A difficult route in Western Fells. Check the GPS track on Outdooractive for full details of the route, waypoints, and terrain.
Starting Point: National Trust car park, Honister Slate Mine (NY 225 135)
TERRAIN WARNINGS:- Windy Gap: The ascent and descent between Windy Gap and Great Gable is on steep, loose scree. Footing is unreliable in all conditions and extreme care is required. This is one of the more demanding short sections in the Lake District.- Green Gable to Windy Gap: The scree path from Green Gable south to Windy Gap is similarly slippery and should be descended with care.- Wild traverse NY 219 110 to NY 215 111: The shortcut west through the crags falls away steeply to the right. Do not cut too much of the corner — keep aware of the ground to the south dropping away below you.
A magnificent high mountain circuit from Honister — compact in mileage but big in every other sense, packing five Wainwrights and nearly 900 metres of climbing into a day that begins above the slate mine and ends with the central Lake District laid out in all its glory below. The Coast to Coast tramway approach and Grey Knotts traverse deliver early views of exceptional quality, and Moses' Trod is one of the most atmospheric high-level paths in the fells. Great Gable is simply Great Gable — there is no fell in England that commands its position above Wasdale with quite the same authority, and the war memorial on its south face adds a dimension to the summit that goes well beyond the usual calculus of height and view. Green Gable and Base Brown complete the high southern section with their own considerable contributions, and the ridge home via Brandreth and Grey Knotts is a fine, unhurried finish with Buttermere and Ennerdale spread out below to the west. The scree on Windy Gap deserves the respect given to it in the warnings above — it is steep, loose and unforgiving, and it accounts for the majority of the day's physical demands. The rest of the walk is merely excellent.