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We've been looking at the Howgills as somewhere new to explore for a while now, they are similar to the hills in the Southern Uplands to look at but on a smaller scale, every time we see them from the M6 we keep promising ourselves a day out in them sometime.
We had an exploratory foray in them a couple of weeks ago after the lockdown rules had been eased a bit (there's a report in my blog) and found them pleasant to walk in, not wanting to go too far from the car at the time we managed to spend enough time getting a feel for them.
When studying the map afterwards there were a couple of tops we could have included if we were fitter, Rispa Pike and Hand Lake so, on this occasion, I wanted to try and include them on a slightly longer route
I chose the area around Carlingill Bridge as the start point, there's a few convenient parking spots on the side the road as you head south from the bridge, we parked around SD625995
When we arrived there were about six cars already parked up, so it was busier than it was two weeks ago, there were no cars at all last time. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky, it was warm with a slight cooling breeze. We got ready for the off.
This was our planned route and, just for fun, a steep start up Blease Fell just to get the legs warmed up
P5310025 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Tops visited on our day out:-
Blease Fell
Hare Shaw
Rispa Pike
Middleton
Hand Lake
Linghaw
A view to Weasel Gill from the car
P5310024 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
We crossed Carlin Gill at around SD627998 and headed up along side the fence, there's a slight path so we weren't walking through the emerging bracken. About 30 or 40 meters above where the fence takes a sharp left turn a path appears running across the hillside and heads up above Grains Gill, you can see it from the road, so instead of a pure direct assault as I'd originally planned, we followed this path, it was becoming too warm for anything "direct" today
Views from the traversing path, Carlin Gill and Fell Head
P5310026 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
t'motorway
P5310027 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Weasel Gill
P5310028 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
We left the path a bit further on and headed westish towards the top of Blease Fell, this was not as steep and, as it turned out, it hardly added much distance to the route.
On the top there were good views of the bigger Howgills and across the motorway to Grayrigg
P5310029 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
P5310030 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
P5310032 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Our next target was Hare Shaw.
P5310031 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
There are good paths/Quadbike tracks all over the Howgills, on days like today there's no problem seeing where they go and the way to Hare Shaw was no exception
On the way over there was a group of the locals taking it easy, the first of a few we saw during the day.
P5310035 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Hare Shaw summit
P5310038 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
On the top we could see our next objective, Rispa Pike
P5310040 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
The Northern Pennines
P5310041 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
and Grayrigg again
P5310042 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Our planned route over was via Archer Moss
P5310039 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
and heading for the little tarn and the nearby sheep fold marked on the map, the terrain was easy going and enjoyable although if it hadn't have been so dry lately I reckon we'd be squelching our way over judging by the amount of dried out bog moss we were walking over
We found the little tarn and sheep fold (no photo
) and then headed for Rispa Pike which was easily identifiable from here.
Unlike a lot of the tops in the Howgills which only have a little cairn to mark their summits (lack of stones lying about I think
) Rispa Pike has a massive shelter on its top (well, not massive, massive but big enough
) so it does provide a spot to sit down if you want.
P5310044 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Our next target was Middleton, not too obvious from Rispa Pike because the shoulder of Hand Lake obscures it a bit, but you can just make it out and it looked a fair way off, especially via the route I had planned
P5310047 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
From the shelter we headed for Uldale End then steeply down to the sheepfolds by Uldale Beck.
View up Uldale Beck
P5310048 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
We had a snack by the sheepfolds and then crossed the meeting point of Uldale and Churngill Becks and started to head up Middledale End.
Sheep fold
P5310051 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
The walk up Middleton is steady and fairly easy going so we plodded on, the views are nice too
P5310052 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Up towards Middleton
P5310053 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
And back
P5310054 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
our descent route to the sheep fold
P5310055 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
we soon reached the Trig Point.
P5310056 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
The view from the top is pretty good, we could see the hills we were on a couple of weeks ago and our next objective and Mittletons neighbour, Hand Lake.
P5310058 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
We could see the Lakeland mountains too
P5310059 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
P5310060 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
From the trig we set off down the broad ridge to point 476 on the map then headed down a very steep section to meet
Churngill Beck. Once at the beck we stopped to have lunch. While we were sat there we really got the sense of being remote, all we could hear was the water, the birds and the odd gust of wind moving the vegetation around us, it was really relaxing.
Lunch Views
P5310066 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
P5310067 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
After lunch we headed up the hillside to the saddle between Hand Lake and Docker Knott, my left knee was beginning to feel a bit sore so it was a bit of a struggle, once up it had eased a bit so we carried on to the top of Hand Lake.
P5310069 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Cairn
P5310072 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
From the top of Hand Lake we could make out the traversing path on the hillside above Carlin Gill and Black Force
P5310073 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Wide view from Hand Lake
It looked a bit of a trek, I was a wee bit concerned about my knee because it was a fair distance back to the car and surprised it felt as sore as it did, there was no discomfort at all on our way up Middleton so I can only guess it was our steep descent to our lunch spot that didn't help
We headed down to the saddle again then took the track down to Blakethwaite Bottom, had a look for Blakethwaite Stone but must have missed it then carried on to join the traversing path.
There was one little steep bit at the beginning of the path as it heads up above The Spout, however, from there on, it's easy going if a bit narrow but it gave little discomfort so I was happy
This path traverses the hillside above Carlin Gill, the view into the Gill is spectacular, really steep sided, not a place to trip up
P5310083 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
P5310084 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
This takes you around the hill to the saddle between Fell Head and Linghaw, from there it's a quick (but not today) up and over Linghaw and back to the car.
P5310085 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
P5310086 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Carlin Gill
P5310088 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
P5310087 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
P5310089 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Afternoon views from the parking spot
P5310092 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
P5310093 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
P5310094 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
and a well earned rest
P5310091 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
We had a good day, we really enjoyed it (except for me knee which is still objecting now as I write
), we are thinking of visiting the Eastern side of the Howgills on our next trip to see what the views are like from that side
Cheers.