Flinty Fell - Dead Stones - Killhope Law - The Dodd

[andy63]

I wanted to get my Hewitts score up to 100 before the end of the year so I decided to do these 4 hills near the village of Nenthead in theNorth Pennines.

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Starting from Nenthead, the first hill, Flinty Fell, was reached by a short steep walk up a minor road, which goes very close to the summit. According to hill-bagging.co.uk, the mound of earth which is the highest point is probably man made, and the 'natural' summit is somewhere in the grassy area to the south.

Flinty Fell

There's a small quarry to the south of the summit area. I followed a track down from here and then up to Perry's Dam reservoir.

Perry's Dam

From here there's a fence line which can be followed up to the minor summit of Nag's head.

Ascent of Nag's Head

Looking at the map, the fence along the ridge line looked like a good way to get to Dead Stones. Unfortunately it turned out to be a quite horrible peat bog. I eventually found a way through to the summit, which has a very large cairn and a stone shelter.

Dead Stones summit

Dead Stones summit shelter

One of the easier parts of the ridge walk

I then went back through the bog and continued along the fence to the car park on the A689. There's a plastic mesh path on the east side of the wall which makes the going a bit easier for part of the way.

I don't know if there's an easy way up Killhope Law. I followed a fence through some recently felled woodland and then headed straight up the hill. This was hard work due to the rough ground.

Killhope Law

Killhope Law summit

From the summit I then headed straight down towards the road to the north. The ground seemed to get wetter as I went further down, and I was relieved to reach the road without having to swim.

Compared to the previous two hills, the ascent of The Dodd was quite pleasant, thanks to Isaac's Tea Trail, a long distance path which goes fairly close to the top, although there is a tricky bit of bog-hopping just before you get to the summit cairn.

Isaac's Tea Trail

Dodd summit

I had to hurry a bit on the way down as it was starting to go dark and the torch I'd got ready the night before hadn't found its way into the bag in the morning.

[colgregg]

Thats a pretty gutsy effort for this time of year!! Even in the height of summer the boggy bits can be dire. With the exception of Dead Stones, which I did as part of my Burnhope seat walk I did the others as three short walks making use of the car which gave me the chance to bag Killhope Law, The Dodd and Middlehope moor in 1 day. The easy way up Kilhope Law is from Allanheads it being a well made track all the way - The Carriers Way - (hence my taking advantage of the car).

[ChrisW]

Great stuff Andy, though you found some bogs I'm surprised you didn't find many more