Explore with Amie

This post may not have the most aesthetic photos but this walk is a fabulous one if you find yourself with a few hours to spare one afternoon. Hitting not only a wainwright, but two bothies and a visit to Honister Mine, you’ve got just about everything you need. Facilities, views (hopefully!) and a place to escape from the rain and have lunch!

Because of the mine, this gravel track is used by a bus and Land Rovers so it’s quite well maintained. You don’t need any technical skills and the route is very easy to navigate from the offset. It is a steep climb initially but, it’s easy enough. Soon, the gravel track splits in two. Keep left here as the right is a no entry just around the corner. There are some old mine carts around there though, which were pretty cool to see. Keep following the gravel track as it climbs and bends to the right. Here again, we passed some old rusted metal including a shed that must have been used by the mine. Just around the next corner, you could see that work was still being done up there and there was, what looked like, a climbing wall!

Once you’ve reached the small quarry, the gravel track becomes a grassy path and it does become fairly boggy in areas. Alex made the mistake of wearing his Merrells that aren’t waterproof so he wasn’t happy to see the bog. I, on the other hand, in my leather boots just walked through as normal! Once you’ve joined the grassy path, it isn’t that far to the peak. However, on this occasion, the path marked our entrance into the clouds and so we were getting quite wet. That kind of weather is difficult as it was quite warm so I didn’t particularly want to have my coat on. We just got damp.

The peak of Fleetwith Pike is supposed to have incredible views over Buttermere and we’ve camped nearby before so I can tell you that they are usually pretty great. As I said though, the cloud base was a little too low this time and we had no hope of seeing across to the lake. It was a quick picture of the cairn and then we continued on.

Despite this being a short walk, we still wanted it to be circular so, we left the peak and headed down towards Dub’s Hut. This is the first of two Bothies that we visited on this walk. Bothies are small buildings that are usually in remote areas as refuges for hikers. They used to be emergency shelters but nowadays are used as a wild camping alternative fairly frequently. I have stayed in Mosedale Cottage in the Lake District and Sourlies in Scotland and, whilst I can’t say I prefer it to a tent, in a night of rain and wind, you appreciate being behind closed doors. Dub’s Hut and Warnscale Bothy are both fairly close to the road and so, aren’t necessarily that remote but, they do make for great spots to camp. It is worth noting that these are incredibly popular and you will be unlikely to find Warnscale Bothy empty during the peak season. We aimed to say in Warnscale Bothy last year and camped nearby instead.

Both Warnscale Bothy and Dubs Hut are worth a visit even if you aren’t going to stay in them. These bothies in particular have an interesting history as they were originally built as cottages for quarry workers in the 1750s. They’re both built out of slate, and much of the slate from the mine covers the surrounding paths too. Of the two, Dubs Hut is much larger and has some new sleeping fixtures. I think you could fit over 10 people in there whereas, Warnscale Bothy is much smaller, probably only 2-3.

After visiting Warnscale Bothy, we then opted to take the disused tramway back down to Honister Mine. This runs pretty much parallel to the gravel track used on the ascent but, is much straighter – a characteristic of old tramways and railways. Again, this is a gravel path with lots of slate surrounding it initially before becoming rocky steps closer to the mine. The perk with this walk is that you have both started and ended it quite high already so there isn’t as much as usual in terms of ascent or descent towards the end.

We popped into the Mine cafe to treat ourselves to a fizzy drink and then headed into the car and off home. It is worth noting that this cafe is quite expensive but, it is such a tourist attraction, it’s expected.

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Start point: Honister Slate Mine

1. Head up the gravel track leading off to the right of the mine cafe/main building.
2. Continue on the gravel track as it snakes on the ascent, ignoring any right turns.
3. Having passed a small half buried corrugated shed and a small quarry, the gravel tracks ends where it reaches a second quarry.
4. From here take the grassy path straight ahead to Fleetwith Pike cairn.
5. Once you reach the cairn, take the path on the left, back down towards Dub’s Hut.
6. From Dub’s Hut follow a path down to a stream crossing. Cross using the stones and then follow the path to the right skirting the hill.
7. Continue on until you reach Warnscale Bothy on your left.
8. Retrace your steps to Dub’s Hut.
9. At the front of Dub’s Hut, turn right slightly uphill onto the gravel track. You can follow this back to Honister Mine or take the parallel Old Disused Tramway as we did.

End point: Honister Slate Mine

Have you walked this route?

Amie x