Robinson
Hindscarth
Newlands
On Tuesday September 7th 2010, Elaine and I decided to walk up onto Robinson and Hindscarth, two of the fells in the Newlands valley near Keswick.
As we were camping in Keswick and we had already walked up two fells, two of Alfred Wainwright’s 214 fells, we were in the mood for a big walk. After spending the night in a tent and being battered by strong winds and heavy rain, blue skies were promised so off we went to the Newlands valley where we were not disappointed.
Parking near the lovely white church at Little Town, we started the walk by going up the track that leads through a crooked wooden gate through which the valley and view of the fells opens up like the entrance to a wonderful dream. Here we got our first real views of Robinson and Hindscarth, at first these two dark giants looked so high and almost scary as they stared down on us two tiny walkers, but like the Hobbit and his companion we went on with courage and a refusal to be intimidated no matter what was thrown on our path ahead.
The first accent was the worst of the day, this steep grassy slope onto High Snab Bank showed no pity on our poor legs, and the bandanna I had placed on my head could be wrung out when we finally reached the top with much relief. From here a clear path along the ridge of the bank lead us to Robinson crags where we took our first deserved rest, and from where we got our first sight of the dam in below us in the valley. The water looked very uninviting as it appeared brown and almost black in places, probably due to large peat deposits, you certainly wouldn’t want to fill your drinking bottles or cool your head off in that water.
The tarn
The path then seemed to get lost; in places it seemed to have been swallowed up by the rocky outcrops on Robinson crags, before appearing again further up. Some of this rocky section was quite treacherous with steep falls from very narrow ledges and wet rocks smoothed by thousands of boots over the years that had to be stepped on to reach the next ledge. This however was soon behind us as the terrain improved and the summit drew ever closer, a cairn could be seen on the horizon which looked like the summit, only to be reached where the next cairn on the next horizon could be seen and so it went on.
Robinson summit
Eventually we came to a flatter area that resembled a moonscape, a stony open plateau with two little tarns and from where the real summit could be seen, a small shelter like cairn that was a welcome relief for us both after two hours hard walking.
The view from Robinson
The view that opened up before us was breathtaking, we could see down into the Buttermere valley, fells like Rannerdale knotts, Red Pike and Hight Stile could be seen clearly as could Buttermere, Crummock water and Loweswater.
Flying the flag
Me on Robinson
Sweeping round from west to north the huge dome of Grassmoor, Grizedale pike, Causey pike and Skiddaw were all clearly visible. Heavy cloud just a mile or two to the south of us made the view fells like the Scafell range and Langdales difficult to see, Green Gable and Great Gable were both very clear though as was Kirk fell and Pillar.
Fleetwith Pike
If it wasn’t for the cold wind and the fact that I had left my fleece back in the car, I would have liked to have stayed there for hours, but on we had to go, taking the path south and on to Little Dale Edge. To finally walk down hill was lovely and the view of Honister pass snaking its way through the valley far below, flanked by one of my favourite fells, Fleetwith pike, was outstanding. We could however see our next and final steep accent up towards Dale Head where we took the path north for our final summit of Hindscarth.
The view south from Hindscarth
Dale Head and Honester Pass
Hindscarth
What a wonderful feeling when we sat in the next low shelter that is the summit of Hindscarth, where we could see the whole path with which we had reached Robinson from High Snab Bank something like 4 hours previously. We could also see the long winding path that led through dark patches of Heather on what seemed a never ending path back to the start, at least it was all down hill from here.
This path was very nice though, easy and muddy in places, with lovely views of Dale Head, Cat Bells and Maiden Moor, and Ravens flying above us. All was going well until we reached 'Scope End', where the path became rocky once again with steep steps down, not very good for short legs like ours. We were soon down though and the walk back through a farm and a farm track took us back to the Church from where we began.
Looking north from Hindscarth
Hindscarth summit
Looking back up the valley, we reflected on what we had just done, and bearing in mind this was her first ever big climb, Elaine was amazed at what she had just achieved as Robinson and Hindscarth looked so big, dark and intrusive against the bright skyline. We both felt a great sense of achievement and for me it meant two more pins in the large map that hangs on my wall at home, pins which indicate all the Wainwrights I have done so far.
Newlands church
