Mockerkin Mob ‘A’ walk Sunday 22 April Seathwaite

I spent an anxious few days before the walk wondering what the weather would be like: the forecast was for sunny spells and cloud with rain falling as snow on high ground – could mean anything! This was going to be the third attempt at the walk as the previous two times it had been cancelled because of bad weather: I could not afford for it to be cancelled again!

Fortunately the weather looked OK on Sunday: we all had our rainproofs with us but only needed them for a very brief time on the way back. Otherwise it was a mixture of high cloud and sunny spells, and snow could be seen on Pike: there was very little wind.

There were ten of us and one dog on the walk; Les, Loes, Graham, Irene, Ted, Evelyn, Rosamund, Kathryn, Rosanne, a new walker with the group, and myself, Joan.

Seathwaite was busy as usual with people heading for the high , one small group were trailing flags of St George’s Cross from their rucsacs to wave on the top of in celebration of St George’s Day (23rd.) We had no such plans for .

We walked through the farm and up the valley to cross Stockley Bridge. We then turned immediately left and followed the track steadily upwards by Grains Gill and Ruddy Gill with the rocky face of ahead of us. As the path levelled off we crossed the ford and turned right to Sprinkling Tarn. After the tarn outflow we left the main path and headed right again along the side of the tarn and across the summit plateau to reach the slightly lower, but more generally recognised, south summit of Seathwaite Fell with its superb views over the valley. At this point we had lunch on some very accommodating rock ledges with clear views towards Great End, , Scafell Pike and .

After lunch we retraced our steps back to the main path and headed for the stretcher box at Styhead Tarn keeping a careful eye on Kathryn in case she tried to bear left towards the Corridor route! We then followed Styhead Gill back to Stockley Bridge and our return to Seathwaite.

It was third time lucky for a very enjoyable walk!

Joan Warren