Bakestall

Bakestall is a small fell in the northern Lake District, seven kilometres north of Keswick. It sits on the quieter northern slopes of Skiddaw, in a part of the national park known as the ‘Back o’ Skiddaw’. The fell reaches 673 metres but is really just a rise on Skiddaw’s northern flank. AW Wainwright gave it a separate chapter in his Pictorial Guide because of the striking Dead Crags and the waterfall called Whitewater Dash. For many years the Ordnance Survey did not mark Bakestall on its old one-inch maps, but it now appears on the metric edition.

Dead Crags drop 150 metres into the northern corrie and are made of crumbly Skiddaw Slate. The crags are not used for climbing because the rock is loose and holds patches of vegetation. Whitewater Dash is a series of cataracts on Dash Beck and is counted among the finest falls in the park. The beck drains the fell’s slopes and flows north to Bassenthwaite Lake. Old lead workings once existed on the western edge of Bakestall, near Dead Beck.

Bakestall can be climbed from the Cumbria Way by following a rough track to Skiddaw House. Walkers pass Whitewater Dash and then climb Birkett Edge to reach the summit. A fence leads up the edge, but walking along the corrie rim lets you study the crags. From Bakestall’s summit a two-kilometre walk south-west and then south gains Skiddaw’s top after 275 metres of ascent. The true summit is at a turn in the fence, though Wainwright placed it 100 metres further north where a cairn marks a better viewpoint. The view is limited by Skiddaw to the south but includes the Solway Firth and the hills of the Scottish Border.