Dodging Abigail in the North Pennines

[andy63]

According to the forecasts it was due to get a bit windy - so windy that the Met Office decided to name it Storm Abigail. However it looked like the might be half a day of good weather before the storm started, and I hadn't climbed any hills for a while.
To minimize the risk of getting blown off a cliff I decided to go for Thack Moor. I got an early start and arrived at the village of Renwick at about 10am.

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Thack Moor from Renwick: 6.5 km, 390m ascent, 1hr42min.

There's a disused tip not far from the top of Thack Moor, and the track leading up to it from Renwick makes it a very straightforward ascent,.

Renwick

Ascent

Disused Tip (?)

Thack Moor summit

Descent

Having got back down in less than 2 hours I didn't feel like I'd done enough walking to justify the long drive up, so I drove a few miles to Hartside Summit on the A686 and headed up to Black Fell.

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Black Fell from Hartside Summit: 5.6km, 141m ascent, 1hr26min

Hartside summit

With the start point being so high, Black Fell wasn't much of a climb, although it was a good exercise in bog-hopping.

Black Fell summit

Thack Moor from Black Fell

Hartside Top Cafe (which I think must be the highest cafe in England) doesn't normally open on Thursdays in winter, but for some reason they decided to do an extra day, so I got a pie and chips for lunch before driving back home.

Hartside Top Cafe

[The English Alpinist]

I met Abigail too that day! I was in the Udale Fells. Quite windy, and rain came in in the afternoon, but was worse the next day. Love the name 'Thack Fell' lol Nice summit pics, interesting to see that area.

[dav2930]

That was a stroke of luck Hartside Café being open - most unusual at this time of year! Looks like you got some pretty decent weather up there before Abigail blew in. Were you not tempted to follow the 'ridge' (moor) from Thack Moor to Black Fell and make a circuit of it? Would have been rather boggy though, I suspect. I was thinking of doing these two this weekend but the weather's just too awful. Can't believe I haven't been up them before

[trailmasher]

Thanks for the report and photos they will come in handy for reference when I do 'em in the near future, probably as a circular route

[ChrisW]

Turns out snubbing your nose at Abigail was the right thing to do Andy, it's hard to believe so many folks were out on the hills with the storm warning but there's certainly a few post here to show that, sometimes we just gotta get out there