A difficult route in Southern Fells. Check the GPS track on Outdooractive for full details of the route, waypoints, and terrain.
Starting Point: Roadside parking, Chapel How Road, Stonethwaite (NY 260 139)
Terrain: Road, path along to gate, steep winding climb up Bull Crag along Big Stranger Gill, gill crossing, boggy path, Bessyboot summit, descent, Rosthwaite Cam, wet ground, Combe Door, wild walking (path hard to follow and sometimes disappears), Combe Head, good path, Glaramara summit, clear path southwest over unnamed tops, Allen Crags summit, descent to path junction, main path past Ruddy Gill, Sprinkling Tarn, Seathwaite Fell summit, optional scree descent via Aaron Crags, highest point cairn, tarn return, Ruddy Gill (relentless descent steps), Stockley Bridge, Seathwaite, road north, Seatoller Bridge, road, Burthwaite Bridge, footpath through farm, road return IMPORTANT — MOUNTAIN SAFETY: This is a long and serious mountain walk covering 22 kilometres with almost 1,000m of ascent across four Wainwright summits. The route includes a wild walking section between Combe Door and the base of Glaramara where the path is hard to follow and sometimes disappears entirely. Good navigation skills, map, compass and GPS are recommended. Full mountain kit required.
A magnificent long clear-sky day in the heart of the Borrowdale fells — four Wainwrights across 22 kilometres with almost 1,000 metres of ascent and views throughout that justify every step. The approach up Big Stranger Gill between Alisongrass Crag and Hanging Haystack is one of the more characterful ascent routes in the area, and Bessyboot delivers an immediate reward in the form of a wide northern panorama across Borrowdale. The wild section from Combe Door demands attention and navigation but is brief, and Glaramara's summit in clear conditions is one of the great viewpoints of the central fells — the Scafells, Great Gable and the high plateau all laid out from a summit that manages to feel quieter than its neighbours. Allen Crags is often hurried past on the way to or from Scafell Pike, but its views of Great End and Bowfell are excellent on a day like this and it deserves better than a quick glance. Sprinkling Tarn — home of the vendace, the UK's rarest freshwater fish — is a fine pause before Seathwaite Fell's broad summit closes the high-level walking. The descent via Ruddy Gill's relentless steps and the long road return through Seathwaite and Seatoller feels well earned. A brilliant day.