Walk 41a6.5m / 1700ft ascentTime taken 280 minutes155. Sergeant's Crag LDW-141 1873'156. Eagle Crag LDW-164 1722ft'Car assisted - lunch at Rosthwaite - then:Walk 41b 2.5m / 650ft ascentTime taken: 107 minutes157. Castle Crag LDW-214 978'

Route taken on Walk 40a by Phil G4OBK, Judy (XYL) and friend Geoff on 17th February 2011

The second day of our February Keswick based short break and we decided to return to a section of the Coast to Coast Walk that we visited the previous May. We parked on Stonethwaite Road at grid reference 260139 where there is room for several cars. Then it was a straightforward walk up Greenup Gill on what was a misty morning. We left the car at 9.30am and reached the summit of Sergeant's Crag at 11.20am.  The bridleway up Greenup Gill is well maintained and goes over the top of Greenup Edge into Grasmere. After leaving the bridleway the route up to LDW-141 was unclear and we chose grid reference 281117 at which to make a crossing of the Gill. There was a fair amount of water coming down and this causes some trepidation for those not so brave (or foolhardy) as I am.  Without going into too much detail we did make it across as this photograph of Judy and Geoff not looking so happy shows - it was that kind of day.

Looking down Greenup Gill into Borrowdale

Without a path we just followed the GPS up until we reached some crags and then headed west to reach the summit of Sergeant's Crag LDW-141.  Another unmarked path comes across to the summit from High Raise LDW-056 and the Langdale Pikes. This path looked well used compared with the way which we came up where there was no apparent path to follow. 

Using the usual set up of a Yaesu VX-170 with 5 watts to a rucksack special vertical antenna the first station logged out of nine contacts was Mark MM1MPB in Annan. With Greenup Edge, High Raise and the Langdale Pikes to the south screening off signals, the remaining stations were all in North West Cumbria, with G4WHA/M in Penrith proving the exception.  We stayed 30 minutes before giving up and made for Eagle Crag LDW-164 which was a 20 minute walk. 

Eagle Crag was slightly better signal wise to the south despite it being of lesser height to Sergeant's Crag, and the first station logged was Colin, G4UXH in Milnthorpe.  The best contact was with Derek 2E0MIX who was on a determined campaign to be the leading 2011 Activator. Derek was on Green Gable LDW-034 and we completed a summit to summit contact.  11 contacts were logged and this tiame G0TDM also in Penrith made it.  It is possible to go straight down from Eagle Crag over Bleak How, however we knew this way was very steep, having surveyed it on the way up the Gill so we decided to return the way we came rather than take a risk.  

The pile of loose slate on the way up to Castle Crag LDW-214

The plan now was to return back to the car, drive to Rosthwaite and find a pub for some lunch before climbing Castle  Crag LDW-214 in the afternoon.  The Scafell Inn was not serving lunches so we discovered The Flock Inn Tearoom in the village - a great find, with limited car parking available arouond the back. Geoff tucked into the last (huge) homemade cornish, whilst we had proper Welsh Rarebit. The cakes were good as well, and the service friendly. They also serve pint mugs of tea - what more could you want after a misty morning on the fells?

Suitably nourished we relocated the car on to the National Trust Car Park at 257148 (Toilets available) and set off on the long distance walk known as The Allerdale Ramble. At 252154 a  distinct path heads uphill to Castle Crag - the only Wainwright which is less than 1000 feet.  The walk from the car park took us 70 minutes and was steep in places around the area where there is a large slate spoil heap which needs to be climbed.



War Memorial on Castle Crag © Produced under ccl Shaun Ferguson Geograph

The summit has a picnic area on top and a war memorial set into rock as this picture shows. Only 3 contacts were made from the summit with G4UXH in Milnthorpe (Surprisingly), MM1MPB in Annan  and G1OAE near Workington.  We were back in Rosthwaite before 5.00pm and heading back to our Hotel in Keswick to complete  Day Two of our February trip with three more Wainwrights in the bag.

Our route up Castle Crag LDW-214 from Rosthwaite