On the Howgills again

Having previously ticked six of the seven Howgill Nuttalls, the addition of the Moss and Wright summits to my ticklist gave me an opportunity to traverse the main ridge to claim the extra six summits.

I parked at Sedbergh and over three miles of tarmac lanes took me past Howgill to Beck House where I turned off and started uphill on more traditional hillwalking ground.  The path rose around the head of the small Whins End valley to the south-west(-ish!) ridge of Fell Head, where the slope steepened but led easily to the first summit of the day – Fell Head West Top.  This is the best place on the fell for views but it isn't the highpoint; that being Fell Head which sits at an unremarkable point further along the broad ridge.

Fell Head

What remained now was a straightforward promenade in calm air and under a blue sky along the watershed ridge all the way to Calders.

I ticked Bush Howe again from where the next four minor summits could be seen undulating toward The Calf.  Each of the four – Bush Howe South Top, Bush Howe Far South top, White Fell and White Head Fell South-East Top – was little more than a bump with their highest points being subject to some debate, so broad and flat each of them was.  Not too troubling in fine weather, in poor visibility it would be challenging to be sure of standing on the true summits.

At this stretch of the walk, I realised that I wasn't enjoying chasing such insignificant and trifling points on the map.  This would turn out to be my last walk that had Moss and Wright summits as objectives.  This was, in its own way, a hillwalking epiphany.

Being a weekday on a less popular range of hills, I saw only a few people all day, and most of them were in the distance.  Once again, the value of choosing areas away from the more popular honeypots rewarded me with the solitude that enriched the day spent away from busy city life.

The Calf summit

I strolled over The Calf and Bram Rigg Top before taking in the final minor top of the day – Great Dummacks.  After this summit, all of my future objectives would be more prominent summits on more worthwhile hill-lists.

Calders came and went before the start of the long descent back into Sedbergh.  I walked over the top of Arant Haw and dropped down to the col linking it to Winder but as it had been a long day under the sun, I decided to forego its attractions and head for home.

A Herd of Sleeping Elephants

The Howgills had long been a target of mine after countless trips past them to the northern Lake District and Scotland and with John and Anne Nuttall describing a route to tick all seven Nuttalls, I decided to make an attempt to complete all seven summits in one day and also to tick one of my #trail7summits objectives – The Calf.

Cautley Spout

Moonrise

Paths from the Cross Keys Hotel ease their way to higher ground with good views of Cautley Spout ahead if you.   The cliffs of Cautley Crag provide a contrasting landscape to rolling hills of the high tops and ridges that will come to dominate the day.  A faint path to Yarlside from Bowderdale Head was the first significant climb of the day leading to a vista of endless rounded summits.  The descent towards Kensgriff was a knee-jarring prelude to some easy promenading before the climb to the next Nuttall summit of Randygill Top.

Yarlside summit

Kensgriff and Yarlside

The path down to Bowderdale gave me a good view of the next ascent on the route – over Hazelgill Knott – and I didn’t fancy it at all as it was just a “short-cut” before another descent to gain the start of the walk up to Fell Head.  At the beck I got the map out to gauge my options and decided to walk up the bridleway leading up to the plateau of The Calf and leave the two Nuttalls of Fell Head and Bush Howe to another day, probably starting from the Howgill side of the fells.

The steady path reached a pool on the plateau and I spied some walkers heading for The Calf from the north-west and noticed that Bush Howe might be an easy tick, so I skirted the plateau and the path led directly to the nondescript summit of Bush Howe and its pitiful cairn.  The path to the TRAIL 100 summit of The Calf was an easy walk and I carried on towards Bram Rigg Top, making a beeline across the heather slopes to find the cairn – even less significant than the one topping Bush Howe.  Finding it amongst the grass was a bit of a challenge and in poor visibility it would be very hard to trace.  Bram Rigg Top has got to be one of the poorest summits I’ve ever reached.

The Calf summit

Calders, the day’s day’s Nuttall, was quickly ticked and I turned to traverse the edge of the Great Dummacks plateau before taking a direct aim over Lattera towards Cautley Beck.  The Nuttall’s route down takes in Cautley Spout but I wanted the shortest way back to the car, even though my knees didn’t thank me for it !