THIS IS NOT AN EASY ROUTE!!! WITH A LOT OF UPHILLS AND SCRAMBLING UP AND OVER ROCKS!!!
Parking at New Dungeon Ghyll car park, an anti clockwise loop, heading northwest, up a steep path to Stickle Tarm. From here the path gets even steeper as you climb to the top of Pavery Ark via “Easy” Gully, then over to the Langdale Pikes. Finally it’s downhill down Thorn Crag and back to Dungeon Ghyll.
Starting again at New Dungeon Ghyll car park (the same starting place as the New Dungeon Ghyll to Whorneyside Force hike) the destination is easily visible from the car park. The big lump of rock on the horizon in the far distance. Parking costs £9 for 24 hours, I thought it better to go for this length of time as I had no idea how long this route would take me.
Walk along the road northwest, past The New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel taking the path to the right over a footbridge crossing Stickle Ghyll. It is signposted pointing you left to Stickle Tarn where the path passes to the left of Millbeck Farm and then widens to this grassy cobble path.
As we head uphill, the one animal pic of the trek, I think the sheep were more sensible and stayed in the nice, flat fields below.
The path is not too steep here, it is though consatntly uphill and consists mainly of stone steps.
With Stickle Ghyll on the left there are a fair few waterfalls along the way.
This view looking back down Stickle Ghyll to where the route began.
Continue up the stone steps…
…and past the waterfall…
…and up more stone steps.
As you approach Stickle Tarn, the last few metres are quite a scramble. There are other routes around the rocks, this stone staircase was my choice.
Finally, just before the Tarn is a Dam. This pic taken from near the Dam, the source of Stickle Ghyll.
Stickle Tarn. Here showing Harrison Stickle on the left which we’ll be on the top of later.
And here Pavey Ark, we’ll also be on top of that soon using a path off to to the right of this picture. You can see a steep path heading up the Ark diagonally from right to left, this is Jacks Rake, it is on the OS Map as a feasible route but wasn’t for me.
Picking the safer, but still steep, path head along the path on the banks of Stickle Tarn.
Looking ahead to Easy Gully, the route we’ll be taking is in the centre of this pic, it starts off as a steady uphill but soon gets steep.
The uphill trek begins.
In some places it can be quite rocky with a bit of clabering over large boulders required.
The stone path continues uphill at quite a steep rate.
Eventually at the top of Pavey Ark, the views.
Looking back down to Stickle Tarn, you can see where we were earlier. The Dam, the rocks at the start of Stickle Ghyll from the earlier pic and the path along the edge of the Tarn heading to the left and Easy Gully.
Just when you thought you were high enough at the top of Pavey Ark, looking over to Harrison Stickle, the next part of the trek. The route, as can be seen in this pic, is uphill, but a lot more of a steady incline than faced earlier.
Follow the stone path south to Harrison Stickle. Near the top, looking back at Pavey Ark…
…Easy Gully…
…and Stickle Tarn.
The view from the top of Harrison Stickle. SHowing the path we headed up along Stickle Ghyll and at the bottom of the hill, Tiggy and the car park are a small specl in the distance.
After taking in the views, it’s finally time to head back down. Leaving Harrison Stickle, heading east for a short distance. Here the path down can be seen, heading down Thorn Crag via the path in the bottom left of this pic.
Also in this pic is the path heading up to Pike of Stickle BUT we won’t be heading there this time, that’s for a future Tggy Tour.
Thorn Crag. Just when you thought going downhill would be easier than the uphill, we have quite a drop down to the right. This path is mostly stone and gravel, following Dungeon Ghyll, with a few steep drops to the right of the path down to the Ghyll.
Heading from Thorn Crag to Pike Howe the path gets a little safer and grassier.
The stone steps form part of the path down.
A quick wander up Pike Howe, looking back to Harrison Stickle.
And to the right, Pavey Ark, and the path we headed up earlier.
Another view of the earlier path uphill, showing the waterfalls along the way.
From Pike Howe, now looking in the other direction, towards where the route started.
With The New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and the car park now more visible, continue down the path which heads back to the Hotel.
One final look back at where we were earlier.
Heading further down the hill, the path meets The Cumbria Way footpath which we’ll be joining for a very short distance, heading east.
At the junction with the Cumbria Way, on the right is a footbridge and just before the footbridge, this plunge pool for a well earned dip! The Cumbria Way path is just visible on the right of this pic.
After the well earned dip its tim eot head home. Follow the Cumbria Way path east, passing by the earlier footpath junction near The New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and the footbridge over Stickle Tarn.
Just enough time for a pint of Coke at the hotel before reuniting with Tiggy and heading home.