I thought that an early start would get me to the Tan Hill Inn at a quiet time but I hadn’t anticipated that the inn’s nearby parking areas would be so popular with campervans as an overnighting location.
The terrain surrounding the inn, although obviously hilly moorland, is largely gently undulating, making navigating using landmarks quite challenging. It’s easy to follow, as I did, obvious tracks that go in the rough direction, but I soon had to correct myself to follow, at least approximately, the bridleway marked on the OS map. A narrow path didn’t exactly follow the printed right-of-way, but as it headed in the roughly correct direction, it was easier to follow it than to stick rigidly to the OS’s delineation.
As I followed the path the day could best be described so far as grey. At an abandoned mineshaft, thankfully made safe by a sturdy metal frame embedded into a concrete base at its top, I had a brief rest before continuing over Mirk Fell Edge before dropping to William Gill and following the bridleway to Great Scollit Hill. It was now time to turn southwards and follow a beeline towards Water Crag.
There were lots of recently mown rectangles of moorland that, although a bit boggy, made walking a little easier. I linked these alongside a line of grouse butts and made my way over Backstone Band to the trig point. I thought that the shelter to the east perhaps looked a little higher so I walked there and back to make sure that I had reached the highest point.
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| Water Crag trig point |
Although only about 2 kilometres away, Rogan’s Seat looked distant. I headed to the fence and started following it. The ground underfoot wasn’t brilliant but it could have been a lot worse before I reached the bulldozed track, no doubt put in place to enable grouse shooters to more easily atrophy their leg muscles!
To be fair, it was a welcome change to walk along the track but it wasn’t long before I left it to make my way toward the obvious peat hag that is the summit of Rogan’s Seat. A small cairn marked the top and was decorated by 5 white painted pebbles. Each had a name and a year; the obvious family name being “Rogan”.
I’m not a fan of this personal memorialisation of mountains. The Great Gable memorial plaque is a different thing; it honours those who fell for the nation. “Leave No Trace” is a mantra that is becoming increasingly promoted and followed and painted stones are becoming increasingly prevalent on summits, even ones as remote and infrequently visited as Rogan’s Seat.
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| Rogan's Seat summit cairn |
Now at my farpoint and not overly appreciating the terrain traversed so far, I consulted the map to see if there was a more direct way back to Tan Hill. Nothing was obvious so I resigned myself to retracing my steps. I cut the corner before Water Crag and visited the “Pile of Stones” to the west of the summit but apart from that slight detour, the way back was a reversal of the way out. Snack stops at William Gill and the mineshaft brought some respite from the uninspiring terrain, even though the sky was clearing and becoming much less dull.
The walk turned out to not fill the day so I took the chance to drive down West Stone Dale and up to Lamps Moss to scout out the parking for a future walk to Nine Standards Rigg. In the afternoon sun, it was one of the most picturesque drives I have ever had.
