Beda Fell and Angletarn Pikes from Patterdale

Winter has arrived in Lakeland. Which is a day early for the Meteorological calendar and three weeks early if you’re waiting for the Astronomical calendar. But the evidence of one’s own eyes doesn’t deceive and the hard frost, frozen water and bone chilling temperature is telling me it’s time wrap up warm for the next three months. Today’s walk has an end of term feel to it as I’ll complete my journey through Wainwright’s Book Two, The Far Eastern Fells with a walk up Beda Fell and Angletarn Pikes from Patterdale.

I had wanted to do this walk from the more picturesque Martindale but ice on the road made me cautious about tackling the steep zig zags on the approach to St Peter’s church so I settled on Patterdale as my start point. Wherever the start point, it is beautiful walking weather and I stand for a while on the bridge over Goldrill Beck gazing at the flat calm water and admiring the rich autumn colours. The fellside is lit up by the bright winter sunlight turning it into a carpet of fiery reds and browns and the trees have turned golden. The air is cold and fresh on my cheeks and I suck in big lungfuls of it as though somehow the clean freezing air is medicinal and is going to purify me from the inside out.

It’s a familiar route up to Boredale Hause, one that I have taken many times over the last forty plus years but I bring to mind the old Heraclitus quote:

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man”.

I wonder how different a man I am from the one that passed this way in his early twenties. Certainly there are things I wish I had done differently, some I wish I had not done at all. I think, hope, the years and life’s experiences have moulded me into a more considerate, wiser, better even, man than the twenty two year old I look back on.  

To share another of my favoured quotes:

“Life can only be understood by looking backward; but it must be lived looking forward” Soren Kierkegaard

And looking forward I can see blue sky. The clarity of the still air, the golden autumn colours and a dusting of frost and snow on the higher fells are making the hills look sharp and magnificent. It’s a day of contrasts, light and shade, warm and cold. Boredale Hause is in the shadows of higher ground to the south and the hard frost and freezing air persists despite Place Fell and the Helvellyn range across the valley bathing enticingly in sunshine.

The path to Beda Fell stays on the north face, skirting around the head of Boredale valley. The slope dropping off the path into the valley surprises me how steep it is and I’m conscious that a slip might result in a long fall down on frozen slippy grass so take extra care. Unusually for the hills there is not a breath of wind, not even a whisper and I can hear people talking on Place Fell a couple of kilometres away.

Eventually I reach the ridge line where it meets paths coming from Dale Head and Angletarn Pikes and finally get to enjoy the sun on my face. It’s an enjoyable, if undulating walk along the ridge to the summit of Beda Fell, made more enjoyable by the fact that the ground is frozen solid and I can walk stridently over what, at any other time would be squelching bog sucking my boots into the quagmire.

Beda Fell is the highest point along the ridge that drops down into Martindale and has some lovely views for its modest height. I have something to eat, a drink of hot chocolate and sit satisfied enjoying what is a remarkable day of no wind, bright sunshine and crystal clear views.

The path to Angletarn Pikes retraces the route along the ridge to the junction of paths and I take the higher one. It’s another undulating path that winds its way around bluffs and hollows until what looks like pride rock appears up ahead. In fact, the rock looks bigger from a distance and is just a small outcrop forming part of the northern end of the two pikes of Angletarn Pikes.

A little breeze has got up but the sun is still shining and there are gorgeous views down to Brothers Water, sun beams shining through the clouds onto its silver surface with Red Screes and the Dovedale fells silhouetted behind.

From Angletarn Pikes I drop onto the highway that is the Coast to Coast route, more memories come to mind of doing this in 1987. This is followed back to Boredale hause passing one of the biggest cairns I have ever seen.

From the hause it’s a pleasant walk back down into Patterdale. Patterdale isn’t the place it once was, the village store, where Wainwright first sold his pictorial guides in the 50’s and where I used to pick up a copy of The Guardian and a fly pie whilst stopping at the youth hostel in the 80’s sits empty, nobody seemingly interested in buying it. The youth hostel itself is for sale if you have £650,000 and passing the White Lion, where many a convivial night was spent there was a sign on the door saying ‘permanently closed’. Despite these short term commercial issues however, Patterdale remains an ancient, beautiful corner of Lakeland and until the mountains crumble into the sea it always will be. 

I suppose I’m feeling slightly melancholic also because this is likely to be the last time I visit here for many years. My journey through the Eastern and Far Eastern Fells has come to an end and the Central Fells of Book Three are calling me. Langdale and Grasmere are going to be my stomping grounds for the foreseeable future.

Life is not about what is behind us, the things we cannot change. It’s about always moving forward to what awaits us. Having already shared two quotes, forgive me for a third and final one to finish. And see you in the Central Fells.

We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go
Always a little further; it may be
Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow
Across that angry or that glimmering sea, 

James Elroy Flecker

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