Start Point: Surprise View NT Car Park (NY 268 189)
Surprise View – Ashness Bridge – Falcon Crag – Bleaberry Fell – High Seat – High Tove – Watendlath – Surprise View
| Distance: | 12.5km |
| Total Ascent: | 508m |
| Time Taken: | 3 hours 30 minutes |
| Start Time: | 07:20 |
| Weather: | Sunny and lovely. 12ºC |
| Finlay’s Wainwright Count: | 49/214 (3 new this walk) |
I have been thinking about walking this central ridge of fells all summer given that it has been so dry and this area is notoriously boggy – so today was the day! I am so glad I made the effort to get up early, not only did we beat the crowds but the temperature and the views made for a perfect fell walking morning. I was looking forward to having a coffee and bite to eat at Watendlath Tea Room but alas it was shut so my hopes were dashed a little. We did sit by the tarn for a drink, a bite to eat and a good old Bonio.
The heather is in bloom now (already!) and that is always a joy to see for the short period. Alongside the Heather, today’s plant was Bog Asphodel – I seem to be taking a keen interest in the fell flora at the moment!
Behind the scenes, I’ve been making a few improvements to StridingEdge, including tidying up the walk galleries and adding direct links from walk routes to the relevant fell pages.
The linked walk records now reach back to the start of Finlay’s Wainwright journey — we’ll call that AF, or Anno Finlay! — making it much easier to look at individual fells and see the different routes we’ve taken over them. The same links are repeated on the Walking Diary page, so you can also jump straight to individual fell pages from there. Links are shown in blue.
Don’t forget you can also follow Finlay on the Fells on Instagram and Facebook, where we post live updates from the walks as well as more from Finlay’s Wainwright journey.
📷 Instagram — Finlay on the Fells
📘 Facebook — Finlay on the Fells
And the original StridingEdge Instagram and Facebook pages are still going too, with live updates from walks, photographs and new additions to the website.
📷 Instagram — StridingEdge
📘 Facebook — StridingEdge
Early morning at Surprise View, there was no-one around this early. 
Ashness Bridge was also quiet, we were all alone. 
Climbing a bit higher, the bracken is head height now looking across Derwent water with Bass Lake coming into view. What a lovely path this is, nicely graded and fabulous views. The sun was rising slowly but the temperature was perfect for walking and the scenery was ever improving. 
The Ling (Heather) is flowering now and the fells have taken on the familiar purple hue, here looking back into the Jaws of Borrowdale. 
Looking good in all directions. 
Keswick and Skiddaw. 
Finlay strikes a pose! 
Climbing above Cat Gill with Walla Crag middle right. 
Lovely Ling on Bleaberry Fell. 
Out of the bracken, into the heather. 
Blencathra appears over the ridge as we climb higher. 
Now climbing up onto the central ridge, there was a bit of a breeze and the sun was glorious. 
Bleaberry Fell ahead. 
The view from the large sheepfold on Bleaberry Fell. 
Looking across to the giants – the Scafells, Lingmell and Great Gable. 
More heather, more Skiddaw! 
The large North-West cairn on Bleaberry Fell. 
Bleaberry Fell summit. 
Wainwright #47 for Finlay. 
High Seat. I thought at this time of year the crossing from Bleaberry Fell to High Seat would be pretty well dry, especially given the amount of hot, sunny weather we have had plus there has been no rain for weeks. Well, not quite – it was still largely boggy across that way but I guess it won’t really ever get fully dry. 
A fabulous view to the south-west from High Seat. 
Helvellyn was capped with cloud this morning and there is a glimpse of Thirlmere below as we set of for High Tove. 
Crossing from High Seat to High Tove (The Pewits on the map) the path is now largely paved with large flagstones. I must say I thought it was quite good and besides saving erosion of the land etc it saved a lot of squelching over boggy ground! 
High Tove summit. 
Descending to Watendlath and what a great view over the farm and tarn. I was looking forward to getting in the tearoom but was disappointed to find it was closed! We had a wander around when we got down and did manage a sit by the tarn in the sunshine for a while. It was absolutely lovely down at the tarn and really warming up whilst we were there. 
Finlay has a final cooling dip in Watendlath Beck, phew it was boiling walking along this path! 
Back at the start and end of the walk and Surprise View has more colour involved now…and about 100 more people.
Unfortunately, I always look upon Watendlath with a mixture of despair and mirth, ever since I was persuaded by my father to cycle up there before the age of the rugged mountain bike.
I had only a 3-speed-gear bicycle and the chain kept falling off so that I arrived at the beauty spot hot, flustered, annoyed and covered in chain oil.
Consequently, subsequent suggestions to visit this place, instigated by my companions, have always elicited from me a whining, childish despair to their utter bemusement.
One thing I can say though, back then the tearoom was open.
Haha, back in the good old days! That would be a good old climb on a 3 gear bike, at least you had a well deserved treat at the cafe to look forward to 🙂 (unlike me, who’s hopes were dashed after 3 hours of longing)!
That ascent to Watendlath, would have been about 1973 or 1974 when I was 10/11 years old. Even my ‘Tour de France’ fanatic father couldn’t do the whole ascent on his 10 speed Raleigh. When I caught up with him at the top, ramblers were cheering him, but he later admitted that he only cycled the very last climb because he couldn’t resist the deception. We did a week in The Lakes every September during Bolton Wakes Week. My father built a trailer out of aluminium and made a bracket to fix our bikes to. Then the whole family would cycle to each mountain, my father hiding the bikes in a hedge all chained together and off we’d climb. I tell you, there’s nothing like it – cycling home after a hard day’s ascent and descent. But, I was young and supple then. Great memories, though. I remember going with him to test drive the new trailer, because he wanted someone to keep an eye on it, but when we turned round a bend in the road, the wheel axle broke away………….and all hell broke loose, ha ha ha! Oh, my father, what a great man.
Good old dad eh?! What a story, I feel exhausted just reading that 🙂 No lazing around for you when you were young, that’s for sure! Happy days indeed…
A smashing walk, Sean. The flagged path between High Seat and High Tove (or High Tove and High Seat if you walk the other way) is excellent. The only downside is that you still have to bog-hop between Bleaberry Fell and High Seat (or vice versa) and that area is a Site of Conservation Interest. I had understood that they (LDNPA and Fix the Fells etc) were going to flag that too but nothing has happened and it must be 3 years or more since they flagged the path between High Seat and High Tove.
Hint-Hint is they’re reading this.
Hi Rod, it would be great if they flagged the lot, I have some bad mems of years gone by up to my knees over that way! I actually got talking to someone just before that section who had walked in the opposite direction and was saying how they had ruined it (although he had never walked that way before) so I guess it depends on your point of view! Sean