Starting point: Bowness Point NT car park, Ennerdale  (NY 109153)  Distance: 8.02 miles  Ascent: 2692'

Great Borne and Starling Dodd are the two fells that lay on the north-western shores of Ennerdale Water.  Apparently, AW did not explore the Rake Beck line of ascent that is used on this walk, neither did he appear to know of the existence of the goose bield, an old fox trap.  Another surprise is that he did not detail any ascent routes of Starling Dodd from the Ennerdale valley, when, clearly, the Gillflinter Beck approach is a perfectly feasible route.  He dismissed ascents from the Ennerdale valley with the words,

'Direct access from Ennerdale may now be regarded as prohibited, the lower slope being entirely planted and fenced for forestry purposes.' Starling Dodd p.4

This is an astonishing statement given that he had already described a route from the Ennerdale valley up to the summit of Red Pike using the lower reaches of Gillflinter Beck.  To continue up the beck using my descent route is a natural line of ascent from Ennerdale.

I suspect that the truth is that Wainwright simply ran out of time in 1965 to explore this route from the Ennerdale side given that he was using the bus service to reach these more remote parts of the western Lakes.  He hinted at this in his Personal notes in conclusion to Book 7.  He wrote,

'When I came down from Starling Dodd on the 10th of September 1965 I had just succeeded in obtaining a complete view from the summit before the mist descended, after laying patient siege to it through several wet weekends, and in so doing I had concluded the field-work for my last book with only one week left before the end of the summer bus service put the fell out of reach.'  Book 7 Some personal notes in conclusion

He was even more explicit in Fellwalking with a camera.  He wrote,

'Starling Dodd ... was the final objective in my thirteen-year exploration of the Lakeland fells, and I remember the occasion very well.  It was the last day of the summer bus service to Buttermere and unless I could get to the top that day and make notes of the view, the completion of my work would have to be delayed until the following spring.' Fellwalking with a camera

Whatever the reason, the Rake Beck ascent of Great Borne is an interesting route to explore and leads up on to the summit ridge where there are grand views of Ennerdale and the north western fells across Crummock Water.

Route: Park at Bowness Point NT car park and walk back up the road to a stile at the edge of woodland and climb up to take in a visit to Bowness Knott, if desired.  There is a fine view of the lake from here, but access is difficult since trres have been felled in this area making the going quite rough as there are felled braches of the trees still strewn over a wide tract of land and former paths to the top have now been obliterated!  Passing over Brown How, ascend Rake Beck passing the goose bield on to the plateau and visit the cairn at the top of Herdus.  Cross the plateau walking north-west to find  a clear path leading up to the summit of Great Borne.  From here descend to a hollow brfore rising with a fence to the top of Gale Fell at an angle in the fence.  Continue to the summit of Starling Dodd with it's 'space age' cairn of rusty fence posts before crossing Little Dodd and descending into Ennerdale using Gillflinter Beck.  Return to the car park along the forest road.

Ennerdale Water seen from Bowness Knott

Looking towards Great Borne and the Rake Beck ascent seen to the right in this shot

Bowness Knott from Brown How.  The original path can be seen slanting up from the right, but then is lost in the debris of felled trees.

The goose bield is an ancient fox trap.  A dead goose was hung on a pole over the trap and the fox was caught as it tried to retrieve the 'prize'!

Moody Ennerdale as seen on the ascent of Rake Beck

Close-up of the head of Ennerdale with Great Gable prominent.  Green Gable to the left of Great Gable.

Beattie at the summit cairn on Herdus

The summit of Great Borne

Pillar and Pillar Rock seen from the summit of Great Borne

Starling Dodd (lit) is the next summit along the ridge

Looking back to Great Borne from Gale Fell

Grasmoor

Hen Comb seen from Starling Dodd.  The lake seen is Loweswater.

'Any old iron' on Starling Dodd

There is a fine view of Ennerdale Water from the summit

The ridge leading up to Steeple is a dramatic sight across the valley

Whiteless Pike in full sun has a classical mountain shape

Crummock Water below

The cairn on Little Dodd is a pale imitation of its big brother!

The descent into Ennerdale beside Gillflinter Beck

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Comment from Gary
Great set of photos Derek, we've still to explore this part of the Lakes so it's nice to see your photos. It's whetted our appetite for what's to come! Thanks, Gary ...  This is a walk to put on your 'to do' list, Gary.  derek
 

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