Starting point: Martindale Old Church  (NY 434184)  Distance: 8.85 miles  Ascent: 2692'

This walk takes in the fells on the skyline of Bannerdale, an offshoot of Martindale.  Conditions for photographs were not too promising at the start of the walk, but the evening cloud cleared and a golden sun lit up the fells perfectly.

Route: Park by the Old Church and walk up on to the Beda Fell ridge.  Cross Winter Crag and climb up to Beda Head (AW's summit).  Continue along the ridge to the head of Bannerdale with some lovely views.  Follow the ridge route to cross Angletarn Pikes before dropping down to Angle Tarn and climbing up to Brock Crags.  Join the main path briefly before heading up to the summit of Rest Dodd on a climbing path through grass.  At the summit drop down steeply, crossing the boundary wall via a stile.  A faint path leads across boggy, peaty ground to rise up to the summit of The Nab.  Use a stalkers path to descend to the private road and rejoin the public road.  Walk back along the valley floor to the starting point.

NB:  When AW conducted his explorations on The Nab in the 1950's the whole area was strictly out of bounds to the general public.  Nowadays, most of the fell is public access land, but walkers are asked to keep to preferred routes.  Be aware that deer are calving during June and July and between September and February the area may sometimes be closed for deer management.

From the ridge there is a view of Gowbarrow Fell across Ullswater

Boredale - the valley on the other side of the ridge

A minor scramble over Winter Crag

Martindale with hints of sunlight on Gowk Hill

Winter Crag from above

Beattie at the cairn just below the summit of Beda Head

Looking back to Ullswater across Hallin Fell

Beda Head - AW's summit of Beda Fell

St Sunday Crag

Along the undulating ridge of Beda Fell

The is The Nab, our descent route in a few hours' time

The head of Bannerdale
Stone from here was airlifted to Place Fell by helicopter to use in pitching the upper path, which was repaired last year as part of the Fix the Fells project

Heck Crag

Place Fell with newly repaired path

An unusual view of the north summit of Angletarn Pikes

The views are fabulous from here
Patterdale, with Brotherswater below ...

... Deepdale ...

... Glenridding ...

... and Dovedale

The next top on the round is Brock Crags

Caudale Moor

Beattie contemplates the view from the south top - Angle Tarn below

Beattie at the south top of Angletarn Pikes
The north top is two metres higher

Beattie at Brock Crags

Looking back to the twin summits of Angletarn Pikes

Threshthwaite Cove
The col on the horizon is Threshthwaite Mouth

Angle Tarn bathed in evening sunlight

Hayeswater seen from the rise up to Rest Dodd

The Knott seen from Rest Dodd
The well defined path is part of the Coast to Coast route from Patterdale to Shap

The summit cairn on Rest Dodd

The final top on the round - The Nab

The crags of Rampsgill Head

The boundary wall with the stile used as a crossing point

Looking back to Rest Dodd

Just a few stones mark the summit of The Nab

Rampsgill Head seen from The Nab

Across the valley is Beda Head with Great Mell Fell beyond

Martindale evening

Hallin Fell

It's a steep drop from the summit but a stalkers path on the right eases the descent

The sun lights up Steel Knotts

I was lucky enough to see this herd of red deer.  They are a couple of hundred yards away so are not disturbed.

Back at Martindale Church
Everyone else has departed.  This verge was packed with cars when I arrived!

Final view up the valley.  It's been a great walk!

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Photographs taken with a Fuji MX-2900 Zoom or a Canon EOS 20D
Copyright © 2009 Derek Cockell     All Rights Reserved