The
potential to tick three Yorkshire Dales Nuttalls in a relatively short walk and
its proximity to home was the reason I chose this walk because I only had a
limited amount of time to commit. My
variation of Naismith’s Rule said it should have taken 3¾ hours, but maps don’t
take into account the conditions underfoot and just over 5 hours later, I was
rushing home.
I
parked near Blishmire House and followed the Pennine Way onto the summit
plateau of Fountains Fell. The snow
patches were mostly avoidable and those that weren’t had been fortuitously
stepped out by a couple walking ahead of me.
The last rise was banked out with snow and walking to the cairns
required some cautious route-finding.
Despite this I still stepped knee-deep into a bog, the water overflowing
the top of my gaiter and leaving me with a wet and cold right foot for the rest
of the walk.
Crossing
the wall was easy because of the banked snow and started a descent towards
Darnbrook Fell. Instead of following the
wall, I took a beeline towards the summit but this mistake became obvious in
just a couple of hundred yards. The soft
heather was ankle-deep, the spring snow was calf-deep and the bogs had the
potential to be deeper still! Progress
was slow.
The
trig pillar came into sight and similar to other moorland pillars, it exhibited
an isolation found on these flat peaty plateaus, exaggerated by it being
mounted on a deep stone base which was clearly above the ground, probably the
result of years of erosion.
 |
| Darnbrook Fell summit cairn & trig point |
I
kept close to the wall on the return towards Fountains Fell but progress wasn’t
much quicker as the terrain was not ideal.
Walking became a little easier from the Pennine Way towards the broad
ridge, passing to the north of Fountains Fell Tarn. The ridge itself had the most pleasurable
ground of the day and I was soon at the south top of Fountains Fell where a
small cairn marked the true highpoint.
 |
| Fountains Fell Tarn |
 |
| Pen-y-ghent & Fountains Fell from the south top |
The
walk along the broad ridge to Fountains Fell was an enjoyably easy stroll,
particularly after the heather and bog that had characterised Darnbrook
Fell. The summit cairn was obviously
marked by a large cairn and the view ahead to Pen-y-ghent was the best of the
day.
 |
| Fountains Fell summit |
