WALNA SCAR, WHITE
PIKE, WHITE MAIDEN & HIGH PIKE HAW
from TORVER
Summary
Date - 22nd February 2009
Distance - 6.5 miles
Map - OL6
Start point - Torver (SD 285945)
Summits Achieved
Name
Height (ft)
Height (m)
Grid Ref
Walna Scar
2037
621
SD 2577 9634
White Pike (Seathwaite)
1962
598
SD 2491 9556
White Maiden
1995
608
SD 2543 9570
High Pike Haw
1161
354
SD 2635 9491
Preface
"Do you think we are going out
tomorrow", asked Grizzly.
"Don't know", replied
Tetley. "Guess we better go and ask Dad"
"I'll go", piped up Allen.
So off he went to find out.
"Yes, we are walking"
said Dad. "We will be doing a couple more of the Birkett
Fells we have not done, and also getting on with the catch up on
the Outlying Fells, for Grizzly, Eric and you, by climbing Walna
Scar".
"Great", cried Allen, as
he rushed off to tell the others.
After Allen had reported back,
Tetley said "one tends to think that the fells in
Wainwrights Outlying book, are of much lesser height, and whilst
that can be said about quite a lot, some like Walna Scar are
actually over 2,000ft, so we were in for quite a climb.
The Walk
Our starting point was Torver. The
last part of our journey there was alongside Coniston Water, so
we enjoyed the views of the lake and surrounding hills.
It was rather cloudy as we set off.
Walked up the narrow road and on to the bridleway that climbs up
to eventually reach the Walna Scar Road (it is not a road as such
but a wide track that links Coniston with the Duddon Valley). We
met a lady with her dog and Dad stopped to chat (well he would!).
She noticed us and was interested to hear about us, as she too is
a collector of Teddy Bears.
Dad walked on, passing a building
called Tranearth, before reaching the old Banishead Quarry. It's
deep excavation is now a small tarn with a waterfall at one end.
The Walna Scar Road crosses Torver
Beck at Cove Bridge, which makes a pleasant scene for a
photograph.
See the cloud and mist at the top
of this picture, well this was covering Walna Scar. It persisted
all day too, so it was a good job that Dad was able to navigate
safely through this to the first three summits. We continued up
the road, climbing all the way to its summit. Now striking off
left it was just a short climb to the summit of Walna Scar,
marked by a cairn. We should have had a good view but in the mist
visibility was severely restricted. Added to that too it was
windy.
White Pike was next, a clear track
leading all the way to its huge summit cairn. We now had to get
to White Maiden. A path led off from White Pike, but soon Dad
realised this was not going in the right direction, in fact he
thought it was a path to Walna Scar top. It just goes to show how
disorienting it can be in mist. So, he cut off to the right and
soon we were at the cairn on White Maiden. It had been windy all
the time, but here it was horrendously strong and just blew
continuously. We hurried on to the cairn for our photo, then
quickly dived back into the rucksack. We were all very glad to
get down off the top!!
Now we followed the wall down for a
while, then drifted away left on what seemed a good descent.
Dropping Crag was the danger here, but Dad had fortunately picked
a good route. There was one bit along a ledge and then down into
a stream, but once that was over it was easy to the valley. We
love the Herdwick sheep that roam the Lakeland Fells. This one
posed for Dad.
The final hill was High Pike Haw,
and despite a slight detour because Dad had misread the grid
reference (Specsavers comes to mind!), soon we had reached its
rocky top. A different day here - out of the mist and much less
wind. We posed for our picture, and then we all had our picnic.
There was also a fine view to
Coniston Old Man.
Now we followed a clear path headed
NE, and even when it got less distinct, Dad was able to come to
the footpath we wanted with ease. Turning right here, we
continued the easy descent. The only difficulty was needing to
cross a rather wide stream, but once Dad found the stepping
stones we were soon across. We looked back to Walna Scar, still
shrouded in the cloud and mist.
Then we followed the track down.
This was a bit difficult for a time as it was in a stream and the
rocks were slippery, so Dad had to take extra care. Soon we
reached the house of Low Torver Park where Dad stopped to chat to
the occupants, who were interested in where we had been. It was
then left on a track to reach Scar Head, from where it was just a
short way to the car. We then headed home, but of course he was
in good time for a tea stop, so went to the Hat Trick Cafe run by
Jane & Sam. We got to go in too. Dad had decided to make this
his evening meal so had a lovely BLT sandwich, followed by
gorgeous apple apricot and chocolate crumble. Jane again very
very kindly made Dad custard to have with this (normally it is
served with cream).
Thanks again Dad for another good
day, despite the lack of views.