Glaramara via Combe Gill • Walking the Cumbrian Mountains

Name of walk	Glaramara via Combe Gill
Date of walk	2012-10-09
Distance walked (miles)	6
Duration of walk	6 hours 0 minutes
Weather	Blue skies and clear
Peaks on walk	Glaramara

Four whole days of blue skies and sunshine! Brendan and I decided to climb Glaramara (2560ft) as the route up would give excellent panoramic views.

Hopefully the sunshine would have dried up all the boggy ground!

I decided on the interesting route via Combe Gill, Combe Door and Combe Head. Brendan always gets worried when I call a route “interesting”, as it usually means

he has to risk life and limb! I would also introduce him to the “interesting” rock climb up to Glaramara summit, then we would descend back down via Thornythwaite Fell.

Wainwright’s Southern Fells Book gives the route up and down. The route is about six miles from Seatoller.

On the way we stopped off at Derwent Water. A wonderfully clear panorama of High Spy, Maiden Moor, Cat Bells and Dodd. Not a cloud in the sky!

We parked at Seatoller. I am now a member of the National Trust so I don't need to pay £6.50 for parking! For the next 15 months all my walks will be from NT car parks I intend to make full use of my £39 investment! We walked back along the main road to Mountain View (white building),and took the lane directly opposite at Strands Bridge. Then after 70m turning left at a stile and gate and heading left up to the wall. There is free parking for quite a few cars just 30m further up the lane from the stile.

We walked the first section with a retired, anglisized frenchman on his first visit to Glaramara. He was living with his wife in Bury in the winter and the Pyrenees in the summer, working with their mountain rescue teams as a volunteer. He was doing Allen Crags too so chose the easier Thornythwaite Fell route up, but was very tempted to join us! Looking back to Castle Crag, Kings How and Grange Fell, with Skiddaw beyond.

Looking ahead the sun was directly in our eyes, so my photos were too glarey. This is one I took of Combe Gill on the way back down, but it shows our route up to Combe Door on the right of the ravine, plus a good view of the moraines. It is an excellent example of a hanging valley caused by glacial erosion. On the left below Doves Nest Crag is the biggest natural cave in the region, but no time for a detour today!

A two photo panoramic of the view back down the valley.

Towards the top of the ravine, rockfalls had made the ravine accessible. A rock blockage has made a small cave

Looking back down the ravine

It is a steep climb up. No wonder Wainwright says this route up takes an hour longer!

View from Combe Door.

Combe Head, our next climb, is to Brendan`s left.

Good reflections in the tarn.

Combe Head summit has a better viewpoint than Glaramara summit. Looking over Base Brown and Grey Knotts to Pillar on the left and High Stile and Fleetwith Pike to the right of the summit cairn.

View down the valley we just walked up. Thornythwaite Fell on the Left, Rosthwaite Fell on the right.

A helicopter flies overhead.

We head for Glaramara to the south.

We saw the first people we had seen since the start of the walk. This is the "interesting" route up to Glaramara summit! Just a little climb!

Combe Head summit just to the left, and a good view back down the valley

A four photo panorama. The views from Combe Head are extensive in all directions. This is just north

Rocky Glaramara summit.

View south to Harrison Stickle, and Pike o' Stickle, Wetherlam, Pike o' Blisco and Coniston Old Man.

We head down Thornythwaite Fell. Looking down into the valley and our route up.

Seatoller on the far left. Thornythwaite Fell is one of those fells that goes on and on.......and on! It took us over two hours to get down.

The waterfalls at the bottom of Combe Gill.

The Combe Gill ravine, Combe Door and Combe Head behind Brendan as we head back to the start.

Rowan berries.

We stopped at the Yew Tree Coffee Shop in Seatoller for a drink and shared some Malteser cake. All the cottages in Seatoller were originally built for the quarry men. The coffee Shop dates from 1628.