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Showing posts with label Harter Fell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harter Fell. Show all posts

Tuesday, 18 August 2009

Across Cumbria day 3 Gt Worm to 3 Tarns
















Wednesday 12 August.

A drizzle spattered and windy start had me navigating through a complicated landscape of bogs and rocky tors. One of the bigger tors is Green Crag. It looks enormous when its having a bit of a loom out of the mist. I managed to get a strong enough phone signal for intermittent texts and my erstwhile weather forecasters, Martin (the other hobo) Banfield and a chap called Genjii who posts on walkingforum, plus encouragers such as Brian the mudman and people who just wonder where I am sometimes, such as the wife. Anyway, the gist of all of it was that the weather would get better and that I should keep going. These contacts became increasingly useful as the weather began to play a more significant part in the progress of this walk. I also discovered that my phone had the LDNP weatherline number on it. I likes a bit of fiction at night, I does.
I found a way across country to the quaking mire at the foot of Harter Fell, and then on up to the summit. The weather was, as predicted, getting much better all the time.
No it wasn’t. It was drizzling and windy and foggy and a bit cold. It was, in fact, ‘orrible.
I plunged on over the bogs and vicious but lush tussocks to Hard Knott Pass, where there were people and cars that smelled like cars do just before their brakes fail.
I climbed hard Knott Fell very very slowly and surveyed the place where Crinkle Crags ought to be if it weren’t under a swirling grey blanket.
The plan called for a climb up to the Crinkles and a walk along the ridge to Three tarns. I didn’t fancy that driving drizzle again and the tortuous heave up on to the ridge , so I plumped for a walk up by Lincove Beck, meeting my first other hillwalkers of the trip – a chap and his son – off to Great Moss for a camp. Bless ‘em… sniff….. And some National Trust footpath workers and their small dog, descending, presumably for their tea.
The mist lifted as I climbed. I got three litres of beautiful fresh clean water from rest Gill and got myself up to Three Tarns where I put the tent up inside a small shelter out of the wind.
I slept well, completely missing an impressive display of shooting stars, apparently.
It was occasionally, and at random, and sometimes suddenly very windy.

8 Miles and 3700 feet of climbing

The score on zer door would now be 22 miles and 7600 feet of uphill. And just 2 other walkers met.

Sunday, 19 April 2009

Harter Fell and an abandoned Scafell Pike







Friday 17th April saw us setting off for Upper Eskdale from the Wha House car park in a fierce headwind.

After a couple of miles, as the headwind started to get its act together a bit more, I began to form the opinion that if it was like this at 250 metres, what would it be like at 900 metres, and I decided it might not be such good fun.

So, using our skill and judgement, we bailed out of a Scafell Pike thingy and drove around to Dunnerdale for a jaunt up the substantially lower Harter Fell.

Once out of the car for the second time, and well on the way to the foot of the hill, a lady backpacker saw me looking at the map and decided I was lost. She interrogated me as to my intentions and gave me directions of two or three possible routes up Harter Fell. I thanked her politely. Very helpful, I must say. Whatever would we have done without that. We might have been wandering around Coniston Old Man asking directions for the Pennine Way…..


Anyway, it’s a short, sharp, steep thrutch up to the top of Harter Fell from Dunnerdale. The wind was…er….windy in an extremely breezy sort of way – just enough to unbalance a person every now and then , and just enough to make the little scramble to the summit rock a bit exciting. A few other visitors visited, but the place could be described as "quiet"

We traversed the hill Northwards, bagging all the little rocky knolls in the way, and ending up at the top of Hard Knott Pass. A scruffy bridleway through cleared forest brought us back.

Just the two pints of shandy later that evening (that’s more than enough shandy) and a disappointing pint of bitter in the boozah.

Total walking for todays two walks: about 9 miles and 1700 feet (very approximately) of uphill.

Fab views of the roman fort by the way…