free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
After a year away from any real new hills, a short and easy climb of an indistinct outlying Pennine Hewitt. I’ve learnt by now that it isn’t worth getting too clever with the route choices up here…
There’s a bit of usable roadside parking on the B6276, near where a well-kept shooting track heads up north. This covers two-thirds of the distance (and most of the ascent) up Bink Moss very comfortably, even fairly attractively on a nice day in heather season - there’s a pleasant wooded valley and a few manmade structures to look at away from the beige track. Leave this at its peak on a sharp bend, up a short steep bank, and a flat moor stretches out in front with not too much obvious uphill – but a couple of parallel lines of white posts head off in roughly the right direction. Having tried something like both lines, the best ground (away from headwaters) and the more direct route is just left of the southerly posts. It’s not all that boggy or difficult and the summit – with its characteristic wellies (these seem to have been there years; I wonder if they are somehow replenished each time they wear/blow/get taken away?) – is in view from some way out.
- The track up Bink Moss
- Hargill Beck
- Standards
- Little Fell & Mickle Fell from the summit
This was a 99% certainty to be a walk of seeing no-one, but somehow someone else hit the top at just the same time as me. Of course also a mountain-collector (who else would ever come here?), with a daunting-looking route to follow, but much more esoterically also a knowledgeable fan of 90s Conference football which was much more of a (pleasing) surprise! Straight back down nearly the same way, and that (only about 7km, 260m ascent) was the day’s real plan done and another tick in the book - just 3 of 316 to go.
- Grouse country
The forecast rain hadn’t quite set in though, so spent an afternoon on a reasonable (half Pennine Way) route around Lunedale, Grassholme Reservoir, and the flanks of Harter Fell. It’s only a couple of miles from Bink Moss, but given the ground in between I wouldn’t think of linking them. All pleasant enough (if a bit damp and grey) with some tricky PW pathfinding at the top of the fellside.
- Grassholme Reservoir
- Tees Railway viaduct
- Middleton from the Pennine Way
- Teesdale
- Kirkcarrion
- Grassholme
