Base Brown, Green Gable & The Gable Girdle 20-7-2014

Well this was the second walk of the Walkers Forum meet up and what a cracker it was too. Hot and humid weather was giving way to good sunny warm and clear conditions apart from when we hit the start of the Gable Girdle, a traverse path that takes you below the summit of Great Gable in a circle and coming out at the Stretcher Box at Sty Head. A pity really as the views down the Wasdale valley are fantastic but hey, that's the mountains, one minute in clear weather then the next in cloud.
We set off from Seathwaite Farm and followed sour milk gill rising steeply and tough going in the warm conditions. We took a detour off the main path as we traversed around the precariously named Hanging Stone, a rock that some how is just ledged on another waiting for its moment to come crashing down!
Unfortunately my camera packed in so all photo's are off my phone. Not bad but not as good as my camera!

Our Route For The Day

On the up beside Sour Milk Gil

Sour Milk Gil Waterfall

View back down the valley

Hanging Stone from below

Hanging Stone from above

Looking at the stone from above, it dosen't look long before its final moment with a crack appearing at the back edge. A harsh winter might just see the end of it, hopefully with nobody near it when it does come crashing down.
After finding a good place for a well desvered rest, we made our way round and up the grassy slopes to the summit of Base Brown where we had a clear view of our way up to Green Gable

Enjoying the day :-)

On the way to Base Bown with Glaramara as the backdrop

Base Brown summit with Green Gable to the left

Clear way to Green Gable with Great Gable beyond

We made our way up to Green Gable which was , to be fair, a right old slog in thiese conditions, it was a very welcome summit, not just for the views but also of another good rest. It was a bit draining and I was a bit pleased that we were to be on a more level walk after that. We did drop down a fair bit but thankfully there was to be no more steep climbs which was very welcome. To be fair, the weather did cool down a bit in the cloud and that was very welcome. Also, Rich, who was leading the walk, found a good supply of drinking water straight from the rocks, as pure as you'll ever get and it tasted so good. Best drink of natural fresh water as you'll ever get :-)

Green Gable Summit

View down Ennerdale Valley

Our way Forward on the faint path across the scree

Looking back up towards Green Gable Summit

On our way into the mist

Down into the mist

On the Gable Girdle Path

Easy does it

The mist did try to clear in parts but no views of Wasdale Valley

Purest water on tap

As luck would have it, the mist did start to clear up as we approached the Stretcher Box at Sty Head to offer a glimpse of the views we were hoping for. We were greeted by a small heard of cattle that are being left to roam the area to get a more natural feel to the valleys by the Wild Ennerdale Project

Views opening up down the Wasdale Valley

Resting with the cattle. Luckily the stretcher remained redundant

Sty Head Tarn and our descent route

We left the cattle to their grazing and headed down past Sty Head Tarn and beside Styhead Gil. About half way down, myself Colin & Rich crossed over to the otherside of the Gil and went down by the Taylor Gill Force waterfall. Taylor Gill Force is one of the highest waterfalls in the Lake District National Park and the long white plume drops an impressive 140 feet into the Seathwaite Valley amidst pine clad hillsides.There wasn't a great deal of force in the falls today as this has been a dry summer by British standards, but still a worthwhile alternative route down.

The ascent path

Styhead Gill

Crossing the Gill

Small waterfalls

Taylor Gill Force

Taylor Gill Force

On the rocky path down

Back through the valley

A good walk back down to the farm and met with the others as we made our way back to the cars. Another great day out in what turned out to be a great weekend in this great corner of the lake District. Again, my thanks go out to Sharon, Catherine, Donna, Paul, Paul, Dave, Colin and Richard who organized the weekend and the walks, cheers mate :-)