Burnhope Seat, and much more Pennine-bagging

[poppiesrara]

I'm now very near the end of the Hewitts, and what's left certainly doesn't involve spectacular rocky horseshoe routes. It nags too much to leave the rest of them unclimbed, but ruthlessly quick is my favoured way to get through them now! Six maps in this 'walk report' for six mountains, each picked up the quickest way from the roadside. (Hopefully of some small help to future baggers). There's perhaps a little shame in doing it this way, but not quite enough for me to prefer slogging along the flat higher ground between the summits…

Viewing Hill, 1 hr, 5.4km, 105m ascent. Largely in drizzle, a very good gravelled track leads from the main B6277 hill-road much of the way up, but it's then a half-hour thrash over samey boggy ground and many haggy possible summits, each further on than the last and no more certain. In this weather it might be easy to be sarcastic about the hill's name, but it's set in the middle of most of the high Pennines and glimpses of some remote upland valleys; it could be true!

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The track to Viewing Hill (left)

Round Hill, 1hr 40mins, 7.4km, 255m ascent. A long walk and almost a real climb for one of this kind. Enough parking in a fine (briefly sunny) spot at the end of the public road from Garrigill and a good start along the track close above the South Tyne to the old mines. A fair distance up, but easy and quite pleasant up a mine-path and beside a guiding fence to the summit in almost a meadow of waving grass.

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South Tyne valley, Flinty Fell

Burnhope Seat

Mine trail

Calvert Burn mine ruins

Meldon Hill

Viewing Hill

Burnhope Seat, 40mins, 3km, 165m ascent. The headline peak for being the highest thing this day and for some miles around, but only a short 'cheat's walk' from the roadside. Steepish compass work to a broad green marshy plateau and then across that to hit the ridge fence as near as possible to the right place. The trig was close by where I ended up, but – across some properly daunting brown stuff – thankfully not the actual high point. Over to the west, that's much firmer and a better spot with views across Teesdale.

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Darn Gill

Close enough to the trig...

Dun Fells & Cross Fell from Burnhope Seat

Middlehope Moor, 20mins, 1.95km, 30m ascent. That had been the end of the day's targets, given a dodgy forecast, but the skies were holding up enough to keep going over towards Weardale. This is a very short, flat, and unobjectionable walk/jog along the fence-line, slightly better than its repute with a good summit and some fair views.

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Stangend Rigg from Middlehope Moor

Weardale

Killhope Law, 35mins, 2.5km, 105m ascent. A drive up to yet another road summit and a simple uphill walk south from there, following the poles marking grouse feeding-stations and occasional faint trods. Really quite pleasant going over springy heather in the main. Don't try to look for the '30ft summit pole' advertised at the top in places – it's now about 2ft at most, for reasons that seemed unclear; I hope accidental – but there's a fine cairn just away from there overlooking the valleys both sides.

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East Allendale

Weardale from Killhope Law currick

The Dodd, 45mins, 3.25km, 120m ascent. A lovely starting point for this one by the coal mines at the head of West Allendale and next to a des-res rebuilt farmhouse. From there a proper well-waymarked bridleway ('Isaac's Tea Trail') leads up to the ridge wall north, before a shortish but intense bit of hag-hopping to find the indefinite summit. Someone has playfully built the only cairn at the very far/north end, but – although I dutifully got there - it seems clear that one of the hags behind is higher. Possible but damp to take a more direct route down; with hindsight I wouldn't recommend it.

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Ridge wall and path

Killhope Law

Nenthead

Allendale Common

Six in the 'bag' on one day. and now only six more Hewitts left. Those – in the main – seem like good reasons for day-walks each rather than this sort of thing. It'll probably take me a few years yet, but you can't get this close and not take the last steps...

[trailmasher]

Six down and six to go, not a bad days work there Poppy Re the broken pole on Killhope, when I was there it was just after the big storms and I just presumed that the high winds took it down Burnhope Moor - I went to both marked 'tops and saw no value in doing so afterwards as there is only one metre difference in height between the two and as your photo shows, it's damn wet between 'em. Also quite a bit of driving around but well done on a good days walking