Carlisle & District Rambling & Fellwalking Club

Walk & Event Reports

Sunday 8th January 2017

A Walk

Easedale Tarn - Tarn Crag

8 Miles Grade 2

Leader: Peter Flynn

Report by Peter Flynn

Photos by Peter Flynn & Pete Rutland

Had it not been for the eagle eye of Lauren,  spotting a lonely,  isolated crag with a cairn on the top,  we could well have walked right past Tarn Crag.  It was that sort of day – very misty from the word “go” but by no means wet or particularly cold.  The early part of the walk,  up to Easedale Tarn was lovely and we passed quite a few people going to or returning from the tarn,  but once we had left it and followed the stream to a bit of a scramble up the edge of Eagle Crag,  we saw no one – with one major exception.  We came across a party of about 20 or so from Barrow Ramblers and after a very interesting conversation with them,  we climbed up to the charmingly named Belles Knott and then the path onto Codale Tarn.  This is really beautiful in clear weather – I attach a photo of it from a recce last Thursday.  From there it was up to the ridge of which Tarn Crag was the highest point.  We had lunch just before reaching our title destination and were tantalized with a brief glimpse of blue sky above us,  but at no stage did it clear suffieciently for any decent views.  However,  some of the less grown up members of the group did introduce us to their own invention – a game of sheep shit spearing using walking poles.  One totally anonymous retired police dog handler excelled so much at this we suspected he had had a lot of previous practice.  Maybe the Metropolitan Police has a section devoted to this activity???  After the entertainment it was a matter of following a series of tracks that twisted and turned but eventually made it down to the valley where we bumped into our first other person – John McKay who was recuperating from his solo walk with a fag and a cuppa and came back with us to Grasmere.  A warm welcome today to Jim on his first walk.  He is an experienced walker and climber,  knows the fells well,  and I do hope you enjoyed today’s expedition enough to give it all another try.  Back to the Barrow Ramblers;  one gentleman mentioned that in the past their group had a combined outing with our own followed by a meal.  Sounds an interesting variation on the normal programme?

Peter