Green Gable & Great Gable

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Route: Seathwaite, Seathwaite Slabs, Gillercomb, Mitchell Cove, Green Gable, Windy Gap, Great Gable, Westmorland Cairn, Windy Gap, Aaron Slack, Sty Head, Taylorgill Force, Seathwaite

Date: 12/11/2017
From: Seathwaite

Parking: Seathwaite
Start Point: Seathwaite Farm
Region: Western Fells

Route length: 6.1 miles (9.8 km)
Time taken: 03:53
Average speed: 1.6 mph
Ascent: 899m
Descent: 896m

Wainwrights on this walk:
Green Gable (801m), Great Gable (899m)

Other Summits: None

Other Points of Interest: Gillercomb, Westmorland Cairn, Taylorgill Force

Annually, hundreds of people gather on top of Great Gable to remember the men and women who lost their lives fighting in conflicts around the world.

The summit rock bears a recently refurbished plaque commemorating members of the Fell & Rock Climbing Club who died in World War I. The club bought 3,000 acres of land including Great Gable and donated it to the National Trust in memory of these members. The plaque was dedicated on Whit Sunday 1924 by Geoffrey Winthrop Young in front of 500 people and year on year, similar numbers make the journey to the summit to pay their respects and, this year, we'd be joining them.

Having camped at an eerily quiet Stonethwaite Camp Site (i.e. no one else but me), we convened in the morning along the lane to Seathwaite Farm. Such is the popularity of the event, even at 7.30am, we ended up parking around half a mile from the farm. Our chosen route would take us into the depths of Gillercomb, a hanging valley that feeds into Seathwaite.

No one else about

We made our way through the farm gates, to where the path crosses Grains Gill via a tall footbridge and begins to climb up the fellside ahead. Seathwaite Slabs presents the first real obstacle of the day, a semi-scramble up alongside Sour Milk Gill, one of a number of tumbling falls that share this name. The reason behind its name is that the agitated waters take on the appearance of soured milk as they are thrown over the rocks into the valley below.

Early light on Great End

Sourmilk Gill below Base Brown

Grains Gill as it flows out of Seathwaite

The path leading to the Seathwaite Slabs

Sourmilk Gill at Seathwaite Slabs

Looking down into Seathwaite

The line of cars along Seathwaite valley

Once above the falls, we were welcomed by the wild Gillercomb, ringed by the rocks of Raven Crag and Gillercomb Head. The sun had yet to rise high enough to cast any light on the south side of the valley, where the path is, but the north side was starting to glow in the morning sunshine. It was shaping up to be a brilliant day.

Base Brown

Sourmilk Gill in Gillercomb

Borrowdale from Gillercomb

Gillercomb

The sun begins to catch Raven Crag

Gillercomb

Raven Crag

Gillercomb Head

Seatoller Fell

A distant Blencathra

The path skims the southern edge of Gillercomb before climbing up to Blackmor Pols which separates Base Brown from the higher fells above. To counter the bright sun, a cold wind was blowing and the slight dusting of snow was giving a real flavour of winter. Fingers crossed we actually get a decent covering this year.

Gillercomb Head

Gillercomb

Brandreth

Lines of walkers above Mitchell Cove

From the col, a further climb up the edge of Mitchell Cove leads to the summit of Green Gable which has a spectacular view down Ennerdale, perhaps one of my all-time favourites. As ever, Pillar was looking particularly appealing. A number of people were milling around on Green Gable, waiting for their moment to cross Windy Gap and make the final ascent of Great Gable which involves some modest scrambling to begin with.

Approaching Green Gables's summit

Great Gable from Green Gable

Ennerdale

Green Gable's immense view

Pillar in detail

Windy Gap

Windy Gap and Great Gable

Windy Gap and Great Gable

Ennerdale

The path from Green Gable

Aaron Slack and Seathwaite Tarn

Green Gable

Looking across Seathwaite Fell towards the Langdale Pikes

Hundreds of walkers were converging on the summit from all the main routes of ascent, arriving in time to hear a reading from the FRCC's President and observe an impeccable 2-minute silence as several hundred people reflected on the sacrifices made by those who have fought for our country. It's a moving tribute.

Walkers on the summit

The reading

To allow the masses to depart, we wandered over to the Westmorland Cairn which can be found due southwest of the summit. It stands above a rim of crags directly over the great scree slope of the Great Hell Gate which leads down into the depths of the Great Napes. The cairn was built in 1876 by two Brothers called ‘Westmorland’ to mark what they thought was the finest mountain viewpoint in the area - I find it hard to disagree.

The Westmorland Cairn

Wasdale from the Westmorland Cairn

The Great Hell Gate

The Hell gate and the Scafells

Scafell Pike, Scafell and Lingmell

After wasting a bit of time eating an early lunch, we returned across the summit, which had now largely emptied of people, and dropped back down to Windy Gap. Aaron Slack, the corrie separating the two Gables, would get us right down to Sty Head. It's a much easier descent than the Breast Route path on Gable itself.

Great Gable's summit

The summit plaque

Aaron Slack

Heading back to Windy Gap

Windy Gap

Aaron Slack

Styhead Tarn and Great End

Styhead Tarn

At Sty Head we considered climbing up to Sprinkling Tarn and across Seathwaite Fell but, ultimately, decided against it. Instead, we'd follow Styhead Gill (Styhead Tarn's outlet) to Taylorgill Force, a beautiful hidden waterfall with an exciting, high-level path alongside it. Despite this being one of three main routes from Seathwaite towards Styhead and Scafell Pike - it's by far the quietest and easily the best.

Great Gable and Green Gable

Styhead Gill

Crags of Base Brown

The high level path above Taylorgill - Glaramara is opposite

Taylorgill Force

Taylorgill Force

Taylorgill Force

Glaramara

The last mile back to the car is along open fellside below Base Brown and above the river. As you can probably guess, it's quite boggy in places but a path does run all the way to the footbridge we had crossed in the morning. Returning to the car, we were shocked to see the destruction caused by a tractor and trailer having forced its way past some of the parked cars. The debate rages on regarding who was in the wrong but I'd have been gutted had it been my wheels.

Seathwaite

Capell Crag

Seathwaite

One of the damaged cars on the lane

It's a truly rewarding and moving experience to see so many people honouring the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. We owe a great deal to these men and women and they deserve every recognition they receive, even if that's just a silent few moments atop one of the great Lakeland fells.

Lest we forget.