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 North of the Spine

The day turned out to be the hottest of the year so far. 

So my decision to tick some northern Pennine outlying summits was probably a good one as three shorter walks allowed for some respite during the day

Thack Moor was the first singleton of the day.  An early start allowed me time to get lost on the lanes leading to Renwick but I was soon parked up on the main street and was heading uphill before 9’o’clock.  A good track followed by a good path led inexorably to the summit and posed no navigational problems and the trig point marked what most would assume to be the high point.  However, when Thack Moor was being surveyed and awarded Nuttall status, the actual summit was found to be 1 centimetre higher on the other side of the wall.  I carefully climbed over to a grassy sward with no obvious highest point but I used GPS to get to the “top” – tick!

Thack Moor trig point

the Dodds ridge with Great Gable behind

The views to the Lake District were hazy but High Street, Helvellyn, the northern Dodds, Blencathra, Skiddaw and Binsey could be easily identified.  There was a distant summit poking above the Dodds which I thought could have been Grisedale Pike but it turned out to be Great Gable.  I used my monocular to spot the summit of Grey Nag to the east, a Nuttall that I had walked up a couple of months earlier.  Cold Fell to the north – a target for later today – looked as if it had some significant summit furniture.

The descent back to the car was quick and I then drove up the quiet roads to Hartside summit before enjoying the descent to Alston along with many bikers – both the motor and pedal versions.  At Nenthead I turned uphill to the road summit and started my stroll to Flinty Fell.

The summit of Flinty Fell was previously determined to be on an old spoil heap which seems to be an obvious place for it to be.  But more recent surveys have found that it is in the middle of a significant plateau where there is no obvious highest point.  According to my GPS I got to within zero metres of the 10-figure grid reference of the summit but that point had no particular significance to the eye.

It’s got to be said that if it wasn’t on a list then Flinty Fell would be seldom, if at all, visited.  And I suspect that it gets few visitors now!  My “ascent” followed a significant dry spell and it was fine underfoot but after more typical British weather, the area would be horribly boggy. Despite the lack of positive attributes, it does afford good views of Cross Fell and the Dun Fells although you can see these just as clearly from the summit of the fell road!

The drive back down to Alston and then on towards Brampton was a treat in the Sunday afternoon sunshine.  I parked at the RSPB reserve at Geltsdale and walked down the track to the old quarrymen’s cottages at Howgill before attempting to follow the track marked on the Landranger map that has long become overgrown with bracken and is now all but impossible to follow.  I should have turned off at the more obvious path that looked as if it cut the corner.

The track marked above the zig-zags was a lot clearer to follow but the sun and the heat made for slow progress on my third walk of the day; time for some chocolate and jelly babies to consume some calories before heading once again uphill.

The track narrowed to a path, boggy in a few places and encroached upon by tall grasses and bracken until open moorland was reached.  A snake slithered off the path and into the undergrowth – I was too slow to identify the species but I suspect it wasn’t an adder.  Once past the fence the path led to a grouse butt and took a line to the left but soon petered out.  Then it was heather bashing to the fenceline which could then be handrailed to the summit.

Cold Fell summit

Accompanying the trig point was a substantial shelter and an impressive cairn.  Although hazy, the views to the Lake District were clear enough to identify the same summits that I saw earlier in the day from Thack Moor.  Looking at the photos later at home, Great Gable was as prominent and Scafell Pike and Lingmell straddled Clough Head.  As I was so close to the border the view over the Solway to Criffel was uninterrupted.

northern Dodds, Scafell Pike, Lingmell, Great Gable, Blencathra

I followed a path downhill that led directly to the grouse butt that I saw on my way up.  I rejoined my original track just below the butt and turned around to see that the path I had just descended could not be seen and it was obvious that the path I took on the way up was misleading.  I noted this for the future but it’s unlikely that I’ll ever be back here again.

The descent was very quick and I was glad to get back to the car, take off my boots and start the drive home.  Overall it was a long day which was made that much more enjoyable by doing the walks in the sun and after the recent spell of dry weather.

From Hartside

The summit of Hartside used to have a popular café but following a devastating fire in 2018 demolition was the result.  Just beyond is an abandoned quarry and it was from there that I started up the partly squelchy Hartside Height to the top; a minor summit at the start of a ridge leading to three Nuttalls.

Black Fell from Hartside Height

I carried on uphill on the west of the wall to be in the lee of the wind and could clearly see Thack Moor.  I was leaving this as the last summit of the day as it is such an outlier from the main ridge and depending on how I felt later in the day, I could leave it for another walk safe in the knowledge that my three target summits will have been ticked.  From the summit trig point of Black Fell the day’s route lay clearly in sight before me but the wall had been replaced by a fence and as there was now no protection from the wind I decided that the east side looked more favourable to walk on; I soon met some less than ideal ground and crossed back over.

Tom Smith's Stone is at a junction of 3 fences but to get there required the negotiation of a significant area of peat hags and groughs.  There must not have a been a significant amount of rainfall recently as most of the exposed peat was firm and without its usual suction that would otherwise try its best to keep hold of your boots.  Because of the clear visibility and my knowledge of the fence handrailing to the stone, I felt confident that taking a meandering route to make progress would not force me off course in the long run.  There were many micro routefinding decisions to be made but the challenge soon passed and I arrived at the waypoint.

At the stone I could clearly see Thack Moor and the corner-cutting route to its summit.  It would avoid the poor ground I had just covered but it wasn’t clear whether the ground would be problematic or not; I delayed my decision to when I returned here on the way back.

Tom Smith's Stone - "C"

The stone is about waist height with four sides and a tetrahedral top.  Each face has a letter carved into it:

A          Alston               on the side facing Black Fell;

C          Croglin              on the side face facing Croglin Fell;

K          Knarsdale         on the side opposite A and facing nowhere in particular;

W         Whitley             on the side facing Tom Smith's Stone Top.

From the stone to the summit of the prosaically named Tom Smith’s Stone Top is an easy incline with a few hags and groughs to overcome but they are not as bad as those navigated earlier.  The highpoint is not obvious but a small cairn supporting an old fencepost marks a point as valid as any other.  Grey Nag is the obvious summit ahead, just follow the fence and avoid a few more hags and groughs.

Grey Nag was the most impressive summit of the day with a stature not usually found in the Pennines but worthy of some of the finest Lakeland fells.  It is a rocky top with its trig pillar cemented into a plinth with a large domed cairn sitting astride the sturdy wall.

Grey Nag summit

Grey Nag summit

I descended to Tom Smith’s Stone and considered that time would be a major factor in heading for Thack Moor as it is quite a big out and back adding quite a few miles to the walk.  If I left it I could come back and walk up from Renwick, or I could tick it on the same day as Fiend's Fell and Melmerby Fell as I had to come back again to Hartside for these two anyway.  I had a good look at the 1:25,000 Explorer map and decided to leave it for another day.

For a lot of the walk I followed a faint quadbike track, leading to trays of medicated grit marked by short white sticks.  There were plenty of grouse about as they flew away from my oncoming footsteps, some leaving their escape to the closest of approaches.  Tussocks were a feature on the moor and I christened them “Boris heads” because they are domed, unkempt, unruly, dishevelled, blond straw lumps but they were useful because they marked firmer ground.

Walking back over Black Fell the distant heights became a bit clearer although the haze persisted.  Cross Fell with its snow patches dominated the view to the south.  In the Lake District, Blencathra, Skiddaw and the back o' Skiddaw could be made out as well as Ullswater and the Dodds range.  The visual challenge was Criffel but I could just make it out over the Solway.

Cross Fell from below Black Fell summit

a distant Lake District

Once again the Pennines proved their worth for solitude; I saw no other walkers all day.

Merrick

I’ve been on holiday to Galloway a lot over the past ten years or so but the only significant venture to what could be classed as elevated terrain was an afternoon excursion to bag the summit of Criffel.  The lure of Merrick had been gnawing away at me for some time and as it is a TRAIL 100 mountain, a midweek day out from our holiday cabin had been pencilled in the diary.

After parking at the Bruce’s Stone car park in Glen Trool I hastily lacing my boots to minimise exposure to the troublesome midges.  The path leading away from the road quickly left them behind and it wasn’t long before Culsharg bothy came into view.  I stopped for a quick look around when I spend my first night in a bothy, it won’t be here; although reasonably spacious, it just felt a bit tatty to me!  Perhaps Culsharg is not an unusual example and my future bothy experiences are going to be a bit disappointing.

Benyellary above Culsharg bothy

The path from Culsharg quickly reaches the forest road and enters the forest where the ascent starts in earnest.  As the path reaches open ground there is a paving stone marking the terrain boundary which is unique in my hillwalking experience.  From here it is an easy walk to the summit of Benyellary followed by equally easy terrain over the Neive of the Spit to the Merrick’s summit.  The views to the west coast as you traverse this high route are impressive with the granite outpost of Ailsa Craig drawing the eye.

the boundary stone

Neive of the Spit to Merrick

Ailsa Craig

There were a few other walkers on the way up but I soon gained solitude by descending Merrick’s south-east ridge of Redstone Rig, aiming for the Grey Man of Merrick, a geomorphological mimetolith bearing an uncanny resemblance to a bearded man.  A wide gully led me almost directly to it and I tried many angles to take the best photo, but the classic view is unbeatable.  Unusually for a rock feature, it was recognisable as a face from the left, the right and head-on.

the Grey Man of Merrick

I originally had a plan to walk over to the Murder Hole and follow the Gairland Burn path back to the car but I decided that the path marked on the Ordnance Survey Explorer map alongside Buchan Burn would be a shorter route take less time.  The path was hard to follow, which may explain why it wasn’t marked on the Landranger map and when it was clear to see, the ground was somewhat damp!  It turned into a muddy quadbike track in the forest and when the gradient eased it turned into very boggy ground.  At one point I went knee-deep into the morass and as I tried to regain my footing I split my trousers!  But luckily the forest road wasn’t too far away and the walk past Culsharg to Bruce’s Stone was quiet enough to hide my embarrassing attire.

Loweswater Fells

“The lesser heights and foothills of Lakeland, especially those on the fringe, are too much neglected in favour of the greater mountains, yet many of these unsought and unfashionable little hills are completely charming.”

I have walked over and stood on many of these “lesser heights and foothills” in the past few years and Alfred Wainwright’s introduction to Low Fell describes them perfectly.  The terrain is generally quite benign but the views, stood apart from the clustered higher fells, are often superb.

Easy lanes led to the slopes of Darling Fell followed by the crossing of Crabtree Beck to the Wainwright summit of Low Fell.  The cairned viewpoint a short way to the south leads the eye past water and mere to the heart of the high western fells.

Buttermere valley from Low Fell

Low Fell is one of those fells of which Wainwright’s summit differs from the true highpoint.  He obviously picks a point that he thinks has more merit due to view or terrain, and I wonder how many walkers miss their tick because of an alternate summit.  Mellbreak and Whiteside are two more examples.

This ridge’s second Wainwright of Fellbarrow is easily reached by strolling over the Birkett tops of Sourfoot Fell and Smithy Fell.  The descent off Mosser Fell needs care to avoid a mauling by the gorse and lower down has some boggier ground to negotiate.

Knock Murton is another fell, neither a Wainwright nor an Outlying Fell, which offers an easy walk with superb views as a reward.  Such was the clarity of the air, details could be picked out on Criffel over the Solway and individual tops on the Isle of Man’s North Barrule ridge could be picked out.

Isle of Man from Knock Murton

Loweswater Fell

Loweswater Fell is an area of high land marked on Landranger 89 to the south of Loweswater.  My interest in it was due to there being five Wainwrights near to each other that I hadn’t previously climbed.  And as I only had ten left to tick, the prospect of knocking half of them off in one walk was too good to turn down.

This particular group of hills is bounded by Loweswater in the north, Floutern Pass in the south, Crummock Water in the east and the national park boundary in the west.  None of it reaches 1900 feet, let alone 2000 feet, so it should lend itself to an easy day out but don’t let that seemingly innocuous statistic lull you into a false sense of security.

Easy tracks led to the screes of Mellbreak’s Raven Crag which petered out on the edge of an impressive precipice, dropping away into an other-worldly gully.  Further up on Dropping Crag were some super viewpoints looking up to the head of the Buttermere valley.

Fleetwith Pike and Buttermere

Two distinct cairns crowned the north top of Mellbreak but which marks was the true summit is open to debate.  Whichever it is, neither is the actual summit of the fell, that honour resting with a rather nondescript flat spot over half a mile away.  Although a little hazy, the views were good and hills as far away as Merrick could be seen across the Solway Firth.



Criffel



I dropped into Mosedale, reluctantly losing the height already gained and rested at the Mosedale Holly Tree – the only tree in the Lake District named on an OS map.  It flourishes in the midst of some very boggy terrain.  I soon gained the bridleway and crossed the footbridge leading towards Floutern Pass but it was hard to take even a single step on dry ground, with the morass being home to common lizards of which I disturbed a couple.  The next dry ground was found only on the south ridge of Hen Comb.  Dropping from the summit, again losing hard-won height, soon found me battling boggy ground again, this time on Whiteoak Moss which was the wettest ground of the day.  Another ascent, although smaller this time, led to the top of Gavel Fell.  At least the boggy ground was behind me now and only a little more ascent was needed as I traversed the tops of Blake Fell (the day’s highpoint), Carling Knott (not a Wainwright but on the FRCC 244 list) and finally Burnbank Fell.  The views were clearer in the early evening sunshine with Criffel defining the horizon.



Loweswater - Millennium Sculpture



Grasmoor



  The descent to Holme Wood and Loweswater

  gave good views of the west “face” of Grasmoor

  and the final plodding kilometre of roadwalking

  was only interrupted by a short diversion to the

  discretely impressive Millennium sculpture at

  Loweswater village hall.