Dalehead Tarn

Car to lake: 1.5 miles, 1 hour, from Honister slate mine car park.

Round the lake:  0.2 miles, 6 minutes 

Time taken - whole walk (including Launchy Tarn - see next post): 2.5 hours

Height: 460ft net from car park to tarn (maximum height gain 1000ft)

My walk to Dalehead Tarn started from the Honister slate Mine car park at the top of Honister Pass. Not only is this a good place to park (at a cost of £3.50) and a good place to buy Kendal Mint Cake for sustenance but, most importantly, it is already at 1,200 feet above sea level meaning that impressive views opened up within minutes of leaving the car.

Leaving the car park, and crossing the road, I started out up a well worn and immediately quite steep track up the fell. The disadvantage of having a steep climb at the beginning of a walk soon became apparent as legs ached and lungs strained to supply them with oxygen! I've noticed before that this doesn't happen nearly as much if there's been a half mile or so of level walking before hitting a steep climb. The path follows a fence to the right before, after a little while, a stile was climbed allowing me to continue with the fence on my left.

The view ahead, some ten or fifteen minutes into the walk. Around this point, I ought to have veered of the path to the right, keeping the hilltop on my left.

While the view ahead is a little bland at this point, over to the left, with only a slight detour, I got a good view down into the valley up which I'd driven to get here, and to Buttermere and Crummock Water beyond.

The winding Honister pass road linking Buttermere and Borrowdale. The fell on the left must be like a swiss cheese having had Buttermere slate removed from its innards for over a century.

I ploughed on up the hill, reaching a number of false summits before becoming aware that the path was gradually veering left and, therefore, away from where my target Tarn was believed to be. I didn't, of course, have a map, or a compass or even serviceable batteries to put in my Garmin device and was relying on my memory of what I'd seen on "google earth" just after breakfast more than an hour before. After a brief chat with a man from the northeast about his new boots, and another with two ladies who were as unsure of their location as I was, I left the path and veered off to the right in the hope of that Dalehead Tarn would be visible just around the next corner. Two or three next corners later and all became clear.

Dalehead Tarn, now way below me, with my next target, Launchy Tarn, high on the hill behind it.

I had, quite obviously stayed too long on that convenient path and had, as a result done several hundred feet of climbing more than was strictly necessary to reach my destination. My reward however, was a pleasing overview of where Dalehead Tarn lay and a look over into Borrowdale ahead of me and, out of sight in the photo, down towards Little Town to the left.

After taking on board the view, and a few squares of Kendal Mint Cake, I started to zig zag my way down the steep and rather rocky fellside towards the tarn. In no more than a few minutes I joined a path which had come down from my right and led me, and a few other hikers, to the shore of the Tarn.

Dalehead Tarn is a relatively attractive one with some plant life growing at the margins and towards one end. To the left of the picture are the stone remains of what looks like some sheep pens from an earlier age and, from halfway along one side, flows a stream which quickly turns left behind a rocky outcrop before heading off towards the Newlands valley. It had taken a little more than an hour to get here, even via my indirect route and, in a way, I was glad I'd got slightly off track.

I settled down among the ruins on one of the few dry bits of ground to enjoy a sip of water and some more Kendal Mint Cake; the pack of Mars bars I'd brought were little use as they remained in the glove compartment of my car back at Honister.

It was a sunny interval sort of day, sometimes cool in the fresh breeze, sometimes very warm in the mid-summer sun but always pleasant with just jeans, a polo-shirt and a rucksack for protection. Why, I wondered, had I met so many people wearing jackets? One couple were sporting expensive looking windproof clothing which included hoods tied tightly over their heads. With their "earnest hiker" expressions they looked like demented members of some way-out religious cult!

The view from half way round

Refreshed by my sit in the sun, it was now time to perform the ritual of "walking around the lake" and I set off the stop watch on my i-phone and trudged off in a clockwise direction. Six minutes,and a few photographs, later I was back where I'd started from - it could have been less had I not stopped for photos and to admire the view.

Perhaps a better way to have reached Dalehead Tarn would have been from Little Town in the Newlands Valley or as part of a horeshoe hike including Hindscarth, Dalehead and High Spy. The other walkers I met near the tarn, seemed to be doing that except for the two ladies I mentioned earlier. They reappeared just as I was leaving Dale Head Tarn and headed off in the general direction of Borrowdale having lost their way exactly as I had done.

My walk had been very enjoyable however and, had there not been the lure of Launchy Tarn nearby, I'd have happily headed straight back to the car, probably no more than 45 minutes away.

Launchy Tarn beckoned however, and I veered off the path leading towards High Spy and struck out across open fell...................... see my next post on the blog!