Last updated 12:03, Thursday, 31 July 2008

Vivienne Crow guides you through a valley so beautiful that even monks fought over possession of the land

Walkers crossing Stockley Bridge: before heading back to Seathwaite

MAP: OS Explorer maps OL4 and OL6.

PARKING: Seathwaite (Borrowdale), GR NY235123.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Buses 79 and 77/77A serve Borrowdale (telephone 0871 200 2233).

REFRESHMENTS: Yew Tree Country Restaurant in Seatoller; Langstrath Inn in Stonethwaite.

DISTANCE: 12 miles

TOTAL ASCENT: 2,849ft

TIME: 6.5-8 hours

GRADE: Hard

OVERVIEW: It’s hard to say whether this is a valley walk or a fell walk. Most of your time will be spent in valleys, including the long, secluded Langstrath, but an obvious highlight is the climb on to Esk Pike which, at 2,903ft, is one of the Lake District’s biggies.

The route also visits one of the National Park’s most spectacularly located tarns – Angle Tarn, sitting dark and cragbound at the base of Bow Fell. However you decide to label it, it’s a long walk and one that’s best saved for a clear day.

THE WALK: Walk south along the road towards Seathwaite. Just after the cottages, turn left at a footpath sign towards Thorneythwaite. Go through a gate and follow the path across the field with a wall on your left. Go through another gate and then follow this clear path through several more gates for a mile until you reach a gap in a wall with old wooden gate posts on either side.

Yellow waymarkers indicate you leave the vehicle-wide track here and turn right, with a drystone wall on your immediate left. When you reach a surfaced lane, turn right and then right again at the main Borrowdale road (1.58 miles from the start).

At the next road junction, turn right towards Stonethwaite. When you reach the phone box at the edge of the hamlet, turn left (sign reads: “Public Bridleway Greenup Edge, Grasmere”). Cross the bridge over Stonethwaite Beck and, at a T-junction of paths, turn right, still following signs for Grasmere.

Almost a mile after crossing the beck, you pass a sheepfold to your right and the path forks. Bear right through a small gate to cross the beck. Walk with Langstrath Beck on your right for about a quarter of a mile and then cross via a bridge (3.8 miles from the start). Continue in the same direction as before, with the beck now on your left.

As you approach Stake Beck coming down from the high ground to the left, you reach another bridge (5.6 miles from the start). There are two options here. I prefer to continue on the same side of the beck for another mile – on a much fainter path, but always keeping close to the water’s edge – until, just after passing close to a sheepfold, it is possible to easily ford the beck.

If, however, the water level is high, you may wish to cross the bridge near Stake Beck and then turn right to cross Stake Beck itself (via another bridge). It is important that, after this second bridge, you do not turn left and start climbing up to Stake Pass – instead, take the narrow track with Langstrath Beck just below you.

Whichever option you take, once on the southern side of the beck you follow it until you reach Angletarn Gill. There are lots of minor, easily-fordable becks along the way, but you will know when you reach Angletarn Gill because this will be the first to stop you in your stride. Ford it carefully to gain a path climbing the gill in a southerly direction.

At the tarn (7.5 miles from the start), turn right along the clear, wide path. Having climbed about 250 yards from the tarn, turn left along a rough path that climbs steeply to Ore Gap. From the saddle, turn right up another loose, rocky track to the top of Esk Pike (8.6 miles from the start) for some magnificent views of the surrounding fells, including the Scafell group.

At the summit, you will see a cairn-topped outcrop off to your right. Pass to the left of a line of jagged rocks and then descend a very steep path with a rock wall close by on your left.

The rocky, cairned path now leads down to Esk Hause. Turn right at the cairn in the pass so that you are practically coming back on yourself. You’ll see the Langdales straight ahead as you set off.

From the large shelter, head NE towards Allen Crags and then turn left (NW) at a large cairn. (There are a lot of paths here, so make sure that you are heading in the right direction.)

About a quarter of a mile after the cairn, join a wide track coming in from the left. Bear right here, heading downhill. About 350 yards after joining this track, watch out for a badly eroded path off to the right that drops steeply down to the beck and crosses it (9.6 miles from the start). Take this.

This path now follows Ruddy Gill and Grains Gill downstream. The many interesting gullies, waterfalls and pools help relieve the tedium of the relentless downhill slog.

You eventually cross Grains Gill via a narrow wooden bridge (10.5 miles from the start). Continue downhill until you reach a junction of paths near the pretty, stone Stockley Bridge. Turn right here to cross the bridge and then continue along the well-walked path back to Seathwaite.

POINTS OF INTEREST: Ownership of the Langstrath Valley was originally granted to Fountains Abbey near Ripon in North Yorkshire in 1195, but the rest of Borrowdale was sold to Furness Abbey in 1209. Stonethwaite being home to rich pasturelands, both abbeys claimed to own it. The resulting dispute became so bitter that Edward I intervened and confiscated the land in 1304. Eventually, the monks from Fountains outwitted their Cumbrian rivals and bought the land from the crown for 40 shillings.

For gentler walks in Borrowdale, try Vivienne Crow’s new book, Easy Rambles Around Keswick and Borrowdale (published by Questa, £3.99). Available in bookshops.