Ennerdale to Wasdale Head (22 km)

Introduction St Bees Ennerdale Wast Water - Wander Wast Water - Scafells Wast Water Borrowdale Grasmere Patterdale - Helvellyn Patterdale

Black Sail Youth Hostel and a glimpse of Great Gable (centre)

Shap Kirkby Stephen Keld Reeth Richmond Danby Wiske Ingleby Cross Clay Bank Lion Inn Grosmont

This is a day of contrasts with easy, open walking along the side of Ennerdale Water, more easy but enclosed travel through forests and then the wide open fells at the dale head bordered by mountains. The usual route climbs over Honister Pass and down into Borrowdale. However I felt that it was a pity to miss the opportunity to scale the Scafell peaks when they were so close and so walked over Black Sail Pass over to Wasdale.

Leave Ennerdale Bridge village on the Croasdale road and turn where indicated onto the zigzag road towards the lakeshore. When the road ends, a path leads between 2 houses and onto a broad track down to the lakeside and the south shore footpath. The shore is followed closely with some nice rocky patches below Anglers Crag before the wild, natural woods of Side Wood are entered. About 6 kilometres from the village, the head of the lake is reached and the path slants over fields to a forest road on the other side of the valley (crossing the River Liza by a footbridge).

The road is followed to the right past Low Gillerthwaite (a field centre) and High Gillerthwaite (a youth hostel) and into the depths of Ennerdale Forest. For the next 5 kilometres, there is easy and fast walking along the forest road with a few chances to look through gaps in the forest cover to the surrounding slopes. Keep an eye out on the other side of the valley for the grand tower of Pillar Rock that gives Pillar its name - the low cloud on this day made the tower especially prominent.

The route leaves the road when it makes a sharp right turn down to the river and emerges from the forest through a gate. A broad path takes you straight to the Black Sail Youth Hostel, an old shepherd's bothy now converted into Lakeland's most isolated youth hostel. This is a great place for lunch with the youth hostel providing shelter in inclement weather and the mountains providing inspiration in just about any weather. If the weather had been a touch clearer, I would have been tempted to continue along the C2C to the junction with Moses Trod so that I could have a look at the view down into Buttermere (and then going back along the trod into Wasdale). Instead I took the more direct route over Black Sail Pass.

To get to the pass, take the main path that descends to the Liza and a footbridge over the river. Unfortunately I don't have the map that I used from this point until I got to Grasmere (4 days away). So my descriptions of the route are going to be a bit vague. From the footbridge, the path climbs steadily up to the pass with the craggy shoulders of Kirkfell moving around to hide Great Gable and the view along the C2C route. The top of the pass is a bit of a crossroads with a thin track crossing from the left (from Kirkfell) and heading up the right-hand slopes towards Pillar. The broad path quickly drops down from the pass into the valley leading to Wasdale Head (not visible yet) with the crags of Red Pike ahead of you. Soon the valley bends to your left and the green fields at the head of Wast Water appear to give incentive to your feet.

At the foot of the valley, the path enters the tiny hamlet of Wasdale Head between a row of houses and the Wasdale Inn - these are just about the only houses in the dale except for a few isolated farmhouses. Accommodation choices are few with a couple of B&B's, rooms at the inn and a nice camping field across from the inn. I chose the camping field (after all if I was to tote my tent all the way across England then I might as well get some use out of it) despite the large number of people already camped there. I had my meals at the inn and can recommend their Cumberland sausage which is a proper walkers meal with a gigantic link of tasty sausage nearly filling the plate.