In the Middle of Nowhere

Ever wondered where that is?  The middle of nowhere.

Caw Fell is about as close  as you can get.  Flanked by  Wasdale and Ennerdale.

Dominated by  Pillar and the Sca Fells, not to mention two Red Pikes, it rises, slightly, from the connecting plateau and bog in such an insignificant hump I wonder it ever got on Wainwright’s list.

That list.  It was, is, on and so had to be done.

Thankfully as an off shoot of a more interesting round from Wast Water.

The middle of nowhere!

Though we nearly never arrived at the start.  Even before I opened my curtains on Friday morning I could hear the rain lashing down and wondered what had happened to the predicted day of sunshine.  Consulting the App.  the yellow blobs were there.

Stanton Bridte

Water was rather the theme of the day.  It conspired to prevent our arrival at Greendale.  Impromptu rivers poured on to, across and down the roads.  Even high on the fells the slightest indentation was flooded.  Rivers had taken every opportunity to bust out of their banks.

Buckbarrow

May be Noah had a hand in it, I don’t know, but when we arrived, Buckbarrow was pasted on a blue screen and clouds were scurrying across the sky in the undue haste of a stiff breeze.

Which there was.  Middle Fell was straight up.  Vertical, almost, to 582m.  Looking back the winter sun caught patches of water in the valleys, an undeserved attraction to the excessive rain.  Torrents of thick white tumbled down every crevice in the surrounding  fells.

Greenbeck

Bright lights picked out dark folds in rock and scree of Yewbarrow and neighbours as we headed roughly north to Haycock.  Avoiding the Pots of Ashness.   Pots of water would be more appropriate.

Yewbarrow and Gable from Middle Fell

My last visit to Haycock had been in thick mist when the rock strewn peak and shelter had blended back against the grey.

Haycock in mist

But today sunshine pulled out the colour, setting rich greens and browns into the deep blue mix with Ennerdale and buffeting sky.

Ennerdale from Haycock

Though the middle of nowhere, Caw is not hard to find.  Follow the wall from Haycock across Gowder Crag.  Once on the ridge, there is a pile of stones on the other side of the wall.  Just don’t blink.

Over Little Gowder Crag

Then back.  Skirting below the scree.  Hopping over sphagnum around Stockdale head before the final pull of  Seatallan, over Buckbarrown and back to Greendale.

Where was Postman Pat?

Look at the Gallery Pictures here and the route below.