Route: St Sunday Crag, Birks – and a paper bridge
Area: Eastern Lake District
Date of walk: 14th May 2015
Walkers: Andrew
Distance: 9.9 miles
Weather: Mostly cloudy, some bright spells, strong wind on tops
The main objective of today’s walk was to visit ‘PaperBridge’ – a bright red footbridge made entirely out of paper and created by artist Steve Messam. It’s only temporary and is due to be dismantled in a few days time, with the paper being recycled. After that there will be no trace of it having been here
The bridge is sited over Grisedale Beck, in a remote location about 2 miles along Grisedale. This meant that a visit to St Sunday Crag could conveniently be incorporated into the walk
I set off from Patterdale early and after walking along the valley for a while the bridge came into view – it can hardly be missed. After admiring it from various angles and clambering to the top (thanks to the charming couple who took my photo there), I carried on up to Grisedale Tarn at the head of the valley
This marked the half way point of the walk, and from the tarn I traversed along the flanks of St Sunday Crag up to Deepdale Hause and from there to the summit
I descended along the north east ridge with tremendous views of Ullswater ahead of me as I did so, then over Birks and back down into Patterdale. It was a great walk, made extra special by the paper bridge
For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box
Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)
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The evening before the walk, a red squirrel in the garden
…and a cock pheasant
9am next morning, the start of the walk as I pass by St Patrick’s Church Patterdale
On the lane to Grisedale
Thornhow End - I’ll be descending that way later on
Further along Grisedale Lane
I pass by an old barn
Dollywagon Pike in the distance
Helvellyn and Striding Edge above Elmhow
PaperBridge comes into view
Thanks again to the fellow walker who took this photo and the next one
Great idea and great execution
I cross over a more traditional bridge and look back down Grisedale
Ruthwaite Lodge
Approaching the head of the valley, with Cofa Pike up on the left
A view back along Grisedale
The halfway point - Grisedale Tarn
I follow a narrow path from the tarn - St Sunday Crag is ahead
Grisedale
Looking back to Grisedale Tarn - the Scafells and Great Gable are in the distance
The path emerges at Deepdale Hause, here looking up to Cofa Pike and Fairfield beyond
Grisedale Tarn from Deepdale Hause
I follow the path up St Sunday Crag
Looking back to Fairfield
Summit of St Sunday Crag, looking towards Scafell Pike in the distance
Views of Ullswater open up as I descend the north east ridge
Peering down the crags into Grisedale, I can just make out the red PaperBridge, bottom centre of picture
Ullswater again from further down the ridge - Birks lies ahead
Climbing the easy slopes of Birks
The insignificant summit cairn on Birks, looking back to St Sunday Crag
I follow the ridge of Birks towards Ullswater
Bonnie
The last part of the descent down Thornhow End is steep but not difficult
It’s easy to trip though whilst gawping at the view of Ullswater ahead
I can see my car from here, left of centre, and the path back to it is right of centre
I cross the stepping stones over the beck
Bonnie looks down to Patterdale
The path emerges behind the Patterdale Hotel to end what had been a wonderful walk, full of interest throughout
