Harter Fell - Lake District's best kept secret

[Jaxter]

Previous day - mad cycle & Marilyn

We had thought to have a crack at getting up the Langdale Pikes today, but I was just too tired from the last few days. We both had the day off though, and decided on Harter Fell, which is an easy walk from the top of the Hardknott Pass. The drive however....I hadn't been across the Wrynose & Hardknott passes since I was a kid and the complete mentalness of them took me by surprise

We managed to get parked at the top of the Hardknott (we had wondered if we'd have an issue)


Ahead to Harter Fell


Malky may be giving birth to his rucksack here...


Unfortunately we had to drop down a bit before really getting into the climb, but as we gained a bit of height we started to see the big hills poking through - this promised to be a good hill!


The Scafells poking out


Sheep leading the way - this must be about the only hill in the Lake District that doesn't have a big path up it! It was quite refreshing actually, although I was definitely pondering whether trail shoes were a good idea...


Greyfriar


Isle of Mann poking out from behind some impressive crags


We finally had mobile signal - I had a call to make which only took a couple of minutes but unfortunately a friend of Malky's phoned him so we had a longer break than anticipated It did give me a chance to get a look at the Hardknott Hill Fort which is impressive from above!


The views to the Scafells were pretty good too!


Pillar poking out




The final climb was rocky (especially as we'd lost the path ) but the views from the summit were awesome


Isle of Mann


Summit of Harter Fell! (except it wasn't - we had to climb a big rock for that)


Coniston Old Man


We struggled to climb up the big summit rock before discovering that there was a really easy way up the other side


We sat around and enjoyed the views for a while - there was one other person at the summit, the only other person we'd seen on the hill. Harter Fell - Cumbia's best kept secret?

After a while it was time to go - we managed to follow the path down from the summit this time which made things easier!


Then Malky had one of his Really Good Ideas which involved tussocks, bog and wet feet. This coincided with my energy disappearing and the final walk back to the car was a bit of a struggle


Yet another lovely day in the Lakes


Looking back


Back at the car I was able to relax whereas Malky had to drive us all the way back across the passes...stunning but pretty hardcore






Looking down the Wrynose Pass


The brakes didn't feel great by the time we got to the bottom, but we were back and happy to relax into a shower, a cup of tea and some dinner

Next day - a great Place to camp

[Gordie12]

Or he could be riding an imaginary horse....................

[Jaxter]

Or he could be riding an imaginary horse....................

Good point....but does one normally have such a look of pain on their face when riding a horse? (never tried so have only got Lord of the Rings as reference...)

[Gordie12]

That was the bit that was confusing me as well so maybe he's riding his imaginary horse whilst giving birth to his rucksack.....................

[Jaxter]

That was the bit that was confusing me as well so maybe he's riding his imaginary horse whilst giving birth to his rucksack.....................

I would agree with you except I know how poor he is at multi-tasking

[Gordie12]

i had one other thought but that's definitely for after the watershed so I'll leave it there.

[Jaxter]

i had one other thought but that's definitely for after the watershed so I'll leave it there.

[past my sell by date]

The best way to Harter Fell is to start from Black Combe and follow Roger Putnam's route (Wild Walks p 118). The 20 mile walk crosses the Corney Fell and Ulpha roads but is otherwise almost trackless. I've done it in reverse, but walking North means that you have views towards the Lake District the whole time - so maybe nicer
two cars or helpful friends are needed

[Sgurr]

We did similar, and were astounded to nearly reach the top of the pass to find a whole fleet of VW campervans doing publicity shots there. At one point (thankfully when we were already parked), they formed a line of gaily coloured wagons struggling up to the top. Nice to see what we should have seen, thanks for the photos...ours was solid clag most of the day.