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Not sure where to go to avoid the crowds (we're leaving the Lakes until later on in the year when the holiday season calms down a bit
) I had a look at the map to see where in the Howgills we could explore and not cover too much familiar ground. Carlingill Bridge was familiar as a starting point and good parking is virtually guaranteed so what could we do from there? I saw there are some lower named tops on the western side accessible from Carlingill Bridge so plumbed to have a wander over them, one thing was certain, they'd be quiet
The Howgills are very easy to get to from Elland, it takes just over an hour to get to Tebay, not planning to be out for too long, my little route would be just right as an excuse to get out and visit somewhere off the beaten track.
Tops visited:-
Linghaw
Whin's End
Brown Moor
Castley Knotts
Fell Head
We arrived at Carlingill Bridge in good time, there was nobody about so we got prime parking, we got ourselves ready and were off heading for Knowles, the weather was just right, bright, dry, no wind and pleasantly warm
Ready for the off
There's a good track/path up knowles, it's a bit steep in parts so height is gained quickly, there are good views west across the motorway to Greyrigg and north to Blease Fell, Uldale Head all visited in the past.
On the way up Linghaw we could see a couple and dog in the distance, not close enough to speak to but once on the top we could see them heading up Fell Head, we were going to turn right along a marked path on the map when we arrived in the dip between Linghaw and Fell Head. On the way down we could see our intended path, it looks well used.
It is a good path, I'll have to do a bit of research but it looks for all intents and purposes like an old packhorse track, very well established and fairly wide.
It was easy going, we left it at around SD640976 and wandered down a quad track to Whin's End.
On Whin's End the views back to the bigger fells is good, the motorway can be seen snaking south, it's a lonely place.
Our next hills, Brown Moor and Castley Knotts
We retraced our steps started to make our way to Brown Moor, we met a lady who had come up from Fairmile Gate, we had a good long chat about the Howgills, she lives locally so knows the hills and has used them to keep fit during lockdown, lucky so and so
her real wish was to get up to Sutherland and explore Assynt this year, so we wished her good luck I hope she gets the opportunity.
Not wanting to lose too much height the trip around the slopes of Fell Head towards Brown Moor was a bit hard on the ankles, we were aiming for the flat ground around SD645973, there are traces of a path but not much more than an animal track, once in the dip we stopped for a rest.
The walk up Brown Moor is steady over heather and tussocks, there's even a tiny cairn on the summit and some good views
from the top the next leg to Castley Knotts looked a bit of a trek, we had a break and then set off.
Its surprising how far you can travel in the Howgills without too much effort and we were soon on Castley Knotts, there are good views back to the main Howgills so it was worth the effort
We had a snack then retraced our steps, next port of call was Fell Head
I'd looked at dropping down to Long Rigg Gill and ascend Long Rigg to get to Fell Head but decided to re-trace our way up and take a direct assault on the slopes of Fell Head and work our way across to the path going up Fell Head from Whin's End, it looked steep but, what the heck, lets give it a go
It wasn't that bad to be honest, we soon got up following a series of animal tracks and met the path at around SD645979.
from there it was an easy climb to the cairn.
The views were good too
We were wanting our lunch by now so dropped down Blake Ridge to find a spot out of the cooling breeze, found it and settled down for a munch and the views.
Once refreshed we set off down picking up the main path to take us back to Carlingill Bridge.
A nice quiet and enjoyable walk in a lovely environment, our next visit will be to the eastern side to do some of the less frequented tops above Sedbergh, looking forward to that
