Mosedale Horseshoe
 
Starting point showing Kirk Fell and Great Gable Starting point with Kirk Fell and Great Gable in sight   I attempted this walk for the first and only time on the 10th March 2014. The starting point for the walk is normally the car park at Wasdale Head but I chose to park in a small lay-by just past the end of Wastwater that I had used before when climbing Scafell Pike. I took the photograph at 09:11. I then set off up the road towards Wasdale Head.

The walk is described in the Collins rambler's guide to the Lake District by John Gillham and Ronald Turnbull,"Distance 10 miles, Ascent 3,937 ft, Highest Point is Pillar 2,927 ft, A serious walk with a couple of short but exposed sections. Only experienced walkers should attempt this in wintry conditions and then only when equipped with ice axes and crampon."
 
Rather than follow the road, which made a pronounced right turn, I decided to follow a footpath. Unfortunately the footpath, which looked so inviting initially, followed the course of Mosedale Beck, was extremely wet and made for quite slow and slippery progress. I was also on the wrong side of the beck when I eventually reached Wasdale Head and so had to cross the packhorse bridge.

The guide book advised, "Beyond the hotel, turn right alongside Mosedale Beck passing, but not crossing the packhorse bridge."

I also felt obliged to walk a few yards in the wrong direction to photograph the Wasdale Head Inn at 09:33. 		  Signpost pointing to Wasdale Head Signpost shows a more direct route to Wasdale Head
 
Packhorse Bridge from the wrong side of the beck The packhorse bridge from the wrong side of the beck   Wasdale Head Inn The Wasdale Head Inn
 
The village of Wasdale Head Wasdale Head village with Wastwater in the distance   I set off alongside the Mosedale Beck, without crossing the packhorse bridge this time, until I had passed the last of the farm buildings. In the photograph, looking backwards, the path divides the other side of the gate in the middle distance. The instructions were to keep to the left path at that point. The path that goes off to the right is one that I had used once before when returning to Wasdale Head from Sty Head Pass.

The photograph also shows the buildings of Wasdale Head. Beyond and slightly to the right of them you may glimpse Wastwater. The fell on the right is Yewbarrow. The final part of the walk will be over Yewbarrow to the side of Wastwater and you can see it would be quite a walk back to Wasdale Head along the road.
 
Mosedale Valley annotated Mosedale Valley with a few names added   The valley opens up ahead. It looks bleak and rather forbidding even in the sunshine. My route will be to continue up the valley until Gatherstone Beck comes in from the right to join Mosedale Beck and then follow Gatherstone Beck up to Black Sail Pass.

The correct path forks right before Gatherstone Beck comes into view and I started following a different path that also heads to the right. Realising my mistake I crossed some rough terrain to gain the correct path, which I had seen below and to my left.
 
I now have Gatherstone Beck below me and to the left.

The Ordnance Survey map shows we follow the beck upstream, cross it at a ford and then keep it on the right. 		  Gatherstone Beck Gatherstone Beck
 
Black Crag Black Crag   It is time to have a quick look around. I have gradually been turning to the north-east and behind me, across the valley, is Black Crag with the first hint of snow and ice at higher levels.

I will be walking along this ridge on the return section of the walk.
 
Ford on Gatherstone Beck Ford on Gatherstone Beck   Fording Gatherstone Beck was not quite as simple as it sounds. There was a good deal of water in the beck after recent heavy rains.

The photograph was taken looking back at the ford after a successful crossing.
 
Wasdale Head village just visible Looking back at Wasdale Head village   Looking further back, Wasdale Head village is about to disappear from sight behind Kirk Fell on the left. Mosedale Valley itself still looks pretty bleak and Wastwater is well and truly hidden behind Yewbarrow to the right.
 
Approach to Black Sail Pass Approach to Black Sail Pass   Ahead and near the top right of the photograph is Black Sail Pass. There are two other walkers on the path who are just visible.

There is an alternate path for those only interested in ascending Pillar and not wishing to continue into Ennerdale. It departs to the left soon after the steps in the bottom left of the photograph and can just be seen at the top left.

I decided to visit the pass before turning left for Pillar.
 
Black Sail Pass Black Sail Pass   I reached Black Sail Pass at 11:09, just under 2 hours from starting the walk. Rather disappointingly the contour lines on the Ordnance Survey map show it to be at just 1,800 ft.

The disused gate and fence lie on a line between Looking Stead (to the left) and Kirk Fell (to the right.)

I sat on the boulder, visible beyond the gate, to have my morning coffee.

After walking a short distance towards Ennerdale, the following two photographs were taken before returning to the coffee boulder and turning right towards Pillar.
 
Loft Beck and Great Round How Loft Beck and Great Round How   Ennerdale and Gamlin End Ennerdale and Gamlin End
 
High-level traverse path to Pillar Rock High-level traverse path to Pillar Rock   The cairn on the right of the photograph marks the start of the high-level traverse path to Pillar Rock.

I would dearly have loved to take this path but eventually decided it was not wise on this visit. The possibility that snow and ice might be encountered especially on the Shamrock traverse, a climbing rock shelf around the Shamrock buttress and on the subsequent climb to the col between Pillar Rock and the main mountain was a consideration. Time was also a factor as this walk was already taking longer than expected.
 
Approaching Pillar Approaching Pillar   It seems to take a long time to reach Pillar but the objective is clearly in sight now.
 
Peter on Pillar Peter on Pillar   The photograph was taken at 13:09 on Pillar summit, just under 4 hours after starting the walk. The mountain on the right is Great Gable with Kirk Fell between Great Gable and Pillar.

The climb to Looking Stead at 2,058 ft, the subsequent descent and climb to Pillar at 2,927 ft had been difficult and what I would call difficult scrambling, definitely not walking.

Time was fast becoming a factor since 4 hours had elapsed and there were a good number of peaks still to visit. The distance still to go was considerably greater than that already covered. At least what remained would be more down than up.
 
Black Sail Youth Hostel from Pillar Black Sail Youth Hostel from Pillar   Black Sail Youth Hostel enlarged Black Sail Youth Hostel enlarged
 
Haystacks Haystacks   Haystacks and Innominate Tarn are clearly visible from Pillar. Scarth Gap Pass, just below Haystacks, leads from Ennerdale into Buttermere.
 
Gamlin End Gamlin End   On other walks, I have been on Haystacks or Gamlin End looking directly into the sun at Pillar. This time I have the sun behind me making Gamlin End much easier to photograph.

In this picture you can see the full sweep of Gamlin End right down to Scarth Gap and even pick out Marble Stone by the scree slope.
 
The Rambler's Guide advised, "Move to the northern wind shelter and it is a different scenario, for you look over the top of Pillar Rock's High Man, a spectacular steeple of crag."

Unfortunately, the northern shelter was down a steep slope that was covered in snow, as was the mountain edge beyond. I reluctantly decided to give it a miss this time. 		  Snow along the mountain edge Snow remained in many places
 
Mosedale and Scafell Range Mosedale Valley and Scafell Range   The route from Pillar was to the south west descending to Wind Gap, which can be thought of as the end of the Mosedale Valley. Looking down the valley from this point gave an excellent view of the Scafell Range.

The yellow-brown of Mosedale gives way to the green fields of Wasdale and just beyond the fields is Lingmell. In the distance, from left to right, we have Great End, Broad Crag, Scafell Pikes, Mickeldore and Scafell.
 
Ennerdale Water Ennerdale Water   Still at Wind Gap but looking in completely the other direction Ennerdale Water is clearly visible.

Having descended to Wind Gap, it was necessary to climb again to Little Scoat Fell and this was the most difficult ascent so far. The top of Little Scoat Fell was relatively flat and had a long stone wall that was quite unexpected.
 
Steeple Steeple   The next objective was Steeple 2,687 ft, which is seen here from Little Scoat Fell. This was very easy and presented no problem at all.
 
Returning to Little Scoat Fell from Steeple and continuing straight ahead leads to Red Pike.

The photograph of Red Pike was taken at 14:23 and some of the concerns about timing seemed to have eased a little.

After a relatively gentle descent to a wide rocky plateau, it became difficult to find a way down with fairly steep descents in every direction and no real sign of a footpath. The photograph that follows was taken at 14:38 and is considered the best taken on the day mainly because of the interesting lighting and the longer shadows on the fell side. This was the last photograph taken on the walk, as the camera was stowed for the descent to Dore Head.

A cairn of stones was eventually found by walking around the edge. To the right of the cairn the descent looked horrendous but a path could be see far below. To the left of the cairn the descent looked worse. In the photograph below, the dark area with the snow on the right was the difficult part. The area in the sunlight below is Dore Head and the craggy lump beyond is Yewbarrow with its initial ascent up Stirrup Crag.

Whilst looking at the path far below, I spied two walkers that I had met on Pillar and who I had been following. One of them had taken the photograph of me on Pillar and I was to meet them both again. 		  Red Pike Red Pike
 
Best photograph Kirk Fell, Great Gable, the Scafell range, Lingmell, Dore Head and Yewbarrow
 
At this time I was still up at about 2,600 ft with 4 or 5 miles of walking yet to do. The descent proved difficult but not impossible and I kept an eye on my two fellow walkers. They first set off to climb Stirrup Crag but then returned to Dore Head. I continued my descent getting somewhat closer. They then started a descent to the left, as though going down to Mosedale but again returned to Dore Head.

I was getting tired and becoming worried about the distance remaining and decided I would not attempt to climb Yewbarrow but had spotted a footpath on the map to the right of Yewbarrow that would lead down eventually to Wastwater. As I approached Dore Head I found that path and started to follow it. It proved to be boggy but gradually descended around the side of Yewbarrow in the right direction. I had not gone very far when I was joined by the lady partner of the walker who had taken my photograph earlier.

Jane, for that was her name, had taken one look at the route over Yewbarrow and declared that she simply would not be able to do it. Ken, her partner, wanted to complete the whole walk by going over Yewbarrow. They had looked into Mosedale but the descent was too steep and over scree with no route shown on the map. They had both seen me stride off in a purposeful manner and Ken had suggested she join me, while he went over Yewbarrow. He was sure I knew what I was doing! 		  The path was easy but slow going because of the boggy ground and was at least two miles long. It must have taken us the best part of an hour. We were just approaching Overbeck Bridge when Ken, who had come over Dropping Crag and down Bell Rib, caught up with us. I guess we made the lakeside road at about 17:30 or 18:00. I did not check the time.

I had a further 2 miles to walk along the road to reach my motorcar, while Ken and Jane had 3 miles to go to reach Wasdale Head. We walked together as far as my car and I offered them a lift but, no, Ken needed to finish the walk properly. We agreed to meet in Ritson's Bar at the Wasdale Head Inn for a pint. It was still daylight when I parked. I would guess it was about 18:30. Ken and Jane arrived soon after and we had a quick drink together. It was quite dark for my drive home. I found the drive difficult mainly because I was so tired and trying to see the road clearly with oncoming traffic was not easy. After 30 minutes of driving, my mobile telephone suddenly decided it had a signal and I received several text messages from a rather worried Jenny.

Yes, I do hope to do the walk again but next time I will start earlier, at first light. I would also park at Wasdale Head. If I am still walking after dark it would be best along a flat smooth road. To do the high level traverse would take longer. It was as well I was not tempted this time. It was the most difficult walk I have ever done in any case.
 
Editor: Peter J. Cosker   peter@the2coskers.com   other Lake District walks   Updated: 23/07/2024