Walk

Walk : Mungrisedale Common (2,068 ft) from Mosedale via The Cumbria Way

Date : 24^th July 2021

Weather : Dry, sunny, passing cloud @ 17°C

Distance : 6.5 miles round trip

Time Taken : 2 hours to summit

Which part of Lakeland is this walk situated

Terrain Overview

Overview

The “infamous” Mungrisdale Common. Wainwright hardly had a good word for it in Book 5 … There is little point providing diagrams of ascent that will

never be used” … True – its hard to believe it to be a mountain per say, but after an aborted attempt to complete it about 2 years ago due to the inability

to cross the River Caldew, we took advantage of the better weather and lower river levels to tick off the list. My perception has changed now it’s a

charming and pleasant short walk which with similar weather conditions I would have no objections to visiting again

From the A66 towards Keswick turn right at the signs marked for Mungrisedale and then having passed through the hamlet take a left turn

signposted towards Swineside to pick up The Cumbria Way

The extent of the road that is suitable vehicles comes to an obvious end as it turns from tarmac to stone. There is free parking at various

wider points

As we set off west down the track it soon becomes obvious that today was a fell running endurance event. It was the “Old Crown Round”

which is a 36km 2200m ascent race that has checkpoints on the summits of Carrock Fell, Blencathra, Skiddaw House, Knott and High Pike.

These guys came bombing past us as we set off on the walk

The path passes the ford that is normally reserved for farm vehicles

After a short while the views start to open up – here Skiddaw Lesser and Little Man

The first view of the Eastern flank of Mungrisedale Common with Foule Crag on Blencathra peeping up from behind

An obvious path to the left drops down to run parallel with the River Caldew

Its just a case of passing through the ferns and tufted grass to find a suitable crossing point. Its unlikely the river will be so low that you could

cross it without getting your boot totally immersed, so we just changed for flip flops to do the crossing

Sue crossing the River Caldew and another runner just bombing through it

After the crossing make your way across to the grassy shelf on the left hand side and at this point you will pick up a grassy path that climbs

straight up the central breast of the eastern side of the fell

The path was made all the more easy to follow by the hoards of runners that were flattening it for us on their way

Looking towards Great Calva in the foreground and Skiddaw in the background from the path

Looking back to the Cumbria Way

We are now approaching the ridgeline and the path becomes less steep

Looking across to Great Calva

At the crest of the ridgeline there are a number of paths on the right that lead towards the pile of stones that form the summit

At the summit and the completion of all of the Northern Fells in Book 5 for both of us – Click here for a 360 degree view … https://youtu.be/VCSq_Cnmz2Q

The pile of stones that has been declared the highest point of the fell

This lady … well in to her 70`s was competing in the Old Crown Round and insisted that she wasn’t in last position – and that was later

confirmed when we saw someone probably half her age come limping past about 20 minutes later !!! – Much respect

The Back o` Skiddaw

Looking to Great Calva from the summit

Close up of Foule Crag on Blencathra

A very hazy glimpse of Derwent Water from the summit

A close up of Bowscale Fell