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On the path up from Boot, looking back past the Eskdale Mill, through one of several gates, with sheep plus lamb eyeing us.
Once past the last cultivated field, with a prominent sycamore near its corner, we were on the bridleway that continues to Wasdale over an open moor, grey, bleak, with Slight Side dark under, or within, swirling cloud.
Entering open moorland, with Slight Side in cloud
After a few false horizons, making the walk seem longer than it was, we reached our first objective, Burnmoor Tarn, and walked around the lodge that still stands there. It’s as though someone has transported a suburban house and garden here. The tarn itself lies at 253 metres and is an impressive body of water, nestled within relatively gentle slopes that rise up to Scafell to the west and Illgill Head (above the Wasdale Screes) to the east, the craggier aspects of those mountains not visible (even on a cloudless day) from this spot. For us, Yewbarrow was the only hill we could see enough of, and then only fleetingly, to identify. The tarn’s outflow is at the north-east corner but it flows south to form the Whillan Beck mentioned earlier, which joins the River Esk.
Burnmoor Tarn and lodge
Of the fifty largest bodies of water in the Lake District there are 19 Tarns, 19 Waters, 6 Reservoirs, 4 Meres, 1 Moss and 1 Lake. There is, however, some arbitrariness about these designations. Many of them could easily have been given different names and nobody would have cause to object. The ten largest bodies of water named Tarn in the Lake District are (extracted from the Lakes link above):Some sources give slightly different figures for the area, which is understandable, as the area may vary. Seathwaite Tarn is, if anything, larger than Burnmoor Tarn and it certainly has a greater volume. However, the present Seathwaite Tarn was formed in 1907 by damming a smaller tarn to provide water for Barrow. So, Burnmoor Tarn is the largest natural tarn in the Lake District, or at least the largest natural body of water called a Tarn in the Lake District. Burnmoor Tarn is not exactly embraced by the surrounding high hills, as, say, Red Tarn below Helvellyn is. In fact, its open aspect rather diminishes its tarnliness.
“One of the most comprehensive collections of prehistoric burial monuments in England, Burnmoor is a little-known archaeological paradise. Occupying a moorland plateau below the imposing peak of Scafell Pike, this is a prehistoric burial ground on a scale unlike anywhere else in Cumbria. Burnmoor boasts up to 400 prehistoric cairns and five stone circles; for an enthusiast in British history it is certainly a sight to behold.”I am not expert enough to judge but Ibbotson seems to me to be a little over-enthusiastic. Judging by his photos, the stone circles aren’t up to much. I’m sure we’d never have found them if we had tried. As for the 400 cairns, he admits that most are just piles of stones cleared for farming – so we wouldn’t have thought much of them either. Still, it’s intriguing that 4,000 years ago people felt that this moor was a good place to settle. Perhaps they liked the view of Scafell.
The path down to Boot
If the sun thinks it can play games with us, by hiding all day while we’re slogging away under grey cloud and then turning up afterwards to beam upon us, it can think again. We had another walk, this time up Irton Pike. It’s only 229 metres high but that’s plenty high enough if you’ve already had the day’s walk. It’s a neat conical hill, garlanded in trees but open on top. From its top, Eskdale looked resplendently green, now in sunshine, but there was still cloud blanketing Wasdale and our hoped-for sight of the Isle of Man and the Scottish hills did not really materialise.
Eskdale from Irton Pike
Muncaster Fell (which we walked along in [227]) from Irton Pike
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© John Self, 2018-
Top photo: Rainbow over Kisdon in Swaledale; Bottom photo: Ullswater