Old friend GFS was staying at Chapel Stile campsite in Nether Wasdale with his family and had been regularly posting pictures from the fells he’d bagged. I messaged him wondering whether he wanted to meet on the Sunday for a walk. He suggested Black Combe. I was a bit puzzled, since I knew he was enthusiastically ticking off the Wainwrights, as well as the Ethels he would tell me about later in the day, and Black Combe is not on that list. It turned out that he’s using an online list which includes all of the Outlying Fells, so, as far as he was concerned, it is a Wainwright and would add to his tally.
GFS suggested an eleven o’clock rendezvous, which, being jealous of my weekends, especially if the sun is shining, I felt was inordinately late, so I set-off early and drove a little past our prearranged meeting point for a quick swim in the Irish Sea at Silecroft.
I don’t think that Cumbria is reknowned for its beaches at all, but the one at Silecroft is lovely, and I suspect many others are equally good.
My first encounter with the beach here was also in July, over thirty years ago, when I came kayak-surfing here with a group of trainee teachers. It was far from being the first time I’d kayaked, but it was probably my first experience of surfing and it could easily have been my last. We were using some rather battered fibreglass canoes and the cockpit coping on my boat was cracked. I only discovered that my spray-deck was firmly jammed into that crack when I’d capsized and was trying to roll out of the boat in the way we’d been taught in the safe environs of a swimming pool. Of course, I should have been performing an eskimo roll, but I never quite mastered that. After a little confusion followed by some hasty tugging at the spray-deck, I managed to free myself, and was surprised to find myself the centre of attention and a worried looking instructor chest deep in the sea in an effort to rescue me. Reckless youth and adrenaline junkie that I was then, my only regret was that he wouldn’t let me go back out for some more surfing.
These days I’ll settle for an intentional swim without the preceding drama. There were a few people on surfboards near where I swam, but the waves looked unpromisingly tiny. Perfect for a swim with a great view however.
I’d taken a leaf out of Andy’s book and had been perusing satellite images of the area in search of liking looking parking spots. As a result, I’d suggested a layby just off the main road, opposite the church at Hallthwaite.
The path which descended Baystone Bank should have alerted us to what was to come – it started out sketchy and quickly disappeared completely in the enveloping bracken.
Having reached access land just below Force Knott the plan was to turn sharp left and to follow the path, marked on the OS 1:25,000 map, which follows the intake wall. The idea was to work our way around to Whitecombe Beck and then on to the Horse Back ridge which I have often admired, but never climbed. My plan then extended to a lengthy descent route which would conveniently take in the Swinside stone circle, which has also been on my wish list for a very long time. As Iron Mike famously opined: “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” In this case, the knuckle sandwich was delivered by the head-high bracken.
Sadly, the advertised path simply didn’t exist, at least not in July, and the path which climbed up beside Stoupdale beck, which seemed like the only alternative, briefly lulled us into a false sense of security before also disappearing. Orienteering maps use different colours to indicate the density of the undergrowth, the most extreme being ‘fight’ I think. This was definitely a fight. Fortunately, we eventually climbed above the worst of the bracken and the path returned without a hint of embarrassment or any sign of an apology.
From that point on it was just a steady climb to the top, in glorious sunshine.
We sat with our backs to the large cairn, eating our lunch, admiring the extensive views and discussing potential onward routes, since we had already climbed much of my proposed descent route and we were keen to avoid another quarrel with the bracken as much as possible.
I had a theory that a route around the southern edge of the actual Blackcombe corrie might be our best bet. I thought the path beside Whitecombe Beck would be bracken free.
It did turn out to be a good route, with only a modicum of bracken bashing as we approached the track by the stream.
Our new route involved a lot of road walking, mostly on quiet lanes which was fine, but from Fox and Goose Cottages to Lanthwaite Bridge along the busy A595. Whilst we were walking that section, TBH rang me to find out whether we were back at our cars yet? She was in Heysham, to pick up Little S, and reported a torrential downpour which had immediately flooded the roads and made driving difficult.
We’d been watching showers tracking across the sea in our direction for a while and now the sky was dark and threatening.
I was very taken by this new standing stone, which was carved by Irene Rogan and Danny Clahane. It took a while to find out anything about it, but I eventually turned up a suggested walk taking in this and the Swinside Stone Circle, which I shall have to come back to try at some point.
In the event, the first drops of rain only began to fall as we arrived back at our cars and the anticipated heavy showers didn’t materialise at all.
Despite the best efforts of the bracken, it was a terrific walk. It’s always interesting to chat with GFS and I remember that we covered a lot of ground in our conversation.
MapMyWalk gives a little under 10 miles and almost exactly 700m of ascent.
Beating The Bounds 