NY2001500917 There's a handy car park on the north side of the Eskdale road, just up from Wha House farm. A track leads onto the fell but ignore this for now: you'll be coming down that way in a few hours. Instead, head west on the road for 200 metres and turn left on the track to Taw House farm. Go through the farmyard and continue for another kilometre, to the bridge over the enchanting ravine of Scale Force.

NY2152502529 150 metres after the waterfall, turn left and head up some broad, swooping zigzags to gain a shelf over Eskdale. Head north. The route eventually rejoins the Esk around the colossal boulders at Sampson's Stones. There are many howffs (howves?) hereabouts.

NY2189705764 300 metres after Sampson's Stones, turn left on a thin trod heading steeply up past an impressive waterfall and up the side of How Beck. Keep going up the increasingly impressive corrie.

NY2103006903 After gaining the crest of Mickledore, pause a while to admire the prospect of Scafell.After that taste of the Sublime, it's time to debase yourself with the ungainly slither down loose ground, following the base of the crags on the Wasdale side. Start up the stony couloir of Lord's Rake, but look out for the critical left turn just before the first "col".

NY2069306843 Leaving the Rake might seem a dodgy thing to do, but keep the faith: clamber a couple of metres up on your left and you'll gain a miraculously easy grass rake slanting up to the left. This is the Traverse, and there are few places that afford such an intimate appraisal of stunning rock scenery yet such easy movement.

NY2082406737 At the junction with Deep Ghyll, turn right. (Make a good mental note of this spot:if you ever find yourself descending this way, you must make this turn or Bad Things will happen further down Deep Ghyll). For now, head up the exit chimney of the Ghyll, which fans out into a bit of tussuck-clutching to reach level ground. From here, the retrospective of Gable between the pinnacles is fantastic.Saunter up to the summit and keep heading south over the subsidiary top of Long Green to the rocky turret of Slight Side.

NY2102205035 Drop on steep, stony ground to reach a huge moor draining into Eskdale. The name "Quagrigg Moss" should calibrate expectations of returning dryshod.

NY2084704007 Watch out for a faint bifurcation. Both routes ultimately reconverge but it's probably easier sloping down to the left and skirting the damp hollow of Cat Cove before joining the slanting line, mentioned at step (1), back down to the start.