Chapelfell Top & Westernhope/ Three Pikes & Great Stony Hill
Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:02 amAlthough I was working on Saturday, the decent forecast and the long days made it a good opportunity to head up to my parents place in Appleby and make some more inroads into the North Pennines.
Arriving at Swinhope Bridge at 3pm, first on the agenda was Chapelfell Top and Westernhope Moor.
After following the Swinhope Burn for a while it's a steep and pathless ascent besides a ruined wall up to the ruins of Cockran's Cabin where I made a rough and again pathless crossing over to the two cairns marking the top of Chapelfell Top.
Pretty soon I picked up the boundary ditch and the fence line which I followed over some very peaty ground indeed over towards the Nuttall top of Fendrith Hill. The ditch at times (but not always) provided the easiest walking here but recent dry weather had made a lot of the peat quite dry and walkable on.
After Fendrith Hill there were more peat hags to negotiate as I passed the ski area and the slight rise of Dora's Seat before hitting the minor road at Swinhope Head from which Westernhope Moor looked a long way!
The out and back to Westernhope Moor was easy from here and the ground is somewhat easier to walk on than that on Chapelfell Top with the fence and faint tracks aiding me all the way to the Trig Point - which is nearly two miles from the road.
This bit of the walk was however easily the most boring and does become a bit of a never ending plod over grass - whereas the hag hopping on the earlier hills had at least kept me engaged and interested. It was with some relief that I eventually got back to the road and followed it down the beautiful Swinhope valley.
With some daylight left and well aware that conditions underfoot were pretty good, I decided to prolong the day by driving round to Lingy Hill to do two more Hewitt's before nightfall.
After following the road up from Lingy Hill I eventually struck off up the pathless moor to the skyline until I reached the cairns on Three Pikes.
I've heard bad things about the walk from Three Pikes to the good track at Coldberry End but today it wasn't too bad with the peat pretty dry and the bogs avoidable by slight detours.
As always on this kind of ground the effort is never really reflected on the map as it doesn't show all the slight up's and down's into the hags or the diversions around wet areas.
Eventually I hit Coldberry End and from here Great Stony Hill was an easy short pull away and marked the best top of the day with a big cairn and freshly painted Trig Point (must have something to do with the ease of access).
I decided not to follow the obvious track back to the road as this would have meant a longer road walk at the end of a hard afternoon and instead decided to follow roughly the line of the right of way marked on the map over Grasshill Common.
There's no obvious path but the going is easy enough and before long I'd hit the disused mine and worked my way back to the road and car.
Two decent walks these on very remote and quiet hills although it has to be said the enjoyment factor could go right down if you went up them after a prolonged spell of rain!
Arriving at Swinhope Bridge at 3pm, first on the agenda was Chapelfell Top and Westernhope Moor.
After following the Swinhope Burn for a while it's a steep and pathless ascent besides a ruined wall up to the ruins of Cockran's Cabin where I made a rough and again pathless crossing over to the two cairns marking the top of Chapelfell Top.
- Swinhope Burn
- Following the old wall up
- The ruins of Cockran's Cabin
- The two cairns on Chapelfell Top - both looked pretty similar in height.
Pretty soon I picked up the boundary ditch and the fence line which I followed over some very peaty ground indeed over towards the Nuttall top of Fendrith Hill. The ditch at times (but not always) provided the easiest walking here but recent dry weather had made a lot of the peat quite dry and walkable on.
- The boundary ditch offered easier walking at times
- Fendrith Hill ahead
- Fendrith Hill Trig Point looking to Cow Green Reservoir and Meldon Hill
After Fendrith Hill there were more peat hags to negotiate as I passed the ski area and the slight rise of Dora's Seat before hitting the minor road at Swinhope Head from which Westernhope Moor looked a long way!
- More peat hags
- Ski area
- Westernhope Moor ahead
The out and back to Westernhope Moor was easy from here and the ground is somewhat easier to walk on than that on Chapelfell Top with the fence and faint tracks aiding me all the way to the Trig Point - which is nearly two miles from the road.
This bit of the walk was however easily the most boring and does become a bit of a never ending plod over grass - whereas the hag hopping on the earlier hills had at least kept me engaged and interested. It was with some relief that I eventually got back to the road and followed it down the beautiful Swinhope valley.
- Trig Point on Westernhope Moor
- Heading back to Swinhope Head with Fendrith Hill and Chapelfell Top ahead
- Descending into Swinhope
With some daylight left and well aware that conditions underfoot were pretty good, I decided to prolong the day by driving round to Lingy Hill to do two more Hewitt's before nightfall.
After following the road up from Lingy Hill I eventually struck off up the pathless moor to the skyline until I reached the cairns on Three Pikes.
- Heading up pathless slopes from Lingy Hill
- The summit of Three Pikes comes into view
- This good cairn overlooking the valley is not the actual top but can't be far away
- To the East is another cairn which marks the true summit of the hill
I've heard bad things about the walk from Three Pikes to the good track at Coldberry End but today it wasn't too bad with the peat pretty dry and the bogs avoidable by slight detours.
As always on this kind of ground the effort is never really reflected on the map as it doesn't show all the slight up's and down's into the hags or the diversions around wet areas.
Eventually I hit Coldberry End and from here Great Stony Hill was an easy short pull away and marked the best top of the day with a big cairn and freshly painted Trig Point (must have something to do with the ease of access).
I decided not to follow the obvious track back to the road as this would have meant a longer road walk at the end of a hard afternoon and instead decided to follow roughly the line of the right of way marked on the map over Grasshill Common.
There's no obvious path but the going is easy enough and before long I'd hit the disused mine and worked my way back to the road and car.
- Great Stony Hill now ahead
- The good summit (by North Pennine standards) of Great Stony Hill
- Descending
Two decent walks these on very remote and quiet hills although it has to be said the enjoyment factor could go right down if you went up them after a prolonged spell of rain!
This one would have been right up my street back home 
