Great Calva

From Skiddaw House, the lonely former hostel in Skiddaw Forest, Great Calva looks like a steep pyramid of heather. It sits right in the middle of the Northern Fells, and by Lake District standards it is remote. Its summit ridge runs east to west for about half a mile, with Little Calva at the western end.

The Walk Lakes route starts at the end of the Mosedale road, where grass verges before the Grainsgill Beck bridge take about four cars. You follow the bridleway signed for Skiddaw House up the Caldew valley to a round sheepfold, then turn up beside Wiley Gill on a narrow, damp path. It climbs through deep heather and a small ravine, then follows a fence to the top. Going on to Knott means crossing a stile with no dog gate and a stretch of moss and tussocks with only a faint path. The loop over both fells is 12 km. Other starts include Peter House Farm, up the Dash Beck supply road, a bridleway from Orthwaite, and the Glenderaterra valley from the Gale Road car park.

The summit has two cairns joined by the remains of an old fence, and a stone windshelter.

The view down the fault

Great Calva sits on a major fault that runs through the middle of the Lake District. Because of it, the view south runs straight down the Glenderaterra valley and the Vale of St John to Loughrigg and Steel Fell, with Great Gable and the Scafells above Lonscale Fell. The view north is much less interesting.

The River Caldew and Dash Beck both start in Candleseaves Bog, below the fell.