Yewdale

Yewdale

Spring time 2010 and my second mission to the Lake District National Park, and the continuation of exploring the south-west. This was going to be a weekend to look at the geology and the glaciation of the area.

I and two other friends Chris Fox and Paul Dial travelled up to the Lakes on a Friday evening and found a wild camp spot on the shores of Coniston Water.

The next morning we packed up a left nothing of are signs of camping, but for flat grass and took the car to Tilberthwaite and found a car park there.  The weather was cloudy but dry.

Holme Fell and the Yewdale walk. 

2/4/2010/ 9 Mile circular

From the car park, we had planned a circular walk of two half’s  the first section was using the Wainwrights Southern Fells book and the chapter on Holme Fell and then match it up with a Cumbria Rigs walk, a little booklet I found in Coniston last time I visited the area. Holme Fell sits at the head of the valley of Yew Dale.

We set off along the road to High Tilberthwaite looking for a footpath, We found the footpath what took us across fields to Holme Ground and then a track up into the woodlands, and into the woods, we could see signs of industrial activities such as quarrying. The woodlands here are a mixture of silver birch,  yew, hazel and oak, as we left the woodlands into the open countryside, we had a steady climb up, the vegetation changed to heather, bracken and juniper, this last one is a new species for me. 

Juniper shrub.

And then we found the path up onto Holme Fell to the summit at Ivy Crag 1040 ft, 317 m. From the summit, you could see Coniston Water, the higher Coniston Fells you could not see for the low cloud was covering them.

Coniston Water from Holme Fell

We left the summit after a break and headed for Uskdale Gap and the way down through yew and juniper scrub to the artificial tarn of Yew Tree Tarn and then onto Yew Tree House and Shepherds Bridge and the main road.

Wainwright quote

‘If the district was without lakes and mountains, it would still be very lovely because of the great wealth and variety of its trees’. .

Here, almost opposite the Hodge Close road Junction, I searched for a solitary Scots pine that Wainwright had admired’. From AW Southern Fells book. But sadly it has gone today. We crossed the road to the next footpath and the second part of the walk the Yewdale Walk.

  

This walk was going to help me in understanding the basic geology of the area I was exploring and to put this into context with the bigger picture of the national park, for me to understand the natural history of the area I like to know the basics of the  geology of any given area, because these are the bones of the landscape.  To look at the landscape find out why it is, (in this case it's glaciations)  and its understanding these last two that helps in understanding the fauna and flora of the area.  It's like a puzzle, I see myself as a landscape detective putting the pieces together.

The next footpath across the flat valley floor of Yewdale took us along a nice line of yews and an interesting fence known as a Shard Fence made of upright stone slabs of calcareous siltstone from the Coldwell Formation.

Holme Fell from Yewdale.

This flat valley floor is the result of the last great glaciation of the Ice Age, the late Devensian (26,000-10,000 years BP) had an important effect on the scenery of Yewdale. Between 18,000 and 14,500 BP, a major glacier flowed south through the valley into the Coniston Trench and was fed by two ice streams. One flowed from Langdale and the other from the slopes on the eastern flanks of Wetherlam via the Tilberthwaite valley. Yewdale was heavily eroded by these glaciers.  

Back on the walk, we passed through Low Yewdale and along a track, and then we took the path across some fields to Guards Wood, looking back you get a good view of the Yewdale Valley.

An important geological boundary can be traced across Yewdale, and it has a dramatic effect on the scenery. The Ordovician Borrowdale Volcanic Group rocks, the eroded remnants of ancient volcanoes, from the high ground to the NW, and are overlain by sedimentary strata of the Ordovician the Dent Group and the Silurian Windermere Supergroup, Brathay Formation and the Stockdale Group which from the rolling low hills to the SE.

Cross section of Yewdale

The next section of the walk took us through some great areas of woodland, The Yewdale Valley has plenty of Yew's to be seen on this walk, Guards Wood is one place where we had a long break looking at the trees. When we came out of Guards Wood into a small valley we were greeted by a nice view of Coniston Water as we headed for the Boon Crag Farm. 

This small valley is the Coniston trench deepened by glacial erosion to carve out the lake basin on its way to Morecambe Bay to create Coniston Lake, a ribbon lake at five miles long, and half a mile wide.

We had come full circle on the Yewdale walk a figure of eight, so now the top section was to pass Tarn Hows a National Trust site, Tarn Hows is lovely area of woodland and water as passed the tarn and then picked up a track what took us down to the A593, we crossed the road and took another track on to Oxen Fell and onto Hodge Close, a heavily quarried area in  the woodlands, at this point in the walk we have come full circle now,  back at Holme Ground we retraced our steps back to the car park after doing this interesting walk. 

Tarn Hows

Walk two, 3^rd of April.

Wetherlam, Swirl How and Great Carrs. 7 miles

After a night’s wild camping at Tarn Hows, it was back to Low Tilberthwaite car park and days fell walking planned. 

With grey skies, and a dry morning we started the climb of Wetherlam a two-mile ascent; we followed Tilberthwaite Gill up to the copper mines and then to a flat area is this cirque? 
Formed by glacial activity, they are usually like a top half of chair with two arms and a back and the seat in the basin is usually a tarn.

If this is a Cirque, it was known as Dry Cove Moss, it looked like a tarn once existed here, but now silted up to a become a bog, as in its name moss and in its shape cove.

It seems so unusual to climb so high up and come across these flat areas known as Cirque; I look forward to seeing more of these cirques. 

The next section of the walk took us up to Birkfell Hause and onto Wetherlam Edge and into the cloud, we reached the summit the views were cut off because of the cloud, but we stopped for a break.

Wetherlam 2502 ft, 763m, it stands apart from the spine of the Coniston Fells, the connection being via the east ridge of Swirl How and that was now our direction we came out the cloud with nearly one-half miles ups and downs to reach Swirl How on the way we passed Swirl Hause with memories of the Christmas mission came back to me, as we climbed the Prison Band not as much snow on it as there was last time. 

Prison Band

 As we came to the summit of Swirl How we had a brief hail storm, then the views opened up around us again.

Swirl How summit is 2630 ft, 803m and it sends out ridges to the four points of the compass, each leading to further fells, it also feeds the headwaters of four valleys.

Swirl How summit cairn 

The next section of the walk is the ridge northwards to Great Carr's passing a site of a wartime air crash, the site now is of the undercarriage, together with a wooden cross and a memorial cairn.

Great Carrs 2575 ft, 785m

We had good views from the summit, with Coniston Old Man, Brim Fell, Dow Crag, in view, but it was the view down the Greenburn Valley that did it for me, such a great view.

Greenburn Valley

From the summit, it was onto Little Carrs and the West Side Edge with views down to Wrynose Pass. This next section of the walk was a lovely grassy ridge path down Rough Crags and then into the Greenburn Valley, we then crossed a beck and then we had a steep climb up to the Great Intake and the final section back downhill to the car park at Low Tilberthwaite and the end to another good walk. 

Langdale Pikes

And that is it, to the weekend in the lakes and what an interesting weekend it's been with some good wild camping done, and three fells done from Wainwright's Southern Fells.