Base Brown. May 2016

PLEASE NOTE: The GPX trace on this route is for use as a guide only, its accuracy may change depending on the scale of map you are using. Use in combination with judgement and a paper map. We have taken all reasonable steps to ensure these walks are safe and correctly described. However things do change and all outdoor activities involve a degree of risk. The publishers accept no responsibility for any errors or omissions or for any injuries or accidents that occur whilst following this walk. Trail magazine, Copyright Bauer Media Limited.


Some mountains dominate the skyline. They loom and leer and demand to be climbed. As a result, they tend to attract hundreds of walkers determined to test their mettle on their imposing ramparts. Other mountains are a little less showy. They are reached via hanging valleys or long, boggy treks over windswept hinterlands; or by taking a sneaky right through a farm alley. Base Brown lurks the other side of this unpromising farmyard starting point. But it is not to be overlooked. Many will only have reached its summit as a detour on the way to its larger neighbours. The real fun is found by approaching it head on. It is a tapering wedge of ridgeline crammed with cliffs, precarious hanging boulders and elusive terrace pathways that appear from nowhere and merge back into the hillside without a trace. It is full of incident and challenge, and at times it offers vertiginous glimpses of the valley floor where often hundreds of walkers march on Styhead Tarn. Up here, even in sunny May, you will have a mountain adventure all to yourself. Once you have summited, the remaining fell tops pass seemingly within touching distance of Great Gable’s colossal flanks and present a unique view of the wild valley of Ennerdale.

Distance 7.5km (4½ miles)

Total ascent 750m

Time 3½ hours

Start/Finish Seathwaite Farm (NY235121)

Nearest town Keswick

Terrain rough throughout with steep, rocky paths giving way to almost pathless steep, grassy terrain between rocky outcrops; stony but straightforward on top; bottom bit often boggy

Accommodation Borrowdale Hotel, Borrowdale, www.lakedistricthotels.net/borrowdalehotel 0800 840 1244; YHA Borrowdale, www.yha.org.uk/hostel/borrowdale 0845 371 9624; camping at Chapel House Farm, Grange, Borrowdale, www.chapelhousefarmcampsite.co.uk (01768) 777256 

Public transport train to Penrith, X4 or X5 bus to Keswick, then 78 service from Keswick to Seatoller, www.stagecoachbus.com

Tourist info www.lakedistrict.gov.uk

NY235121 The road to Seathwaite Farm is often clogged with cars left by fellow walkers. Find a spot and walk into the farmyard. Keep an eye out for an archway through a building on your right, which leads to a walled pathway.

NY228121 After the footbridge and a steep climb up a well-beaten path up Seathwaite Slabs you reach the levels of Gillercomb. Leave the main path and begin to climb towards the ridgeline following a narrow slightly indistinct track.

NY227120 The first major cliff face rears up ahead. Aim to the left of these outcrops and for a large fallen stone. Then weave up steeper, tussocky ground towards a perilous-looking hanging stone, which is marked on the map. Keep this on the right and work around the outcrop on which it is balancing. A terrace path opens out, as do the views.



NY228118 The terrace path peters out and you need to turn back right above the hanging stone crags. A faint path leads you onto low, lumpy outcrops about 100m uphill, from where you begin to follow the ridgeline to the summit.

NY225114 From the summit cairn of Base Brown follow the broad-pathed fell tops to Green Gable.



NY214107 At the summit of Green Gable take in the superlative views of the wild Ennerdale valley.

NY214119 A choice of paths lead to Brandreth and offer little difficulty in navigation.

NY222130 From Brandreth continue along the tops towards Grey Knotts. You are aiming for a point beyond Raven Crag, which yawns below to the right. You will be able to see that the crags have faded and be able to pick a line down a steep section of grassland towards a stonewalled enclosure of marshland back down at Gillercomb.

NY227121 Once you have negotiated the sometimes boggy areas around the stone walls rejoin the main path back to Seathwaite Farm. Make sure you take in the spectacular Sourmilk Gill falls en route.