Mountain base camps
Inhabit the remote hostel of Black Sail in the Lakeland valley of Ennerdale for the perfect mountain escape
Close your eyes and picture the perfect base camp for a weekend in the hills. Is it a remote yet cosy stone-built bothy, in the heart of a national park, at the head of a wild and wooded valley, and within easy striking distance of some of the UK’s finest fells? If so then you’ve conjured up Black Sail, one of the YHA’s best-loved and mostcherished hostels, which has been providing warmth and shelter to fellwalkers for the best part of a century. This former shepherd’s hut is fairly basic by modern standards, but its unpretentious charm is all part of Black Sail’s allure, as is its enviable location.
The hut lies deep in Ennerdale, the wildest and most rugged of Cumbria’s valleys. In this remote and unspoilt valley, birch and oak woodland creeps up the sides of the valley from the shores of Ennerdale Water, before giving way to upland grassland and heath, topped by imposing crags. The surrounding fells include the mighty Pillar, noble Great Gable and
Wainwright’s personal favourite, Haystacks. With so many summits within easy reach, there is arguably nowhere better for peak-baggers to stay.
Perhaps that’s why this unassuming hostel has proved so enduringly popular ever since it first opened to the public way back in 1933. To cope with demand, various extensions and improvements have been made over the decades, culminating in an extensive refit in 2013. Today, there’s a welcoming common room with a wood-burning stove that doubles as a dining room and triples as a drying room, plus a simple guest’s kitchen and small singlesex dorm rooms, with just 16 bunks in total. Space is often at a premium, so be prepared to be convivial. Still, modern guests at YHA Black Sail can enjoy a hot shower, a hearty meal and even a bottle of beer, though there is still no Wi-Fi – which, for us, is a distinct positive. Who needs Instagram when you can step outside and enjoy a star-studded night sky?
Borrowdale to Black Sail, via Taylorgill Force and Great Gable
One of the joys of booking a night at Black Sail is planning which route you’ll take to get there. This option is one of the more adventurous alternatives among the many passes and paths that lead into Ennerdale. It offers walkers the chance to nego tiate the famous Gable Traverse, with views of slender Napes Needle, before climbing to the summit of Great Gable itself. Setting out from Seathwaite, climb alongside Taylorgill Force, tracing the course of the beck to Sty Head Tarn to reach the stretcher box at Sty Head. From here, take the path below the crags of Kern Knotts and Great Napes. A short detour will bring you to a fine viewpoint of the Needle, scene of the first recorded rock climb in the Lake District. Looking south-west there are spectacular views towards Wasdale Head. At the path junction, head uphill onto Westmorland Crags to reach Westmorland Cairn. Continue to the summit of Great Gable before descending to Windy Gap, the aptly named col between Great Gable and Green Gable. From here a handy path makes a beeline alongside Tongue Beck to the safety of Black Sail, where – hopefully – a hot supper, a cold beer and a cosy bunk await...
Black Sail to Bowness Knott, via Pillar, Little Scoat Fell and Steeple
Though its name conjures up a towering column of rock, Pillar is actually a broad, rugged mass of crags and buttresses, with a succession of enticing false summits that tease you into thinking you’ve reached its 892m height. When you eventually do gain the flat plateau that marks the summit, however, the views down Pillar’s fissured flanks to the wooded valley floor below are truly impressive. This hulking fell is an obvious target for any walker departing Black Sail Hut. But if you’re walking out from Ennerdale and back to the car park at Bowness Knott, it’s well worth continuing south-west from Pillar to Little Scoat Fell and Steeple, for what is arguably an even better panorama of the valley’s forest floor. Here, you’re right on the western fringes of the national park too, and if you turn west, you can gaze out over Cleator Moor towards the Cumbrian coast. You might be able to pick out Whitehaven and, further south, St Bee’s, the starting point of Wainwright’s famous Coast to Coast. From Steeple, descend via Long Crag to plunge back into wild Ennerdale. Stick to the southern banks of the River Liza before crossing Woundell Beck and the head of Ennerdale Water to return to Bowness Knott.
The Ennerdale Horseshoe
A classic round that is often completed in one day, the Ennerdale Horseshoe is a popular circuit that can be broken into two epic days, with one welcome night at Black Sail. Most walkers start from the western end of Ennerdale Water and follow the lake shore clockwise, before climbing the fellside to Herdus and the summit of Great Borne. From here, the long ridge of the Buttermere Fells goes over Starling Dodd to Red Pike, then on to High Stile and High Crag before descending to Scarth Gap. The pass here leads straight down to Black Sail, but the full horseshoe route scrambles up the western face of Haystacks and then climbs again to Brandreth. The path across Gillercomb Head leads to the summit of Green Gable, then on to Great Gable. Only then does it make its way down into Ennerdale and Black Sail. Day two involves a climb to Beck Head and then up past Rib End, on Kirk Fell’s steep eastern face. After bagging the twin summits, descend to Black Sail Pass and climb out of the other side of the col, over the top of Looking Stead to the trig and shelter atop Pillar. From here, turn west to Scoat Fell and Haycock. This slow, loping return connects the summits of Caw Fell, Lank Rigg, Whoap and Crag Fell before descending steeply to your start point.
Black Sail to Buttermere, via Haystacks, Seat, High Stile and Red Pike
Another superb walk-out from Black Sail, this route climbs the head of the Ennerdale valley alongside Loft Beck
before making for Blackbeck Tarn.
It then visits Innominate Tarn, where Wainwright’s ashes were famously scattered, and explores the delightful rocky outcrops of the summit of Haystacks. Though this is far from the loftiest perch in the vicinity, it offers terrific views of the surrounding fells. As Wainwright himself put it in Book Seven of his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland
Fells: “Haystacks stands unabashed and unashamed in the midst of a circle of such loftier fells, like a shaggy terrier in the company of foxhounds… but not one of this distinguished group of mountains around Ennerdale and Buttermere can show a greater variety and a more fascinating arrangement of interesting features”. As usual, Wainwright was bang on the money. From Haystacks, descend to Scarth Gap before climbing again to Seat, High Crag, High Stile and Red Pike – a succession of glorious fells with wonderful views of Ennerdale to the south and the shores of Buttermere to the north, as well as the fells of Robinson and Hindscarth. From Red Pike, drop down via The Saddle and Dodd to Bleaberry Tarn, before following the path alongside Sourmilk Gill down into the village of Buttermere.