Surprise view image

A love of the Lakes

One family's Lakeland Fell Walking blog
by Rob Marsh


"Many are those who have fallen under the spell of Lakeland, and many are they who have been moved to tell of their affection in story, verse and icture"

... A. Wainwright

The Beacon Tarn Circuit

Walk          : The Beacon Tarn Circuit: Beacon Fell (836ft), Wool Knott  (730ft), Yew Bank (678ft)
                    from Brown Howe Car Park

Date          : 13th October

Weather    : Overcast, dry @ 9 degrees, no wind

Distance    : 5 miles round trip

Difficulty     :  2
(1=easy 5 = hard) 
Terrain Overview

Terrain image

Walk Overview

A Jeckyll and Hyde kind of walk as we were to discover. Good paths from the
Car park at Brown Howe (£8.50 for 24 hours) to Beacon Fell, then from Beacon
Fell to Wool Knott, however from Wool Knott to Yew Bank was pathless, confusing,
VERY boggy in parts and for this time of year a large amount of bracken to
hack your way through. Knowing what we now we would have treated
Yew Bank as a separate short walk and started from maybe Troughton Hall
as there seemed to be some kind of discernable path when we finally did
hack our way to the summit which included a scramble up Hodge Wife Gill

The car park at Brown Howe


The car park at Brown Howe just off the A5084 (£8.50 = 24 hours)


Exiting the car park


Exit the car park and turn left

Heading towards the start of the walk


The main road is only followed for about 100 yards or so, look out for a
tarmac track that emerges on the right

Aiming for the ridgeline


The tarmac track meanders its way towards the start of the climb


The track leading left to start the climb


After roughly half a mile look out on the left for a grassy track
that starts to climb gently towards the ridge line

Looking back towards Caw


Looking back towards Caw from the path

Take the right fork in the path


Further along and the path splits, take the right hand fork and aim for
the scree path (top right)


Approaching the scree path


Approaching the scree path

The scree gives way to grass


The scree path gives way to grass as it swings left to approach the summit of Beacon Fell

The summit cairn appears on the left


The summit cairn appears on the left perched on a small ledge

On top of the ledge


Just walk slightly past the cairn and take a small step up
on to the ledge

Sue on the summit of Beacon Fell


Sue on the summit of Beacon Fell. Click here for a 360 degree view

Setting off for Wool Knott


From the summit head off South along a grass track and pretty soon Beacon Tarn
comes in to view with Wool Knott in the background (circled)

The path descends stepply initially


The path descends stepply initially as it heads towards the Eastern side of the Tarn

Approaching Beacon Tarn


Approaching Beacon Tarn, the path up to Wool Knott is seen
heading up towards the Col

Looking back to Beacon Fell


We are now at the Southern end of the Tarn and looking back to Beacon Fell

The path towards Wool Knott


Right at the Southernmost tip of the Tarn look out for a grassy trod
that climbs up towards the col. Wool Knott is on the left

Approaching the summit


Roughly at the top of the Col, look out for a very faint path on the left
that leads directly to the summit

Approaching the summit cairn on Wool Knott


Approaching the summit cairn on Wool Knott and quite appropriately
there are some sheep on it (Hence the name ?)

The summit cairn on Wool Knott


The summit cairn on Wool Knott. Click here for a 360 degree view

Heading off for Yew Bank


Looking North and the track to Yew Bank skirts the left hand side of the Tarn
and heads towards the base of Beacon Fell


The path down the side of Beacon Tarn


The path down the side of Beacon Tarn, easy to follow but gives you a false
sense of security for what follows on - it has to be said


Passing Beacon Tarn


Passing Beacon Tarn

The path carries on past the Tarn


The path carries on past the Tarn and from here becomes confusing

Follow the path through the areas of high ground


Follow the path through the middle of the areas of high ground

The path swings left


The path swings left and hugs the side of the higher ground on the left

The path swings right


The path swings right and heads for a large area of dense bracken

Yew Bank comes in to view


Ok - so at this point you are now in the lap of the God`s (and your navigation device)
Yew Bank is circled (centre of shot) - how you get there is entirely up to you.
I wont pretend - this is the toughest part of the walk


Wading through the bracken


After wading through most of the bracken and a perilous scramble
up Hodge Wife Gill, some sense of the direction of travel can be seen

The path to the summit


The path to the summit initially passes the "ancient cairn"


The ancient Cairn


The ancient Cairn and the now true summit behind

The summit cairn on Yew Bank


The very welcome sight of the summit cairn on Yew Bank

Sue on the summit of Yew Bank

Sue on the summit of Yew Bank. Click here for a 360 degree view


Looking towards Caw from the summit

Looking towards Caw from the summit. Note the wide grass path on the left
It is my belief that if you treated this walk separately, then this track would lead
to the road below and spare you the hell of fighting your way through the bracken