trailmasher wrote:Beda Fell and Angletarn Pikes.gpx
Chris and Eva arrived at our house around 8:30am along with a third member who will accompany us on our walk today. I've never met him before and he comes with the name of Rob, but he's amiable enough, friendly, and chatty which fits the criteria for a decent days walking in the fells. Eva chose the walk for today and from a list of three she decided to go for this one as 'it looks interesting'.
As they had driven to here from Middlesbrough after an early start we thought that it was only charitable to offer them a hot drink before we set off to find the very picturesque valley of Martindale under full cloud cover - although it was dry - and with a brisk cool breeze blowing. There is a large grassy area on the left as you drive past the old St. Martin's Church -don't get confused with the 'new' St Martin's which is set amongst trees at the foot of Hallin Fell - which was built in, or around 1536 on the site of a previous chapel of the early 13th century. The large Yew tree that is in the old graveyard is around 1,300 yrs old and is reputedly the oldest tree in Britain. If anyone would like to find out more facts regarding this tiny church then please follow this link,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Martin%27s_Church,_Martindale1 - St. Martins Church sited below Steel Knotts.JPG
2 - Looking into Martindale with The Nab centre and mist over Wether Hill and High Raise.JPG
Once booted up, bags on backs, and Rob had eaten his third sandwich we set off down the tarmac road which leads up to Dale Head after first crossing over the small stone Christy Bridge which gives access over Howegrain Beck.
4 - Winter Crag and Nickles behind the farm house and Christy Bridge.JPG
Once over the bridge we turned north up the grass and bracken covered bank and followed the good path under Winter Crag and onto Howestead Brow where there is a wonderfully placed bench seat allowing great views over part of Ullswater, Hallin Fell, Howtown, into Boredale on our west side and Martindale to the east.
6 - Hallin Fell from under Winter Crag.JPG
It's too early on in the walk to stop and sit so we continued up and over the small rocky knoll of Winter Crag…
8 - Chris and Eva on Winter Crag.JPG
and then follow the undulating path through the small rocky outcrops and areas of bracken to reach the larger grass covered dome of Allen Crag/Low Brock Crag. Looking back we can see rather more of Ullswater and the small rocky outcrop of Winter Crag looks more impressive from the south side than the north.
9 - Low Brock Crags-Allen Crag.JPG
11 - Looking down the ridge from Low Brock Crags-Allen Crag.JPG
Rob is forging ahead but never having been here before keeps stopping for confirmation of the correct direction before dashing off usually with a sandwich or some other delight hanging out of his mouth. His bag must be like the Tardis!
The path that we are following runs south until we reach Beda Head from where it turns slightly south east to head for Bedafell Knott and finally Angletarn Pikes from where we will drop down to Angletarn.
12 - Beda Head in sight.JPG
As we leave Allen Crag we continue on the good path, sometimes on grass and others on rocky area that can be slippery when wet. Once across the small easy col between Allen Crag and Beda Head we have more of a climb now with a bit of very easy scrambling over rock before reaching the summit cairn at 509 metres. A few metres to the east and south of Beda Head there is an old stone shelter which I presume was for the shepherds in the good old days and from where a decent view of Boredale Head can be found.
14 - The old shelter at Beda Head.JPG
All along the length of Beda Fell the bulk of Place Fell is obvious on our west side with the rocky top of Steel Knotts - Pikeawassa - to the east, whilst towering over that are the massive hills that carried the old Roman Road over Loadpot Hill, Wether Hill, Red Crag, and High Raise with the ridge and the road eventually running around to Rampsgill Head, Kidsty Pike and High Street.
17 - Place Fell-Boredale Head and beyond from Beda Head.JPG
Upon leaving Beda Head the path begins to descend slowly down to cross over the wet area of Beda Fell before climbing once again over a changing path of grass and stone to reach the minor top of Bedafell Knott.
18 - Beda Fell ridge-Boredale Head-St. Sunday Crag in mist.JPG
19 - The Nab and Rest Dodd overlooking the head of Martindale.JPG
Rob is still digging into his bag for food and the way he eats he should be 3 metres tall and weigh 102 kilos -16 stone in old money - but he's not too bad for his age. Then again he is an ex-boxer and does roam and run the fells whenever he can.
21 - Approaching Beda Fell Knott.JPG
The mist has started to appear now. One minute everything is blotted out in a white cloak but within seconds clears again which is most disconcerting as in the time it takes to frame a shot the mist is back.
We can now see down into Boredale Hause and can see the troops of multi-coloured figures arriving at the Hause and peeling off in whichever direction they have planned for today. Thankfully most of them are heading for the closer top of Place Fell whilst the others are too far away from us to destroy our peace and solitude.
24 - A view over Boredale Hause towards Ullswater and Place Fell.JPG
As we approach Angletarn Pikes…
23 - Angletarn Pikes north top.JPG
the weather breaks and the mist is joined by the rain. It is not too bad but combined with the strong breeze a person would soon get wet through to the skin so it was on with the wet gear. Eva is doing well for only her second time out on a hill and most importantly she doesn't moan about anything, not even the wind and rain.
The north top of the pair of Pikes is reached via a short climb up the grass covered side of the grass covered rocky summit from where - when and as the mist determines - we can get a good view over Dovedale and its surrounding fells, Caudale Moor, Gray Crag, Dove Crag, Hartsop above How, and many more are in sight.
We move on to the similar south top from where the view of Angletarn brought gasps of surprise and wonder at the sight before them, and even though the weather is not at its best the tarn always looks good.
It's nearly time for lunch so we set off down to the tarn side path following one of the many paths/sheep trods down the fell side until reaching the main path where we turned and followed it roughly south west towards Buck Crag from where we shall pick up a faint path which will take us down and under Heck Crag and across the screes.
28 - Angletarn view from Buck Crag.JPG
A great view down the length of Martindale is to be seen from the top of the iron post topped Buck Crag.
29 - The view down Martindale from Buck Crag.JPG
I have been a bit remiss here as I have forgotten about the imposing bulk of The Nab, which because of its size puts most of the other hills here to shame. It is massive and is pointing down the valley like the upturned prow of a ship. Maybe this one and Fleetwith Pike have the same parents?
Rob is going like Red Rum and I have to call him back as he rounds the side of Satura Crag in a cloud of mud. When he returns I tell him that I may have to break one of his legs to slow him down if he doesn't calm down. He simply smiles and transports something edible from a pocket to mouth.
As it is quite windy here at the side of the tarn I suggest that we take shelter in the rocks just below the path as we drop down into the hollow just west of the dry stone wall which we will follow after we have re-fuelled. By the time that we had finished eating the rain had stopped and as we have dropped down between the hills into the valley the wind has eased making for a pleasant descent across the screes…
31 - Crossing the screes below Heck Crag.JPG
32 - Rowan tree and Buck Crag overlooking the head of Martindale.JPG
and down to cross Heck beck where there is evidence of a Romano-British enclosed stone hut circle of which the dry stone wall runs through the centre of it.
From this point our way now follows a wide green lane which more or less follows the dry stone wall…
34 - Looking back into the head of Martindale and our way down.JPG
all the way down to the farm of Dale Head from where we have just over a 2 kilometres of a walk back to the car on tarmac. On this part of our walk we saw more people strolling along the road than we have seen in all our time walking the fells today. We passed a couple of ruined farms and one which has been renovated before reaching the car to find that a few more people had a similar idea to us. Unless they belong to the road walkers?
This has been a good walk over easy ground which was mostly dry. Beda Fell is quite undulating as a step back and surveying it from the valley bottom shows. Depending from where one starts a walk over Beda Fell from just south - or north - of Bedafell Knott there is a short cut down into Martindale which runs down the east flank of Beda Fell to terminate at Dale Head and the tarmac road, whilst on the west side the path will lead you down to Boredale Hause from where the path down through Boredale can be taken or drop down into Patterdale via Side Farm.
The weather has been good to us all in all and we got back to the car in a dry condition after a fairly short walk with some mist and a little rain but the strong wind has been a nuisance, well more of a strong breeze really.
On the way home I asked if anyone would want to have a look at the Mayburgh Henge at Eamont Bridge as we pass through there anyway. Rob the food junkie is interested in things of that nature so yes, we called in to have a look at it.
It is of Neolithic/Bronze Age antiquity and is constructed out of a massive circle of stones - or cobbles - collected from the River Lowther and stacked up to 6.5 metres high with a diameter of 117 metres. There is now only one very large standing stone left of the four that was in the centre of the circle.
35 - The centre stone of Mayburgh Henge near Eamont Bridge.JPG
More information can be found by following the link below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayburgh_Henge 