An Afternoon Walk up Thack Moor

Friday 26th September 2014 

An afternoon walk in the North Pennines up England's shortest 2000ft peak 

Distance: 8km; Ascent: 390m; Dry, sunny and windy; Solo

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After my lunchtime walk up Cold Fell earlier, I drove around the western side of the Pennines to reach the village of Renwick, where I parked on the road near the church.  I set off walking again at around twenty past three this afternoon, and headed up the steep little minor road towards Outhwaite.

Trees on way up from Renwick

A few hundred metres up the road, where the road takes a sharp right, I continued straight on along a reasonable stony vehicle track heading straight for Thack Moor, with good views SE towards Melmerby Fell.  The track allowed me to reach an altitude of around 500m pretty quickly, where the track ended.  From here a faint path led onwards up the steep grassy slopes to reach the moorland ridge above.

Track heading for Thack Moor

Melmerby Fell from southern slopes of Thack Moor

At twenty past four, around an hour after I set off walking, I reached the the trigpoint on summit of Thack Moor (Nuttall), where it was quite cold and exposed to the still bitter wind.  I nipped over the wall to visit the true summit of the hill, which is an unmarked area of grass on the north side of the wall.

Thack Moor trigpoint

Grassy summit of Thack Moor

On this side of the wall I was able to shelter from the wind and hence stopped for a short break to admire the excellent expansive views out over the North Pennines and the Lake District, although the sky was pretty hazy in the direction of the latter so it was hard to pick much out.  I also spotted what looked like a wooden nesting box in the base of the wall, which seemed like a strange spot for it - I wondered what it was for?

Nesting box? on Thack Moor

Returning to the southern side of the wall, I headed SE along the wall with excellent views towards Watch Hill and Black Fell.  The ridge onwards over these moorland hills looked quite enticing this afternoon, but it would have to wait for another day as it was now late in the afternoon and I doubted there would be enough daylight to complete the circuit!  Plus I'd already arranged to give Andrew a lift from Penrith down to Stockport.

Black Fell from Thack Moor

Watch Hill & Black Hill

I followed a fence SSE down the slopes of Renwick Fell to pick up a wet and muddy footpath, which gradually improved as it headed SW back towards Renwick.  Around two kilometres after joining this path, I rejoined my outward route and retraced my steps back towards Renwick.  I arrived back at the car at around half past five, a little over two hours after I left it and headed for Penrith station to pick Andrew up.  It had been a pleasant day's walking in the North Pennines, and I now had only 12 English 2000ft peaks left to climb!

Black Fell

A Lunchtime Ascent of Cold Fell

Friday 26th September 2014 

A short circular walk up the most northerly 2000ft peak in the Pennines 

Distance: 9km; Ascent: 430m; Dry, sunny and windy; Solo

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I had booked the day off work today, with the intention of going out hill-walking so I was quite pleased to discover that the weather wasn't forecast to be too bad :-)  I therefore decided to return to the North Pennines for the day to climb another couple of my outstanding 2000ft peaks in that area.  This entailed a drive north up the M6, stopping at Tebay for coffee and a Cumberland sausage roll, to reach the RSPB's Geltsdale car park at Clesketts, from where I set off walking at around quarter to midday.

The track up through the bracken above Howgill Beck

It was warm and sunny as I headed along the vehicle track towards the hills, and I soon reached Howgill from where the ascent proper began.  A grassy track aided my progress up the bracken covered slopes of the NE side of the Howgill Beck valley, past the RSPB's Bruthwaite viewpoint and on towards the moorland above.

Ruined building above the Howgill Beck valley

The track became fainter and wetter as I ascended further, and soon I reached a broad col to the north of Cold Fell itself.  From here I headed up the slopes to the south, whilst trying to avoid the worst of the peat hags!  At 1pm I reached the the trigpoint on summit of Cold Fell (Nuttall, Marilyn), where it was lovely and sunny but quite cold in the biting wind.

Summit of Cold Fell

I stopped for lunch in the windshelter, whilst admiring the expansive views out over the northern Pennines, Northumberland and southern Scotland.  I could also make out the Lakeland Fells to the SW, but they were quite hazy in the September sunshine.

Currick on Tindale Fell

After ten or fifteen minutes on the summit, I decided that I'd better get a move on as I still had a second walk planned for today, up Thack Moor to the south of here.  To vary my route I decided to head to the prominent tall currick on Tindale Fell that's pretty much due north from Cold Fell.  From here I began to descend steeply northwards, with excellent views down to Tindale Tarn and on over Hadrian's Wall country.

Looking down to Tindale Tarn

Tindale Tarn from the northern slopes of Tindale Fell

After a steep descent, in places through tall grass and bracken, I reached the valley floor at a vehicle track junction near the SW corner of Tindale Tarn.  A short ascent NW along the track lead to Thorn and then back to the car at Clesketts, where I arrived shortly after half past two after a pleasant few hours walking.

A Misty Friday in the Eastern Lakeland Fells

Friday 4th April 2014

A circular walk up High Street from Troutbeck 

Distance: 24km; Ascent: 1290m; Misty with light winds; with Martin

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It had been a while since I'd last been walking in the Lake District, so I made plans to head up to the Eastern Fells today in the company of Martin.  We set off walking from Church Bridge shortly before 10:30am and navigated (mainly successfully!) our way through a holiday park to reach a bridlepath, which ran roughly parallel to the main road on the other side of Trout Beck.  After a number of kilometres of reasonably level walking, we crossed Hagg Gill and ascended steeply into the mist to reach the summit of Troutbeck Tongue (Wainwright, Birkett).

Jesus Church, Troutbeck

Cairn on Troutbeck Tongue

A reasonably level ridge led northwards for around a kilometre and a half, before we picked up the line of the old High Street Roman Road and soon became to ascend steeply.   Around half way up the 500m ascent we took a short break for lunch in the mist before continuing on up to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag (Nuttall, Wainwright, Birkett).

We decided to detour northwards to visit the trigpoint on the summit of High Street (Nuttall, Marilyn, Wainwright, Birkett), before following the wall back in a SSW direction.

Thornthwaite Crag beacon

On the summit of Thornthwaite Crag

By the trig point on High Street

By the trig point on High Street

After almost re-ascending Thornthwaite Crag, we followed the ridge southwards in the mist to reach the summit of Froswick (Nuttall, Wainwright, Birkett).  It was relatively quiet on the fells today and so far we had only seen a handful of other walkers.  We stopped for a quick break on Froswick before continuing on to the twin cairns on the summit of Ill Bell (Nuttall, HuMP, Wainwright, Birkett).

Cairn on Ill Bell

Now we just had one 2000ft peak left for the day, and we soon reached the summit of Yoke (Nuttall, Wainwright, Birkett).

On the summit of Yoke

Descending the south slopes of Yoke we soon dropped out of the cloud :-)  We estimated that the cloud base was now at around 500m, having risen from below 300m when we set off walking this morning.  A pleasant walk across the Garburn Pass brought us to the summit of our next hill: Sallows (Dewey, Wainwright, Birkett).

Looking south towards Sallows

On the summit of Sallows

We followed a wall around the head of the Wardless coire with good views back to the cloud covered eastern fells.

Looking back north towards the High Street fells

Heading for Sour Howes

After a slippery stile crossing we reached the summit of Capple Howe (Birkett), our penultimate hill of the day.  A walk of a few hundred metres NW brought us to our last summit of the day: Sour Howes (Wainwright, Birkett).

On the summit of Sour Howes

Windermere from Sour Howes

We descended across Applethwaite Common with good views over Windermere to reach the Garburn Road, which we followed back down to the main road, emerging a short distance to the south of Church Bridge.

On the Garburn Road

It had been a good day's walking despite the low cloud.  Many thanks to Martin for the company; his somewhat more prompt account of today's walk can be found here.

Dales Way - Day 5: Sedbergh to Oxenholme

Sunday 23rd February 2014 

A wet walk from Sedbergh to Oxenholme via the Crook of Lune  

Distance 22km; Ascent: 400m; Very wet and windy; Solo

See tracked route in new window

I set off walking in drizzle shortly before 9am, but it wasn't long before the rain became heavier and I had to don waterproofs.  Due to the weather I opted to skip the first section of Dales Way today and instead followed the A684 to Lincoln's Inn Bridge, where I rejoined my planned route.

Lune Viaduct

The route north alongside the River Lune was pleasant, and I crossed underneath the disused Lune Viaduct before spending a couple of kilometres away from the river.  I then returned to the river, following a path through the riverside woods, past a number of kayakers paddling downstream.

In the Lune Gorge

Shortly before 11:30am I reached the Crook of Lune bridge, where I stopped for a quick break.  By now the forecast heavy rain and strong winds had well and truly set-in, and I decided to abandon my original plans to continue across the, almost certainly, very muddy fields to Burneside.  Instead I opted to walk along the minor roads to Oxenholme station, from where I'd have a greater choice of trains to catch home.

Crook of Lune Bridge

The River Lune at Crook of Lune

I walked into driving rain and wind for much of the next couple of hours as I made my way SW to reach Oxenholme station shortly after 2pm.  I shall return at some point to walk from Oxenholme to Burneside, where I'll pick up the Dales Way and follow it to the finish in Windermere - probably later in the year.

Dales Way - Day 4: Ribblehead to Sedbergh

Saturday 22nd February 2014 

A morning moorland walk followed by an afternoon walking down Dentdale 

Distance 28km; Ascent: 480m; Dry until late afternoon; Solo

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I had a long day ahead of me today so I set off walking from The Station Inn at around 8:30am after a good breakfast.  I decided that I didn't fancy retracing my steps back along the road, so instead came up with an alternative route over to Dentdale, via Little Dale and Blea Moor.

Train crossing the Ribblehead Viaduct 

Ribblehead Viaduct in front of a misty Ingleborough

The track alongside the railway made for reasonable walking, with good views of the impressive Ribblehead Viaduct, on the famous Settle to Carlisle line.  There were plenty of other walkers out today, although they all seemed to be heading for Whernside so I soon left them behind as I continued on up Little Dale.

Looking back down into Little Dale

Soon I began to ascend on the track, which here runs pretty much directly above the Bleamoor railway tunnel, past a couple of large cylindrical air shafts for the tunnel.  Shortly after passing the third air shaft, I left the track and ascended over pathless moorland to reach the trigpoint on the summit of Blea Moor (HuMP, Dewey).

Trig point on Blea Moor

On the summit of Blea Moor

There were good views from up here, although I imagine they'd be better on a clear day; however I didn't linger long as there was a bitterly cold wind.  I headed NE to reach the high point of the fence, before roughly following it back NW to the track.

Air Shaft for Blea Moor tunnel above upper Dentdale

I passed another air shaft; this one was adorned with scaffolding, solar panels and various gadgets - I wonder if it is some sort of automated weather station?  I continued to descend through the woods to reach the northern portal of the railway tunnel.

Northern portal of Blea Moor Tunnel

I passed Dent House Farm, before crossing over a grass covered bridge to reach the minor road in upper Dentdale.  I quickened my pace as I walked NNE along the road, with good views of Dent Head Viaduct and Artengill Viaduct.

Grassy bridge in upper Dentdale

Train crossing Arten Gill Viaduct

Soon I stopped for lunch in the sunshine, on the wall between the road and the river.  After refuelling, I continued down the pleasant dale complete with the River Dee tumbling down the various limestone steps in the river bed.

River Dee

Looking down Dentdale

River Dee

After quite a bit more walking along footpaths and road, I reached the lovely cobbled village of Dent, where I took a well earned break in the picnic area.  It would have been nice to call into one of the enticing looking teashops, but I was now well and truly up against the clock if I was going to get to Sedbergh before nightfall.

Dent

Memorial in Dent

St Andrew's Church, Dent

I left Dent at around 4:15pm and headed NW along the road to rejoin the Dales Way, which I followed across fields for the next few kilometres before joining a minor road on the south side of the valley.  There had clearly been a lot of rain recently as this road was quite flooded in several places - I was glad I was wearing gaiters!

Flooded road in lower Dentdale

As the light was beginning to fade, I opted to divert from the Dales Way for the rest of the day and instead follow the road into Sedbergh where I stayed for the evening.