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Tuesday 17 July 2012

Wild Boar Fell and Swarth Fell

bruno eyes the wrong sheep

This is pretty much the classic Wild Boar Fell round and, at seven and a bit miles, it’s a relatively easy walk for the bagging of these two Yorkshire Dales 2000-er tops (OK, yes, I know they’re in Cumbria, but they’re in the Yorkshire part of Cumbria, see..?) the first bit’s a bit rough, though.

wales and wbf 052 wales and wbf 051

I met the nephew and his wife again for this one, and Bruno came too – actually, it’s quite difficult getting out of knipetowers with a rucksack and walking boots without superdawg’s powers of persuasion, mainly consisting of sitting by the drawer which has his lead and in it whilst looking pathetic and/or blocking the front door by dancing around in circles in front of it yipping…

But I’m wandering , here… 

We met at the parking area by the railway bridge near Aisgill Moor Cottages, the one with all the spotted orchids in the grass – a remarkable display this year…

wbf cairns

We wandered over the moor to Angerholme Pots and the bridleway (now part of the Pennine Bridleway) which mounts the Northern end of WBF’s ridge, and then, steeply up to the flat summit. So far so sunny. Then it started raining and the hillfog closed in, so there aren’t so many pics. We found the top (there’s a path) and back to the Eastern edge with all the cairns, where the conditions lifted followed by a soggy traverse to Swarth Fell in driving drizzle and hillfog when the rain moved in again.

wbf weather 

As a piece of petulance and by way of celebrating the poor visibility, it was at this point that I collided with a large gritstone boulder (it wouldn’t get out of the way). This hurt my left knee quite a bit and I seem to remember exclaiming something vaguely relevant to sex, genitalia and travel but, really hardly appropriate for a family walk and about which I ought to be ashamed. My knee now has a hole in it as far as in-tact skin is concerned. I probably wont do this again. I’ll probably try not to anyway.

swarth fell pike

We finished with a bit of a flourish on the end of Swarth Fell Pike and a soggy descent to Aisgill Moor Cottages which has even more orchids just now. The weather cleared up at this point as if nothing had happened.

wild boar fell weather clears again

There’s a map below…  this one has a height profile. Posh, eh? I still haven’t mastered putting the walk direction on, but, as Bruno points out , you could do this walk in either direction, depending on the prevailing wind or even the toss of a coin or, indeed, sheer whim.

Nice to see the rellies again. We’ll probably do this type of thing again in a few weeks.

wild boar fell

 

10 comments:

Dawn said...

Nice one Mike, Wild Boar Fell is on my 'to do' list. You will have to stop having disagreements with boulder. They are not normally very agile and are reluctant to move out of the way.

Paul Crozier said...

Impressive mapping skills. Ta.

Mike Knipe said...

That boulder's still lurking in the grass waiting for another knree to crack. Be careful whenever you come to do theis hill, Dawn..

Paul - Thanks (simper...)

Eeek said...

Do you have a diary/list of all the hills you've bagged?? Bets its rather impressive ! Pesky boulders!

Fell_Finder said...

Nice one Mike.

Did these lumps in the land on a stroll from Kirkby Stephen to Garsdale last year. Unusual Trig Point on Swarth Fell would you not agree?

chrissiedixie said...

Gosh, Bruno's leaning a bit on that first photo...
I quite fancy a wild camp by that Sand Tarn.

Mike Knipe said...

Eeek (!) - I don't have a list as such, but I do use the www.hill-bagging.co.uk site to record anything baggable that I manage to bag. Its a bit sad, really.
Fell Finder - I have to admit, I didn't know there was a trig on Swarth Fell, despite the fact I've been up there eight times (dhuhh)
I had to look it up on that interweb thing.. seems to be a concrete ring.
Chrissie - Sand Tarn's a very nice place for a fine summer evening. It needs a bit of a breeze, though...(midgies) I had a paddle in it once, so I wouldn't drink the water if I were you...!

Alan Sloman said...

So your leg must be like a Swiss Cheese by now. If Bruno got up close he could probably see right though it.

Jules said...

Keep meaning to do WBF and always seem to find a way of avoiding it somehow.

Must put that right sometime soon, and this looks just the circuit to try.

Mike Knipe said...

Alan - It would be better if you never mentioned cheese and legs in the prescence of superdawg. This could cause all kinds of misunderstandings and accidents. But yes, I have perforations where perforations shouldn't be.
Jules - Its mainly harmless, but very interesting. Its not as big as it looks!