Our last walk in the Lakes for this week and finally we hit a day were the rain had stopped. At least for our location anyway. There was plenty of blue skies between the clouds, and a strong breeze was making sure those clouds moved quickly across the sky. There were rain showers but luckily none of them hit us this time. I looked for routes up Rosthwaite Fell and it came down to two options, Combe Gill or Big Stanger Gill. Whilst checking Sean’s Stridingedge.net website it was clear that descending via Stanger Gill isn’t wise in wet or icy conditions so that was the route sorted, we would ascend that way and come down via Combe Gill. This isn’t a long walk but it was my last fell in this area having done all the central fells, those around Honister, Grange, Seathwaite and Langstrath. So this may turn out to be my last walk around Borrowdale, the finest square mile in all of Lakeland according to Wainwright, and its a great one to finish on. i loved the ascent up the gill, the pitched path was treacherous in the wet and I was glad we went up that way. But the rock steps provided quick passage and we were soon popping out of the top of the gill and making our way to the summit. The summit is a jumble of lumpy rocky mounds especially those named Racom Bands to the east of Bessyboot, however its an easy top to reach and if you are in doubt an out and back up Combe Gill would still make a great day. As for us we loved the descent and the views into an autumnal Borrowdale, finished with a pint in the Langstrath Inn, which is my second visit this year after my Eagle Crag walk at Easter. On our journey back to Bassenthwaite we stopped off at the Bowder Stone, I hadn’t been for maybe 10 or more years and it was nice to see this huge lump of rock again, embedded at its jaunty angle, where it landed. A lovely way to finish off a week here and finally no need to dry off our clothes at the end of a walk!

Start – Stonethwaite

Route – Big Stanger Gill – Bull Crag – Big Stanger Gill – High Knott – Bessyboot (Rosthwaite Fell) – Tarn at Leaves – Combe Gill – Stonethwaite

Distance – 3.5 miles    Start time – 10.20am   Time taken – 4hrs  Highest Point – Bessyboot 550 metres

Weather – Breezy, but dry all around, bit of sunshine but mainly cloudy