The Mallerstang Triangle

To the east of the Howgill Fells lies a large expanse of moorland which is known by some as the Mallerstang Triangle.  It is made up of the combined high ground of Wild Boar Fell and Swarth Fell which is separated from the larger plateau of Baugh Fell by Holmes Moss.  On the map it looks like a long day and in reality it turned out to be longer.

Heading up to Sand Tarn from Uldale I realised that the ground would normally be wet underfoot but the lack of rain over the past few weeks made the going quite pleasant and was all the better with the good views over to the Howgills with only a slight breeze to lessen the warmth of the sun. 

Sand Tarn

The water level at Sand Tarn was low and after wandering to its north end I discovered that the tarn was actually two bodies of water, separated by a narrow beach that contained a few completely redundant stepping stones.  From the tarn a takes a rising traverse from the beach up to the escarpment.  It looks steep but the view is foreshortened and the path is easy to follow.  The summit of Wild Boar Fell sits back from the edge and a short stroll over very easy ground gains the top.

Two Sand Tarns

Howgill Fells and Sand Tarn

Wild Boar Fell summit

 A rebuilt trig point within a three-quarter circular shelter would appear to be the summit but the true highpoint is an embedded rock about one hundred feet away and I had to use my GPS to find it.  The views, although hazy, were panoramic.  I could see the Yorkshire Three Peaks, Calf Top, the Howgill Fells, the northern Lake District summits and Morecambe Bay.

Wild Boar Fell summit trig & shelter

distant Ingleborough & Whernside

Swarth Fell from the north

Swarth Fell was the next summit and it took a counterintuitive dog-leg route to get there.  The ground was good, passing the tarn at the col and then rising up to some rocky terrain at the top; unusual for a moorland summit.  Walking over to Swarth Fell Pike was easy and the true summit was an unremarkable mound of heather some way short of the cairn.  I turned back and aimed for the descending wall that took me over some boggier ground as I approached Holmes Moss.  This descent would have been a nightmare if there had been any recent rain!

Rawthey Gill Foot is an idyll under blue skies with its attractive pools that might tempt a dip on warmer days.  I crossed the beck on some submerged mossy slabs and after a short rest started to make my way uphill again, looking to climb 200 metres quickly to complete the bulk of the ascent of Baugh Fell and reach the east of the plateau.  I roughly contoured to some cairns below Knoutberry Haw and headed straight for Tarn Rigg Hill.

The high point of Tarn Rigg Hill is another typically vague Pennine summit.  According to my GPS I got to within 1 metre of it where there is a tiny outcrop.  There might be higher ground on the other side of the wall but I’m claiming the tick.

Looking back from whence I came it was immediately apparent that I’d walked a long way from Wild Boar Fell.  And there was still quite a way to go.  The views were extensive and the lowering sun was glinting off the windows of Sedbergh. 

Knoutberry Haw looked higher than Tarn Rigg Hill but it is 2 metres lower.  I followed the walls to that summit, marked by a mossy trig point, and was glad to have ticked the day’s targets.  The clear visibility made it obvious how much more walking I still had left to do.

Knoutberry Haw trig point

I kept on the trackless plateau to West Baugh Fell Tarn which, although quite open, looked to be a reasonable wild camping spot.  From the tarn I carried on northwards and crossed Slate Gill before crossing a fence into a new plantation in the hope of descending to Rawthey Gill.  This wasn’t the best idea as the gill was protected by a vertical cliff!  So I covered the rougher ground until I could descend easily and then followed the attractive river and its falls to the footbridge that led to the private road that took me back to the car.

West Baugh Fell Tarn, Wild Boar Fell & Swarth Fell

My own variation of Naismith’s Rule said that this route would take just over eight hours; in the end in took ten!

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 !