08/04/06
A day of snow showers and bitter winds. The snow that plastered the central and eastern Lakeland mountains was a litte higher around the Buttermere, Crummock, and Loweswater hills, with little around the cairn. The wind was bitter, and snow showers raked the hills all day.
The cairn is set on a low ridge, above boggy ground, on the ridge top, but not on an obviously high point. It is situated on a down slope, above a broad col, on a ridge leading to a low summit. A most unusual place.
The centre looks like it has been dug out, or do I mean excavated. It looks like it's tough shit, no records exist.
It's about 2 to 3 feet high, and about 25 to 30 feet in diameter. Why it was set here is anybodys guess. Is it connected with the Crummock rock art? Westwards, over a high ridge, lies the West Cumberland Plain, where many Bronze Age Settlements have been found.
Much interfered with cairn below Great Borne. Pastscape description:
Remains of a round cairn 8.5m in diameter and up to 0.4m high. It would appear that at some time the centre was completely excavated and the stones piled around the perimeter, ... but subsequently the removed material has tumbled back so that the central pit is now only 0.8m deep.
The approach from the west is by way of a Public Bridleway, with two access points from the minor road at the north-western tip of Ennerdale Water.
However please be extra careful how you park if you choose this route - and it is well worth the effort since the retrospective of Ennerdale Water is stunning and the gradient nice 'n' easy - since I unfortunately had the great misfortune of coming into contact with the local landowner, clearly a very unhappy man with, shall we say, some major 'issues' which he seriously needs to address. You'll get an idea of the mentality of the man from the misspelt sign banning access to Great Borne further up the bridleway - oh dear. Needless to say intimidation does not work upon Gladman, as of course it shouldn't.
So take a mobile - even better with video to capture any 'issues' - park properly and enjoy a great walk to a wonderfully remote site.