13 May 1974: Not mentioned in any guide book, this natural route to the summit seems to have been missed by all but the ravens
THE LAKE DISTRICT: Little-known delectable places in the hills should not be advertised lest they be overrun by the hordes. And this is hardly selfish for anybody can discover their own “secret” places. Several times I have revealed the location of hidden pools, natural rock gardens, or unfamiliar crags only to regret my ingenuousness later. One of the worst examples was my gift some time ago of a necklace of glorious pools in a little visited valley where, until recently, I had never seen a soul; at Easter the place looked like a section of Blackpool beach.
The other day three of us discovered a “new” and exhilarating way up a Lake District mountain but this time, apart from revealing that the ridge is in the Eastern fells, we will keep it to ourselves. I had spotted the craggy ridge a week earlier when, seen against the setting sun, it looked like something in the Dolomites – a bold staircase of dark, rock towers. In reality it was not so dramatic as this but at least it gave a thousand feet of scrambling and was protected, at its base, by a 10ft, high rock wall that only fell at the third attempt. Perhaps other people have been this way before but there were no scratches, footprints, orange peel nor beer can rings and the place, which is much more rewarding and far steeper than any of the Lake District edges, is not mentioned in any guide book. A good place, we thought, for retired rock climbers or adventurous youngsters – a natural route, straight to the summit, which, for some reason, seems to have been missed by all but the ravens. There is a tiny tarn near the top and here we ate our sandwiches, well content with the view of Pillar and Scafells and our new – or at least unfamiliar – staircase to the heights.