Day 15. LD30.Great Gable and Neighbours. 5 Wainwrights. 5 Nuttalls.

Day 15. LD30.Great Gable and Neighbours. 5 Wainwrights. 5 Nuttalls.

Wainwrights & Nuttalls: Grey Knott 697m, Brandreth 715m, Great Gable 899m, Green Gable 801m and Base Brown 646m.

Parking is at Seathwaite where there is free roadside parking and parking in the field at the farm there (price not known). It is a busy area for a good reason so get there early.
Head to the farm and turn right under the covered path on the right that leads to the wooden bridge and cross the river. Now I was following a Stuart Marshal route (no 30) but decided to head up to the right of Sourmilk Gill instead of Newhouse Gill as per his route. The main reason being I have been using Jomo map apps and found them to be very good and have more paths marked on them than OS maps. In this instance there was no path marked on the OS map going up either way but on the Jomo map it showed a path running alongside Sourmilk. So I decided to test the app. Anyway…off we go!
Yes there is a path, not brilliant and it is indistinct in places but a path that you can follow nonetheless. The only thing was at the top of the Gill, which was a steep climb, there is a fence/wall to negotiate. After this you basically cross the water table on okay to faint paths and head for the NE tip of Grey Knotts. There are two other fences to negotiate but if you follow the gpx track you will be able to cross them either on a style (first one) or use a large rock (2nd one). At the foot of GK there is an obvious steep rocky gully (near where there is an unexplained gps track spike?). Head up the rocky gully until you come out at the top where you come to a style at the junction between two fences. Hop over and follow the now undulating footpath which takes you to the cairned top of GK. This first hour and a half is actually hard work!
Next head South over good footpaths to the obvious cairned top of Brandreth using the nearby fence on the left as a guide if the visibility is not so good. The views of Great Gable are fantastic from here, along with every other direction too. Now you head South again on a good track until you see a smaller path leaving you on the right hand side. This is a great track that takes you right under the North face of Gable Crag and brings you out on the Western flank of Great Gable just above Beck Head. Here you ascend the steep rocky flank on a good trail all the way to the top boulder field and come out on the basically unmarked summit of GG bar for a memorial plaque. The views are great on a clear day. Down onto Wastwater, Kirk Fell, over to Scafell, it is all simply superb.
The home leg starts by heading towards an obvious nearby cairn going down slightly and then head off down in a Northerly direction on a trail that soon joins another one that borders the shoulder of Gable Crag. This drops down steeply all the way down to Windy Gap before ascending gently to the top of Green Gable. Again the views everywhere are stunning. Now is the longish undulating leg to Base Brown before you drop down to the top of Hanging Stone. Now there is a path marked on the map for most of the way down HS but I basically followed what was obvious on the ground. There is a path but it runs out near the bottom where I had a bit of light scrambling and bracken bashing session.
Eventually you will get to an obvious stone wall where you need to head North for a few hundred meters before you meet the main path coming up from Seathwaite. Simply follow this path (steep and rocky in places) all the way back down to the start point. A good day in the mountain office!

Parking: Roadside parking and farmers field at start point.
Route: Mostly good rocky trails or good paths, sometime indistinct paths/rough ground and some fences to negotiate. Quite a few steep ascents in particularly up Grey Knotts and Great Gable. Some steep decent too, down Great Gable and Base Brown/Hanging Stone. Very very scenic. Coming off GG in bad weather is testing so be careful if you pick a bad weather day.
Route Statistics: 10.4kms with 855m of height gain done in a rather sedate all in time of six hours. Don’t rush a blue sky day on Great Gable!