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About Beda Fell | Parking Location | OS Map | Current Weather
We booked a week in the Lakes at the end of October. We wanted to see some stags rutting, and there were some great deals for holidays as Covid rules started to relax (before tightening again!). It would soon be the end of the rutting season and having heard there was a better chance of seeing deer and stags at dusk and dawn, we made the decision to try a sunrise walk this time around.
Now this walk can be a pain to park for, so we decided the this would be a great first attempt at starting a walk in the dark.
We had parked up before 7 am, second to arrive at the small parking spot on The Hause road. Being the 21st October, it was still pretty dark, and we took a bit of extra time to make sure we were fully prepared for this jaunt. Torches, batteries. Extra layers were packed too, the weather forecast wasn’t too amazing after all.
We found early morning walks suited us immensely. We only needed the extra light for barely an hour before the sky started brightening and the hills illuminated, everything was calm and quiet. The return journey felt like a different walk entirely, the morning sun lit the shadows and it is a different place entirely. It is worth the early morning alarm.
Walking from St Peters Church, we took a left and carried on down this road, past St Martin’s (Martindales old Church) on the left, and passed the farmhouses on the right. The footpath starts on grass, behind the buildings and we gently climbed higher as the path veered up and to the left.
Reaching the point on the map where we would turn a right angle and carry on up the nose of the fell, we found there to be a lovely seat with what was starting to give a great view of Ullswater. now the sun was starting to come up. With torches packed away, we carried on up the now steeper section of track towards Alan Crag.
There really isn’t any scrambly bits on this grassy fell, but there are some rocky outcrops that need navigating over whichever way you’re most comfortable with. A few times I needed my hands for a quick pull up. But a more enjoyable activity than a treacherous one.
Passing Alan Crag and walking on to Beda Head, we started to hear the tell-tale clacks of Stag horns and the guttural calls of the rut. The weather really started to close in so we had difficulty discerning to where the noise from coming from, especially as it seems to echo off the sides of the fells. We thought it was West or South West so we kept an eye out as the wind brought rain sideways at us.
On a nice day, this walk would have been stunning and just the type of hike I love. A ridge walk with a beautiful view. Not technical so less concentration needed on where to put your feet. Unfortunately, the weather worsened until we were being buffeted in the face by sideways rain and blown about with considerable lack of visibility. At Bedafell Knot, we consulted the maps to locate our possible exits from the hill. We weren’t feeling the climb higher to Angletarn Pikes, we wanted to appreciate this fell in better weather. Choosing an exit path which would lead us on a route down the left side and off the hill a few hundred meters away, we started walking on.
Getting back up to pace, we looked ahead and saw a large spectre staring back at us. A grey, red creature. Made visible by the mists wisping away off the mountainside. It was merely 10 feet in front of us. Then another showed out of the grey, and a third a little way behind. As the cloud and fog parted, we realised we had walked into a herd of female deer. They seemed as shocked and as frozen to the ground as we were. Sharp ears trained to our direction, they slowly retreated into the mists, as their curiosity faded. We saw their silhouettes moving back into the nothingness for a few minutes after. We must have been walking behind them.
Still on a high after unexpectedly seeing some cloud creatures, we took the turning off the hill which lead us down the side of the mountain. Normally the worst type of path for me, with a steep drop one side, I usually avoid these types of routes. This one wasn’t too bad. A little amount of concentration was needed on a small section where the path was narrow, and the height was giving me vertigo. But the lower we got, the clearer it became, and the path descended gradually with no dizzying views down. By the time we were halfway down, there was no rain or wind. We had left it at the top of the fell.
A prolonged and monotonous road walk back made us veer off through some fields at Cotehow and we swung round to St Peter’s Church from the South East. It was mid-morning at this point and the parking spaces here, and at the church were packed full of cars so please get here early.
