Wetherlam, Lake District
If you’re looking to take your hillwalking to the next level, this variation on a Lakeland classic is a great test of your steep ground and navigation confidence.
This is one of those days which packs in so much more than the map suggests. The fun starts straightaway, ducking through scrub and ascending scree onto the Yewdale Fells.
These foothills between Coniston and Tilberthwaite are a popular location for navigation training, as you’ll discover! Then it’s on to the main attraction: Steel Edge. In technical terms, it’s probably slightly shy of a true Grade 1, but it’s steep and rocky enough to guarantee repeated use of hands. And while you’re undeniably high, exposure is low.
The summits of Wetherlam and Black Sails hold their own too, with incredible views across the Lake District. The lesser-used descent from Black Sails to Levers Water is a fitting continuation, via an unmapped path or simply making your own route down the ridge’s craggy spine – just enough to keep your navigation skills switched on.
Finally, the recent art and information installations in Coppermines Valley bring the industrial heritage of the area to life before you return to the village. Whether you’re a seasoned fell walker or not, this is a highly enjoyable day out.
1
SD303975 Turn left out of the main car park, then right, past the Co-op and Ruskin Museum. At a crossroads turn left towards YHA Coniston Holly How, then left on a waymarked public footpath just beyond it. A path then ascends fairly steeply up open hillside, to the bottom of a scree chute. Keep left for a pretty stable path all the way up. Beyond the scree, stick with the small stream to the top of the climb, and carry on in the same direction as the walked line drops down to a large, flat boggy area.
2
SD305994 You have options here (some may be more suited to wet conditions than others), but to follow our route keep right of the bog, hopping two small outlet streams, then cross the crags up ahead on their left-hand side. As you drop down to a small col of sorts, the public footpath continues ahead and down, but you’ll need the grassy line up through bracken just to your left, instead – generally north-west. This is where good navigation skills will be more accurate than any written description – essentially, you need to travel about 700m in a north-westerly direction, over a couple of craggy bands, noting that paths on some maps aren’t so clear on the ground. However you do it, you should end up hitting a very clearly defined path coming up from your left, above Crook Beck, in the mini valley at the bottom of Wetherlam’s southeastern face.
3
NY300002 Turn right on this path, and cross the beck just before you hit Tilberthwaite Gill. Turn right towards a footbridge for the opportunity to peer down the impressive ravine, before turning left just before the bridge, to begin the climb up Steel Edge. The only way is up, now: a faint path wiggles around rocky outcrops up the wide, grassy ridge, until the top third. A couple of clefts in the rock provide a taster of easy, non-exposed hands-on action combined with a few loose but fairly safe scree-covered sections of path. Once past this, keep on the walked line until you hit a more prominent path, and turn right on this as it leads you about 1km up Wetherlam’s southern arm, past the top of Hen Crag and Hen Tor, to reach the summit cairn and its spectacular 360˚ views of the Lake District fells and Morecambe Bay.
4
NY288011 Head left (west) from the summit then down to a small col, between
Wetherlam and Black
Sails. As you begin to climb out of the col, a grassy line splits away to the left, over a false summit, onto Black Sails. From the top, you’re heading due south down the ridge. A fairly easy path swings around the biggest crags, but you can deviate directly onto the rocky spine on the earlier section, for some route-finding and down-climbing practice. Around 1.7km from the top of Black Sails, you’ll be level with the dam of Levers Water just before a path cuts across the ridge in front of you. Turn right back towards the dam.
5
SD281991 Head left on the track down the valley. After 500m, continue straight ahead on the public footpath, behind the watermill, then right past a bronze boulder and Coppermines hostel, to continue down the track. After 700m cross a pretty stone bridge, then follow the beck all the way back down to the village, passing the Sun Inn. Cross the road bridge, then turn right for the car park, or left for the main street and Black Bull Inn.