags, Langstrath, Cumbria.
[ 18.9 km] Wed 11 May 2011

NY 2603 1391
I parked between Stonethwaite and the School. Instead of heading straight for the main road I took the scenic route along the track by the Parish Church of St Andrew. I’ve passed it many times but it’s always been locked. I gave the door a try and found to my delight that it was open. I spent a few moments having a look inside. I’d read somewhere that the pulpit had been rescued from the Parish Church of Mardale in 1936 before it was demolished and flooded by the Haweswater Dam scheme. A plaque on the pulpit confirmed this was correct.

pulpit from Mardale

Inside the church was this caricature of an
18th century traveller.
'Dr Syntax in Search of the Picturesque'
by Thomas Rowlandson

I passed the buildings and along the narrow lane towards Combe Gill. As the path headed up the fell I could see the Old Mill Cottage below which used to be a watermill and parts of it can be seen behind the building. The path is well defined as far as the gate through the wall then becomes indistinct and then vanishes altogether. I climbed up the side of Rottenstone Gill and near the summit came across a section of fairly well defined track. At the saddle I turned south towards Rosthwaite Fell. I was heading for Glaramara but the path I was on seemed to keep me too low and heading in the wrong direction. I left it and followed my instincts, which turned out to be right.

The Langdales from High House Tarn

The Glaramara summit isn’t visible from nearby and even when on it is difficult to decide which is the summit as there is no trig point post. My next call was Allen Crags which I could see away in the distance. It looked a long way off but was only just over a mile as the crow flies. The weather had been rainy earlier but had now started to clear a bit. There were nice and dramatic views across to the Langdales as I approached Allen Crags.

Over the top I dropped towards Esk Hause then on towards Angle Tarn. There were now a lot more people about as I descended. Just before the tarn I took the left path down Angletarn Gill towards Langstrath. Patches of sunshine came out making it a very pleasant descent and walk down the valley. I saw a couple on the other side of Langstrath Beck. The man hopped over the beck and asked me how far Angle Tarn was. They were planning to walk via the tarn and over to Sprinkling Tarn and Styhead Tarn. It was now approaching mid afternoon and I explained that it was a long walk and rather late in the day to be starting out. He re-crossed the river to confer with the woman, getting his foot wet on the way. I continued down to valley but before reaching the footbridge at Stake Beck I managed to hop over the rocks to cross to the NW bank. The path improved steadily to the track before Stonethwaite and my car.