Beck Head Tarn

The tarn can be reached from four directions the obvious ones are when passing from Great Gable to Kirk Fell and vice versa. The most direct route to the tarn is from the Wasdale Head side of Styhead Pass, from here follow the very difficult and steep path up Gavel Neese and Gable Beck. This only leaves the easiest route (in terms of steepness) which is from Honister Mines up to Brandreth then drop down to the Moses Trod path at the top of Tongue Beck and following this path to Beckhead.

Map and Gallery:

 Beck Head and tarn (s) of the same name. Quite a few of the tarns in the Lake District have a reputation for drying up during periods without rain. These ones are probably two of the worst cases in question. You can see there wasn't much water in the nearer of the two tarns, but the far one was in fact bone dry today.

 Area Map

 Beckhead Tarn is actually two small tarns that lie at a height of about 2000ft in the col between Kirk Fell and Great Gable.

 The route down to Beckhead from both Kirk Fell and Great Gable give a good panorama of the tarns. Looking at them from above like this really shows the two different shapes. The larger one is almost circular and the smaller of the two is elongated and quite narrow. The small tarn often dries out completely during prolonged periods of dry weather.