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The route for these four Hewitts begins by the side of the minor road at Rowantreethwaite Beck. The signpost directed me along the Old Corpse Road which I used to gain height rapidly onto Mardale Common. Perhaps I broke off across the fell a little early and there may be a better access further up the main path on to Selside End. Certainly the going was tough across the lower slopes albeit I quickly reached the main climb up the north western ridge of the hill. Once Selside Pike is reached the route to Branstree is obvious and much easier going after the initial steep climb of the morning.
So far the views had been dominated by High Street but as I turned south east towards Tarn Crag it was good to have a new perspective of the hills on the east of the Kentmere Horseshoe (Harter Fell and Kentmere Pike). The route drops steeply off Branstree which inevitably meant a challenging uphill section involving about 160 metres of ascent on clear paths to Tarn Crag and, ultimately Grey Crag.
Now, if I was doing an end-to-end I am sure there would be a good drop off down to Longsleddale, but as I needed to find my way back to Haweswater I turned around at Grey Crag and followed the fence to the right of Tarn Crag to drop down to the path which crosses my earlier route and heads down to Brownhowe Bottom. I quite enjoy following a contour line at times so I actually cut across to the junction at Gatescarth Pass but it was tough going and I would strongly recommend following the formal paths in this area, even though it require some initial height loss and then an uphill section.
The path down to Haweswater is a relatively quick if stony descent, eventually reaching the car park at the end of the minor road. It was then just a pleasant one mile return to the car with fine views across the lake. Just take care on the road to Shap, it's worthy of a steady 25 mph to travel it safely.
