Hart Fell Horseshoe

[Auld Bagger]

Based in central Scotland I naturally looked north for the munros. This year my main walks have been on Corbetts and a couple of weeks back I did not venture out due to the bad weather up north. I completely forgot about the Corbetts in the south and I missed the opportunity for a walk as the weather had been better there. On Monday 25th October 2021 I did not make the same mistake as the best of the weather was to be found in the south.
I was ready for a reasonable start to the day and I checked the weather forecast before setting off. This had changed and the morning had poor visiibility on the summits until 1pm. The walkhighland route was estimated to take approx 5 to 6 hours and with the sun setting at 5.50pm I decided to start at midday with an open mind and would make a decision at 3pm based on my progress of the walk.
I parked the car at Blackshope Cottage opposite the private parking bays, put on my walking boots and set off at 11.50am.
A short distance along the A708 towards the farm you go through a gate to a field before the main barn and head up the east side of the Hang Burn.

The going up the side of the burn was on a steep grass path and in places eroded to soil. The ferns were dying back making it a easier to see the path however it was slow progress as the recent rain had made underfoot conditions difficult.

Once past this section the gradient eased off making walking easy.
The steep start to the walk meant that it wasnt too long before you gained some views.

The view across to Under Saddle Yoke and Saddle Yoke

I had been walking for 1 hour I had just walked over 1 mile into the 8 mile circuit. I was a bit concerned about my progress but reassured that better progress would be made as the worst of the ascent was behind me.
I continued up and passed a small cairn and I followed the path around the head of the horseshoe again with some great views down along the glen.

The path was easy to follow with a fence and wall running alongside which leads all the way to the summit of Hart Fell.

From the top of Falcon Craig looking to the ascent of Hart Fell.

With 3.5 miles behind me I made it to the summit of Hart Fell and it was not 2.30pm yet so I decided to continue on and complete the circuit.

At the trig point of Hart Fell.

A good grass path and track made the walk easy although it was still very wet underfoot. The big advantage is that you hear the small burns flowing freely hidden out of sight by the long grass and so easy they were easier to step over.
The gradual ascent to Under Saddle Yoke did not offer any views but once at the summit of this Donald there were great views all around.

The view back across to the start of the horseshoe.

With the short but steep ascent of Saddle Yoke left the remainder of the walk was along a grass ridge. I dont know if it was the relief that I was going to make it back to the car in daylight but I found this the most enjoyable part of the walk and with the setting sun it had some of the best views of the day.

[Gordie12]

Nice horseshoe route although from memory I only had visibility for the last half of the day.

You managed to get some good photos with the odd ray of sunshine peeking through on to the surrounding hills.