Hobcarton End, Sand Hill and Ladyside Pike

[andy63]

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3 Nuttalls in the north western Lake District which I hadn't done before.Fortunately they join up to give a nice little horseshoe walk over Grisedale Pike and Hopegill Head.
I started from a small parking area on the Whinlatter Pass (the wooden post says 'Hobcarton'), walking up the forest road to the left.

Hobcarton

After about a mile there's a path (not shown on the map) which turns off to the right.

Turn right here.

The path goes up through the trees and onto a ridge which climbs up towards Grisedale Pike.One of the minor summits on the ridge is the Nuttall top of Hobcarton End.

Hobcarton End summit.

The top of the hill was in the cloud, so not much of a view.

Grisedale Pike summit

From Grisedale Pike I followed the ridge over to Hobcarton Crag, making a short detour from the path to visit Sand Hill,and on to Hopegill Head.

Hobcarton Crag

In better weather I might have extended the walk to include Whiteside, but with poor visibility it didn't seem worth it, so I headed down the rocky ridge leading to Ladyside Pike.

Ladyside Pike summit

Further along the ridge I turned right to follow a fence which goes steeply down into the valley. This would have been hard work going uphill, but the soft heathery ground made it a painless descent.

Descent

From the bottom of the fence, a path goes through 2 gates and soon leads onto a forest road which winds its way down to the car park.