Not to be confused by the restaurant where they probably sell
steak, Stake House Fell can be found in the bosom of The Trough of Bowland in
Lancashire. This was my first hill wander of 2020 and the January walk. It was
Steve’s idea. ‘A little gem,’ he said. ‘I call it my secret walk as when I do
it, I never see anyone, fancy it?’ ‘Okay,’ I replied.
We parked up near Oakenclough on the road next to Grizedale
Lea Reservoir. A chilly winter morn, it
was Steve and me with two pooches, mad Jake and sane Roco. We headed through a
field on a track that took us to Arbour, walking alongside the River Calder. We
got to Arbour after an hour or so. This is a lovely and quiet little place
where two rivers meet, in a valley in the middle of nowhere with two solitary buildings.
A quick bit of history: on the fell side somewhere are the
remains of an airplane (a Douglas C-54A 45-543) that crashed here in 1949. We
didn’t see the remains, too cold to go looking…
From Arbour we headed left up the fell side, eventually following
grouse butts. It was thick with bracken and Jake had fun seeking out grouse,
just as his ancestors would have done many a year ago. I made the noise of a
grouse, but he was having none of it and knew I was having him on. The summit
of Stake House Fell has no cairn or Trig, just a metal spike sticking out the
ground. But the views were lovely and it was clear all around, most notably of Morecambe
Bay. From the summit we followed a track back down, picking up the river again
and heading back to the car… Did we see anyone? Nope…
Here's a video Steve did of out walk: Stake House Fell
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