Planning my mammoth Skiddaw hike with the dog in deep snow, I omitted Bakestall thinking that it was too much of a climb back up to Skiddaw to tag it on to such a big walk. To make this one more exciting, we’re doing it at night – with a wild camp.
The night walk-in from Peter House Farm
Route Map and GPX
A short but committing route up Bakestall from Peter House Farm, following the Cumbria Way past Whitewater Dash before climbing Birkett Edge to the summit. Easy going for most of its length, with a steep, boggy pull at the end.
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Route at a glance
- Distance: 7.64km (4.75 miles)
- Ascent: 474m (1555ft)
- Time: 3 hrs + enjoying the views
- Start: Peter House Farm, NY 24922 32331
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Map: OL4
- AW Book: The Northern Fells
Wainwrights
- Bakestall: 673m (2208ft)
Field notes
- Terrain: Leisurely going as far as Birkett Edge, then steep and boggy underfoot up to the summit
- Navigation: Fairly straightforward, following the Cumbria Way to Whitewater Dash before climbing Birkett Edge
- Parking: Only around five spaces on the country lane at Peter House Farm
Watch out for
The exposed climb up Birkett Edge and the drop-off along the falls track, worth respecting in poor light or after dark.
Why do it
A relatively easy Wainwright with lovely views over a part of the Lakes you’d never normally look at, and about as quiet as it gets.
Dog friendly?
Yes, no problems here for a dog used to fell walking, just watch them near the falls and the drop-off on the Birkett Edge climb.
Is this walk for you?
This suits anyone after a short, quiet Wainwright without heavy technical ground. It’s not a hard walk in daylight, but there’s enough climbing on Birkett Edge to feel like proper fell walking, and enough exposure up top that it deserves respect if you’re taking it on after dark, as I did.
My wild camp on Bakestall
I’ll be honest off the bat, I didn’t get many photos on this hike. It was dark for most of it so this is probably my best shot!
But I just wanted to get the route, and the GPX, in a post for you, and offer a bit of help getting there at all.
Directions to Peter House Farm
Despite my lack of photos until I do this again in the daylight, let me be useful in other ways.
There’s no way of knowing if you’re going to get parking when you get to the start point. There are just a few spaces for a few cars. Don’t park daft, there’s farm traffic passing here, if there’s no space have a plan B.
To get to Peter House Farm, take the A591 turn off the roundabout north of Keswick and continue along it past Dodd and it’s visitors’ centre, nearly 5 miles in total, until you reach the turn-off for the Orthwaite road. It’s signposted and there are buildings on the right-hand side.
Continue then for 1 ½ miles until you see the parking spaces on the right at a crossroads of the road you’re on and the farm track – left is Peter House Farm, right leads to Skiddaw House (was a YHA hostel), but today it leads you to Bakestall.
So, if the sun is illuminating your route, go through the gate and head for the hills.
It was a bit funny, the two of us pointing our head lamps into complete darkness up this track. Of course, we took a bearing to give us another notch of confidence that we were at the correct gate in the first place but it was utterly quiet, mid winter, not a soul out, no traffic and as you’ll probably see when you go here yourself, there’s actually not many people walking on this side of Skiddaw at the best of times.
Most people do Skiddaw from the direction I did last week, from Millbeck or parking at Latrigg, and if you’re doing the Uldale Fells (back o’ Skiddaw), I would suggest you go from Longlands, but that’s another post. The only Wainwrights that lean on Peter House Farm are the two Calvas and Bakestall.
Dark as hell, quiet as a mouse and creepy. I love it. It’s a right good laugh when you’re out like this with a friend, and then when you’re on your own it’s a great experience.
Avoid Dash Farm
After only a kilometre (we’re hill walking now), there’s a fork in the track. Left takes farming folk to Dash Farm, right takes the rest of us into the middle of nowhere.
Then after only a few hundred metres you come to a wall where Dead Beck (your only opportunity to pick up water) flows down off Broad End, turn left and you’ll soon see Whitewater Dash, the waterfalls.
The track seems quite thin in places as there’s a drop-off that could be into an abyss as far as I know in the darkness. Although you can hear the falls from the track, take your photo early because when you’re close to them you can’t actually see them! There were times along this route that we couldn’t even see one sign of human existence, not one light in any direction . We switched off our own and stopped for a minute to soak it all in.
Sat there in the pitch black listening to Whitewater Dash I couldn’t have thought of anything I’d rather be doing. I’ve been practising Transcendental Meditation for some years now, and it crossed my mind, sitting on that bank, how good it would be to lead a group of people up here, just to sit them down for twenty minutes and let them have this. Some things you can’t explain to someone, you just have to get them out here in the dark and let it do the talking.
Did I say that from Peter House Farm, up until now, you are on the Cumbria Way? Not for much longer. After you pass the falls, there’s a gate. Birkett Edge, our route to the top leaves the path here. At night, in pitch darkness, it gets a bit eerie now. No time for being scared, we had 27 contours to cross (270m in real terms, or 900ft in old money) before we could pitch. It’s bitterly cold with a freezing wind crossing this bank trying to push us over. My mate reckoned we were getting 70mph gusts up there. I’ve not got a wind meter yet so I couldn’t tell you either way, and I’m not the sort to put him right – but it wasn’t quite 70mph!
I camped on Great Mell Fell last night, and after taking a group out today, we were both knackered so the climb to the summit was hard-going. We reached the top and mentally ticked off another Wainwright, then quickly got our tents out to pitch. As I pulled my wet-from-last-night Hilleberg Akto out of its bag, I gave it a shake into the flow of the wind. It froze solid, horizontal!
Another couple of shakes broke the thin ice free and up it went sharpish.
You can see the ice on the inside of the tent before I even started the boil. In this weather, the first thing to do is set the bed up, get your legs in, then get the food on.
Jetboils lit, water boiled, food pouches full and then emptied, we settled in for the night.
Next morning we were up with the sun, rising in beautiful pinks over Foul Crag on Blencathra away to the east. No time to mess around though, on with the water for breakfast. One way to learn not to pack up while your Jetboil’s on inside your tent is to knock it over! I’m not sure what was most important at this temperature, losing my breakfast (no more water) or almost burning a hole in a £600 tent. The tent was saved, but not the breakfast. We struck camp at a relaxed pace, the wind finally dropped off, and walked back down to Peter House Farm to meet the Sunday group for Ullock Pike and down Carl Side. No breakfast, but a good excuse: I quickly suggested we go into Keswick for a Strawberry Duck first.
Keeping track of the 214
Bakestall’s an easy one to miss off a bigger Skiddaw round, and it’s exactly the kind of summit that slips through the net if you’re not ticking as you go.
The 214 Wainwrights Checkmap is built for exactly that: colour in each one as you bag it, and never leave a fell like this one for “another time” that never comes.
Bakestall’s the one that got away, and I’m glad I didn’t kill myself on the Skiddaw route because it was a great adventure. Next up, back o’ Skiddaw proper: the Udale Fells from Longlands, Great Cockup and Knott among them, a long solo day I did in deep snow with barely a soul in sight. That one’s got its own story to tell.
READ NEXT
The Uldale Fells: 7 Wainwrights at the back o’ skiddaw
Back o’ Skiddaw proper: a long solo day over the Udale Fells from Longlands, deep snow and barely a soul in sight.
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