Hartside South Side

Working through a specific hill-list can be a solitary pursuit.  Even when you’re on a club meet with others who enjoy mountain pursuits your friends don’t necessarily share your objectives.  But fair enough when I wanted to go to the boggier Pennines rather than enjoy the obvious wonders of Patterdale.  At least the drive up to the top of Hartside Pass was familiar.  But this time I was walking south, at least for the first half of the walk.

I followed some good tracks, constructed for the grouse shooting fraternity, before following a line of twelve shooting butts than gradually rose up the eastern slope of Fiend’s Fell.  At the final butt I changed my bearing across the heather moorland to reach the summit, adorned by a trig point and being a good viewpoint for the north and east of the Lake District.

the Lake District from Fiend's Fell summit

Looking ahead, I decided to head slightly east to avoid losing height in the grough to my right.  The ground wasn’t brilliant but at least I kept most of the height.  I passed over the top of Little Knapside Hill and battled the increasing winds to reach the welcome shelter of Knapside Hill’s cairn.  From here the walk, despite the wind, was quite easy on a good path to the obvious summit cairn of Melmerby Fell which lacked the stature to afford any shelter. 

Cross Fell from Melmerby Fell summit

The winds reached their peak here; averaging just over 40mph and gusting at 50mph.  No doubt that speeds would be higher on Cross Fell which dominated the view to the south.  I soon turned tail and beyond Little Knapside Hill I followed a track slightly to the west of the way I had taken on my outbound journey, making a beeline for a stile crossing the fence.  On reflection it was obvious that this was the trodden path and it took me to the grough where the height lost and regained was not as much as I had feared earlier in the day.

The rounded convex north-eastern slope of Fiend’s Fell did not  give me the view of the grouse butts that I had hoped for and I had to bushwhack through some deep heather.  But I eventually reached their line and was soon back at the car.

Even in the high winds and across some less than ideal ground I enjoyed this half day walk, taking satisfaction in the bagging of another two Nuttalls.

The Back of Blencathra

None of my clubmates wanted to join me on this walk so I set off on my own from the hut we were staying at in Patterdale.  After driving to the head of Mosedale in the northern fells I followed Grainsgill Beck, through a couple of drizzly showers, up to a point where the slope eased and I cut off rightwards towards Great Lingy Hut, probably more often known as the Lingy Hut bothy.  I added an entry to the log book and enjoyed the views of Carrock Fell and Blencathra, reminiscing that the previous time I’d been here was just over 26 years ago!

Mosedale from the Lingy Hut

Lingy Hut bothy

Hare Stones was my first summit of the day.  I could clearly see the summit of High Pike with a few people on it but as it’s a Wainwright, I’d been there before and it would need an unnecessary out-and-back to reach it again; today’s agenda lay in the opposite direction.

I followed the clear path towards Great Lingy Hill.  From the top I thought that I could just make out Criffel but the nearer fells of High Pike and Carrock Fell were very clear and terrain at the back of Blencathra showed its complexity which is not widely commented on.  Conversely, Knott lay straight ahead as a lump obscuring Skiddaw.

The top of Miller Moss had a modest cairn but my attention was held by Knott, taunting me with its apparent close reach but the ground to the tiny and rather inconsequential summit of Little Lingy Hill had no obvious path through the heather and hags before completing the dogleg to the day’s highpoint.

Helvellyn, Thirlmere and Lonscale Fell & Pike from Knott

Knott summit is a good viewpoint as the Vale of Keswick comes into view.  Lonscale Fell with its Pike were clear and behind me the Lingy Hut could be seen.  The descent from Knott steepened as the col was approached and the ascent of Little Calva took longer than I thought it might because of a combination of heather, bogs and marshy terrain underfoot.  The view to the south became much more interesting with Helvellyn, Thirlmere and Skiddaw House all clearly seen.  Across the Solway was misty but Cross Fell in the east was easily identifiable, despite its lumpen form.

Skiddaw House from Great Calva

I followed the fence around to Great Calva’s summit cairn and then to the south summit where the fence turned left to the descent of almost 1,000 feet.  No path was marked on the map but this is obviously a common way of travel, up, down or both, as there is a narrow but well-worn path.  Wiley Gill marked the end of the descent and only a two mile walk along the Cumbria Way was needed to get back to the car.

The Wrekin

It’s becoming a bit of a habit that when on holiday to somewhere new, I head uphill to reach the top of a local highpoint.  The cottage had a clear view of The Wrekin with its broad north-western slopes dominating the vista.

I made the short drive to one of the laybys below the landmark hill that is isolated from the other Shropshire peaks.  Straight ahead was the start of a track that led rightwards away from the road and uphill through the trees.  The incline was steady as the track wound its way upwards, as part of the Shropshire Way, past Wrekin Cottage before reaching the main ridge and its more open canopy as it led south-west towards the summit.  There had been some opportunities to take shortcuts off the track on some less defined tracks but that appeared to be in more dense forest and the ground underfoot looked rougher and probably didn’t need the extra erosion.

Passing through the lower Hell Gate led to the higher Heaven Gate, itself leading to the summit plateau.  Here the views open up with Caer Caradoc and The Long Mynd clearly seen and the more distant Malvern Hills presenting themselves as a challenge to be identified.

the tiled trig point

toposcope, true summit just left of the mast, trig point

The Wrekin is an obviously popular hill.  I saw families, dog walkers and runners among those either going up or down and most of them weren’t wearing “normal” hillwalking attire.  It’s easy walking and impressive summit views make it an attractive challenge for those with a couple of hours to spare.  The trig point has a base decorated with tiles and there is a toposcope to that point out notable features in the near and far distance.

the toposcope

The true highpoint lies about 100 metres north on a small mound overlooking the north-west escarpment.  I enjoyed the views from there for a while and rang my wife, getting her to look through the binoculars from the cottage to see if she could see me – she could!