Walkhighlands

Joe and I set off from the small parking area which is at the side of a small stone building which is either for electricity or water distribution. Leaving the car we went through the gate leading onto the old road and followed it more or less north for around 650metres before turning south onto the path leading up to Longlands Fell summit at 483metres. It is cold and misty with snow and ice underfoot, and the higher we climb the colder and stronger the wind gets.

Alfred Wainwright says in his Northern Fells book that "anybody who cannot manage this short and simple climb is advised to give up the idea of becoming a fellwalker," he obviously didn't attempt it on a cold and windy sub zero temperatures winters day!

From Longlands we continued on south until reaching the top of Lowthwaite Fell at 509metres where the wind was pretty brisk. Casting my eyes over the frozen, barren looking landscape I commented that it wouldn't be a good place at this time of year to have an unfortunate incident happen to you as these fells must be fairly quiet in winter especially in this kind of weather. Lots of black ice about so had to watch where we were putting our feet.


As areas of these fells are quite wet one benefit regarding the zero temperatures is that the ground is frozen thereby minimising the chances of getting wet feet. From Lowthwaite Fell we dropped down slightly to reach Broad Moss at 488metres took a heading southeast and went on to Little Sca Fell at 624metres followed by Great Sca Fell at 651metres.



Our next port of call was to be Frozen Fell, but on the way there we decided that because Knott was so close it would be a shame to miss it out so off we went bearing more to the south to reach the summit cairn at 710metres. Its wide open up here with no shelter whatsoever - it's the same all along these fells - and the wind is now getting annoying. The mist is dropping, and combined with the wind it makes it feel even colder so we're glad to be well clad in warm clothes.

Now for Frozen Fell. It was a bit of a mission getting across the fell side what with the snow drifts, deep heather, and large clumps of grass and moss, etc but we got there without incident and decided that the fell was aptly named. We was aiming for Trusmador for lunch and could have made a quick exit down the fell side into Frozenfell Gill but Burn Tod was our next objective. So despite the wind and rough going over this stretch of fell we again set off south passing over the top of the beck to eventually reach the top of the fell at 595metres. Frozen Fell is some 30metres higher than Burn Tod but it felt as though we was climbing and not dropping down onto the next fell.




From the summit we dropped down until we picked up the zigzag path which led us directly to Trusmador where we found shelter from the wind in the old sheepfold at the side of Burntod Gill. Two chaps came along - locals out for a stroll - with their lurcher type dog which was obviously looking to share our sandwiches, but to no avail as we have worked too hard to get here and just give 'em away.

It seems strange to find a place like Trusmador amongst these rolling fells, and even though I have been here a couple of times before I always wonder at it. Three gills and the valley leading down Trusmador in a more or less north, east, south, and westerly directions with the shaly face of Meal Fell and short rocky ridge leading up to Great Cockup, craggy faces going down Burntod Gill and, according to the two local chaps - but we didn't go to see it - a 20metre high waterfall in the rocky reaches of Frozenfell Gill. Neither is it marked on the OS map.

Looking at the wide old tracks around here I would presume that it was once a busy place with some sort of mining or quarrying going on but I can't find anything to endorse that theory.
Refreshments over we crossed the gill and made our way west up the stony path which soon turned to snow covered grass and led us onto the summit of Great Cockup at 526metres





All downhill - more or less - from here on as we headed off to Orthwaite Bank at 348metres and then a short climb up onto Little Cockup from where we then went off north down the fell to meet the path which runs above the intake wall.



We followed this sometimes boggy path to cross the River Ellen and then turned north to walk under Lowthwaite and Longlands Fells until eventually arriving back at the car after another enjoyable day on the fells.

A nice walk, trailmasher. It's good to go back o' Skidda' now and again.

I bumped into Elizabeth Norton when I did this group of fells. She's done 27 rounds of Wainwrights this millennium. Quite an achievement!

simon-b wrote:A nice walk, trailmasher. It's good to go back o' Skidda' now and again.

Yes, a bit far out to do 'em so often but good to keep familiar with them especially in summer when the heather is blooming.

Thanks for reply AJ and that's some mileage and height gain so well done her.