The Lowest Mountain

For a long time it was suspected that Calf Top in the Yorkshire Dales may reach the height threshold for mountain status – 2,000 feet.  A GPS survey in 2010 concluded that the summit was short by 2 centimetres but the adoption by the Ordnance Survey of a new geoid model in 2016 updated the height to exceed 2,000 feet by just 6 millimetres!

Starting from Barbon Village Hall car park – make sure that you a donation to the honesty box – and looking up I saw that Calf Top was in cloud but otherwise the weather was pretty benign and I hoped for a good track to the summit.  The lower meadows through Barbon Park looked very nice but were a bit of a quagmire although the squelching was easily escaped by gaining just a little altitude.

It was a fairly steep pull up to Eskholme Pike Cairn but after reaching this waypoint in less than an hour the gradient eased as I neared the cloud base but the breeze started to pick up.  Most of the steep walking was now behind me even though less than half of the ascent had been done.  The walk to the summit was easy despite a small boggy area to cross and being in cloud from the 400 metre contour.  The final yards used the fence and ruined wall to handrail unerringly to the trig point as the wind blew from the west with the cloud clear to see as it travelled across my path.

Just below the summit I met two fellrunners coming down.  These were the first people I had seen on the hill on any of my three post-lockdown days out this year.

I reached the star-adorned trig point and then crossed the fence to the true summit marked by a small cairn.  With summit photos taken I soon departed after putting my gloves on in the cooling wind.

Calf Top summit trig point

I dropped out of the cloud below Castle Knott only to re-enter it near the top of that minor summit before quickly dropping out again.  Descending to Eskholme Pike Cairn afforded good views of Barbon and obvious rain in the direction of Lancaster.

Although the walk lasted just over 4 hours I still felt justified to treat myself on the way home.  Greggs have a magnificent jam doughnut called the “Pink Jammie”; I heartily recommended it!

Calf Top was my final southern Dales summit and it felt like a milestone had been reached.  For the rest of the year I’ll be concentrating on the remaining Pennine summits and ticking the Cheviot summits would be a welcome bonus.  I’m just hoping that the forthcoming summer weather is accommodating!

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.

Mallerstang

This was the day, the day when the third COVID-19 lockdown ended and travel beyond our local area, although officially discouraged, was allowed.  And after five months since my last day on the hills I decided to head to the Pennines which would likely be quiet of other walkers and social distancing guidelines could easily be followed.

The high ground to the east of Mallerstang Edge has four Nuttalls and the broad ridge didn’t look to have any technical ground but the weather made up for the apparent easy nature of the terrain.  The MWIS forecasted gales, low cloud and persistent rain; they weren’t wrong!

I parked the car at Cotegill Bridge and conditions were awful.  The cloud base wasn’t far above me and the wind was blowing heavily from the west, pushing sheets of fine rain towards the hills.  I don’t usually plan to start walking in the rain and I briefly considered heading straight home but I knew that I would rue the missed opportunity.  I put my gaiters and waterproofs on and was soon heading uphill towards Hell Gill Bridge.

I walked uphill roughly parallel to Jingling Sike before crossing the stream and aiming for Ure Head.  The ground was boggy for most of the way to the summit of Sails where a circular triangulation station marking the top was submerged in water.  Little Fell was a short and simple walk away and was the first Nuttall summit of the route, but the way to the next Nuttall, Hugh Seat, was a bog trot.

There was a shelter at the depression between Hugh Seat and Archy Styrigg and I settled down for some lunch.  Once on the move again navigation was quite straightforward – with the wind coming from the west and my route heading north, as long as my left elbow was cold then I was going the right way!  There were no walls to afford any shelter and a tall slim cairn below Archy Styrigg gave me some respite from the ceaseless wind for a couple of minutes.  I reckon that the wind was a constant 30 miles per hour so far but it got worse from here – probably up to 40 mph – with a constant roar in my ears from the flapping fabric of my hood.

After Archy Styrigg the ground to High Seat had some areas that, in the continuing murk, looked like tarns.  It was an illusion; they were patches of grey grit and stones that looked like tarn beds but not like the usual black peat dried up tarns occasionally found in the Pennines.  They looked quite firm but they contained enough moisture to leave footprints almost an inch deep.

At High Seat I decided to descend to Outhgill and finish the walk along the road, just to get out of the wind as soon as I could.  I had contemplated walking down the top of the Mallerstang edge itself, above Hangingstone Scar, but that would add a couple of miles more in the wind and I was fed up of it.

I took aim for the gap leading to Slow Brae Gill and had to take care on the steep slope that allowed me to lose height quickly.  Marshy ground led to the ford after which the way to the hamlet was easy.

The day had been characterised by wind and bog and this was not a walk for rubbish footwear.  If your boots weren’t waterproof, they would have soon been found out.  Luckily, my new Altberg Tethera boots were only on their second outing and kept my feet completely dry despite the conditions.  However, the incessant wind-driven rain prevented me from taking any photos, for fear of ruining a perfectly good camera but despite the rubbish weather, it was better to be out than sat at home working.

A 2020 Summary

2020 was a year like no other in living memory.  The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic spread around the world causing millions of deaths and resulting in the restriction of freedoms we used to take for granted.  These restrictions, including lockdowns, hugely limited the opportunities to head for the hills.

At the start of 2020 I had 280 summits on my combined ticklist of TRAIL 100, Nuttall, WASHIS, Dawson, Dewey, Bridge and Buxton & Lewis summits.

The publication of Mark Richards’ updated and revised Fellranger guidebooks added 3 new summits to my list.  TRAIL magazine’s reboot of its TRAIL 100 list added another 5.

Overall I :

            went on             6                                  walks

            walked              47.6                              miles

            ascended          17,890                          feet

            walked for         29 hrs 50 mins            (including rest stops !)

            reached            11                                 individual summits that I hadn’t been to before

            reached            3                                   individual summits that I had been to before

            reached            8                                 summits on my combined ticklist

            reached            0                                   previously unclimbed TRAIL 100 summits

            reached            3                                  previously unclimbed Nuttall summits

            drove                678                             miles on trips to and from walks

The only significant achievement of the year was a re-completion of the Fellrangers.

All of this meant that after additions and my walks, my ongoing ticklist remained static at 280 summits.

Half a Horseshoe

 It had been a long time since I was last on any high Lakeland fell and I used the excuse of ticking a couple of ex-Nuttall summits above Longsleddale to revisit the eastern half of the Kentmere Horseshoe.

Starting from a busy Sadgill we started up the byway and turned right at its highpoint towards Shipman Knotts and the main ridge.  A small scramble through Wray Crag led to more open ground before the final incline up to the summit, followed by an easy walk to my first objective of the day, Goat Scar.  The views from this high-level promenade towards the Kentmere trio of Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick were magnificent and reminded me of the days gone by of spending a lot of time in the Lake District ticking the Wainwrights.  Lakeland has such a different character to the Pennines which is where a lot of my more recent ticking exploits have been undertaken.

Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick

The summit of Kentmere Pike was a pleasant spot to eat lunch.  This was a leisurely half hour, sunning ourselves, enjoying the conversation and savouring the views towards England’s loftiest massif.

The mile to Harter Fell was as relaxing a high level walk as I’ve had in the Lake District.  We started to come across other fellwalkers as the ascent from Mardale was obviously the most popular route up.  Following the broad north-east ridge gave us the opportunity to savour the ever more expansive views down the valley towards the magnificent Haweswater.  Why is it that the best views in the national park are from high ground looking down valleys containing a lake?  It is a formula oft-repeated across the district.

Haweswater

Instead of following the path directly down to the Gatesgarth Pass, my companions indulged my ticking ambitions and accompanied me to the ex-Nuttall summit of Adam Seat.

As we descended into Longsleddale, the shelter from the breeze prompted us to shed some layers under the sun.  I would imagine that the track back to Sadgill would be a boring trudge in poor weather, but the company and blue skies made it a wonderful end to the walk.

Two Dales Outliers

Looking at my map of summits to tick, there were only three left in the southern Yorkshire Dales.  Two of them were Birks Fell and Dodd Fell Hill.  I had the opportunity to tick them on previous walks but I had opted to shorten those days – one only a fortnight ago – and leave them for another time.  I decided that time was now!

Starting from Buckden a short walk to Redmire led to the bridleway which takes a diagonal line to the plateau.  I cut across to trig point on Firth Fell, serial number S5499, which is just one less than the last trig that I had visited on Yockenthwaite Moor (S5500).

Firth Fell trig point

The drystone wall past Birks Tarn led to a ruined hut that is only faintly marked on the OS Explorer map.  From there it is only a short walk to the summit cairn which can be clearly seen on the skyline.  Pen-y-ghent was the most significant mountain in view from the top and Pendle Hill could also be seen in the distance.

Pen-y-ghent

I walked to Birks Tarn and dipped my feet in before strolling along the edge of the plateau, enjoying the views over Buckden to its namesake Pike.  The descent back to Buckden on the bridleway was a steady amble to end a very pleasant walk.

I drove to the junction of Cam High Road and Oughtershaw Road from where I started out for Dodd Fell Hill.  The ground was boggy in places but I made my way alongside the wall without incident.  Heading just about true north from the wall the terrain became a bit more challenging and at one point my right leg plunged knee-deep into the bog; luckily I was wearing gaiters.

At the trig point the views were expansive with the Yorkshire Three Peaks stretching across the skyline and the Lake District fells were clearly seen, particularly the Scafells and Great Gable.

Dodd Fell Hill trig point

Pen-y-ghent and Ingleborough

the Scafells and Great Gable

Those views made up for the return walk – plenty of peat hags and a long slog along over a mile of tarmac.

The Boggiest Summit

Starting from Buckden, today’s plan was to bag a couple of Nuttalls that overlook the very pretty Wharfedale with Yockenthwaite Moor being first on the list.

I followed the Dales Way on the bank of the River Wharfe to Hubberholme before the first uphill of the day, a good track up to Scar House.  Above the intake wall I never saw another person all day.

I roughly followed a way close to the walls at the side of Strans Gill but staying out of the fenced-off areas enclosing new plantations as part of a Langstrothdale initiative.  None of the recently erected fences were marked on the map but they didn’t add any difficulty to the navigation needed to head towards the summit Yockenthwaite Moor.  The Nuttalls suggest following the wall to its end and then undertake some bog-hopping among the peat hags but I had aimed off and took a more direct route towards the top.  As I neared the trig point in the mist, the hags just to the east assumed a formidable obstacle.  Taking a straight route was impossible and it was a serious challenge to keep my feet dry and avoiding plunging into the peat.  I reached the trig point without much incident but the Nuttalls’ assessment that this is “the boggiest hill in Yorkshire” appeared to have some merit.

Yockenthwaite Moor trig point

Leaving the top and negotiating some more peat hags I took aim for the small building marked on the map.  This turned out to be an abandoned shepherd’s bothy with no roof but it otherwise appeared to be a sturdy structure on an isolated and windswept hillside.  It is worth noting that an approach to the summit directly from the south rather than from the east would be a little more enjoyable and easier on the feet.

I continued to the group of four tarns marked on the Ordnance Survey’s Explorer map only to find them completely dry.  I managed to take some screenshots of my GPS track showing me having walked through the two biggest!

I descended past a limestone crag and having dropped out of the mist I could see the way ahead, up Hagg Beck towards Birks Fell.  This was my plan at the start of the day but I couldn’t steel myself to take on another sizeable slope uphill, especially into the murk, so I decided to leave that summit for another day.

The Dales Way back to Hubberholme was a very pleasant low-level walk with upper Wharfedale showing off its charms with various some falls within the river.  Perhaps I should consider the Dales Way as a route once my legs get too old for the hills!