The Land of the Lune - Drakkar Press

40 Chapter 2: Shap Fells and Birkbeck Fells
Borrow Beck
Borrow Beck runs for 10km east from between
High House Fell and Bannisdale Fell through
Borrowdale, the most beautiful valley in Loyne despite
being split in two by the A6. Upper Borrowdale is within
the Lake District National Park and has some of the
character of Lakeland valleys. Unfortunately, there is
no footpath in upper Borrowdale, which therefore can
only be appreciated by walking the long, grassy ridges
on either side.
Just below High Borrow Bridge, Crookdale Beck
joins Borrow Beck. This junction illustrates the difficulty
of determining the source of a watercourse. Upper and
lower Borrowdale are aligned so well that it seems
obvious that the same beck, Borrow Beck, flows through
them both. But Crookdale Beck has a much higher and
more distant source, below Harrop Pike (637m), than
Borrow Beck and at the junction ought to be regarded as
the senior partner.
Perhaps aesthetics play a part because Crookdale
is such a dreary valley that no beck would want to be
born there. There are twelve million visits to the Lake
District National Park each year and approximately none
of them involve an outing to Crookdale. Above Hause
Foot, there is little of interest to a visitor not fascinated
by varieties of grass and herb, only the modest crags of
Great Yarlside breaking the monotonous, peaty slopes.
Hause Foot is on the turnpike route before the A6
was built in the 1820s. A steep curve up the northern
slope can be traced, reaching 440m, with the route
continuing north over Packhorse Hill and south to High
Borrow Bridge. This route played a key part in the 1745
incursion of Bonnie Prince Charlie. When his army
began to retreat, bridges such as High Borrow Bridge
were demolished ahead of it to hamper its struggle over
the Shap summit, after which the Scottish army was
defeated in its last battle on English soil.
In a lay-by on the A6 there is a memorial to drivers
over the A6 Shap summit, but the A6 is far from forgotten
and unused today. There is no memorial to the souls
Right: Borrowdale Head from High House Bank.
Walk 4: Upper Borrowdale, Crookdale and Wasdale
Map: OL7 (please read the general note about the walks in the Introduction).
Starting point: A lay-by at the A6 summit (554062).
As we have Loyne becks from the Lake District, we must have a walk within the Lake District! This is a long, arduous,
isolated walk over grassy and sometimes boggy ridges.
Go west through a gate and under two lines of pylons to reach the old turnpike route. Go south through two gates and at the
third follow the wall down to Crookdale Beck. Cross it and head up High House Bank. At a small cairn there’s a good view into
Borrowdale.
Follow the ridge west. A faint path becomes clearer after Robin Hood, where a good cairn marks another viewpoint. Continue
to Lord’s Seat. Sadly, there is no sight from here of the fine cairn on Harrop Pike to inspire you, but make your way northwest
around crags and peat-mounds (there is no path). Keep well to the left so that you can use the fence to guide you to the top.
After all this effort, the view of the Lakeland hills is disappointing. Only Black Combe, the Coniston range, and a glimpse of
Harter Fell and High Street can be seen beyond the nearer hills. There’s also a view into Mosedale and Sleddale, where you may
be lucky to see red deer. No lakes can be seen apart from a bit of Wet Sleddale Reservoir to the northeast. The view eastwards is
better: a panorama from Morecambe Bay to Cross Fell, with the Howgills prominent.
From Harrop Pike, follow the fence east to Great Yarlside (easy walking here). At the junction follow the fence left, not the
wall right. Follow the right fence at the next junction. After a short while, a plantation comes into view half right. Make a beeline
(no path) across Wasdale, with Shap Pink Quarry to your left, to the right hand corner of the plantation and then across the field
to the lay-by.
The reward for this walk is that you can afterwards boast to Lake District fans that you did Borrowdale and Wasdale in one
day.
Short walk variation: It is possible to have a shorter walk but not really a short walk, once you embark on Crookdale. You could
forgo the pleasure of reaching Harrop Pike by contouring round from Lord’s Seat to Great Yarlside – but don’t cut directly across
Crookdale, as it’s a bog. From Great Yarlside, you could avoid walking in Wasdale by following the wall over Little Yarlside.
This is Chapter 2 of The Land of the Lune (2nd edition), http://www.drakkar.co.uk/landofthelune.html, Copyright © 2010 John Self