Tiptoe Through The Howgills

A weekend in the Howgills - undiscovered gems.

The Where? You are probably asking where are they? I am sure you will have driven past them on the M6 motorway on the way to the North Lakes or Scotland. Well the Howgill Fells are the big, rounded hills on the right hand side of the M6 level with the Lakes. I have often said I must make visit, as I've passed with them bathed in sunshine and the Lakes and Scotland both in the clouds.

Well this February I did just that and spent the weekend there with a few friends. We arranged to do two walks, the Calf, the highest fell in the Howgills, and Wild Boar Fell not strictly in the Howgills but who cares.

Accommodation: Two campsites are marked in Sedbergh, there are also plenty of B and Bs, nearest Youth Hostel is at Hawes. No shortage of pubs in either place

1. The Calf

Start: Carlingill Bridge (624996) roadside parking

Finish: Sedbergh (659922) town centre carpark £2 all day

Distance: 10 miles

Time: 4-6 hours with stops

Map: OS Outdoor Leisure 19, Landranger 98

With two cars we were able to a linear route to take in the full flank of the Calf. To find the start of the route simply take the unclassified road out of Sedbergh past Lockbank Farm, this soon becomes single file flanked by dry stone walls, and uses an old Roman Road. Eventually it runs parallel to the M6 motorway on the other side of the valley with the River Lune below. Finally the dry stone walls disappear and after another mile or so Carlingill Bridge is reached. There is parking on the side of the road.

1. For 300 yards follow south of the gill clearly marked on the OS Map by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Boundary, then find somewhere to cross the gill to find the obvious track on the side of Uldale Head. The gill was quite full in February, and trekking poles came in handy!

Team finds handy bar stool on top of The Calf

2. Follow the obvious track before heading more steeply north up the grassy slopes of Uldale Fell. Height begins to be gained quickly and the views behind east to the Lakeland Fells compensate for the steady drone of traffic from the M6. Its certainly worth stopping to take in these views, if you're lucky as we were on a sunny, clear and warm February morning (we were now down to just a base layers!), the main Lakeland peaks can begin to be identified - Scafell, Scafell Pike and Great Gable were obvious. As further progress is made the immediate views south back down to Carlin Gill and Fell Head rising beyond can be appreciated.

3. Soon though having skirted westwards along Uldale Fell some of this hard won height needs to be lost, around 150m down to Blakethwaite Bottom before clawing it all back to reach Docker Knott (652999). Follow the broad ridge southbound gaining more to reach Wind Scarth, where finally next to an unmarked tarn the first clear path is reached. The noise from the M6 also now long since past.

4. The Calf should now be clearly viewed to the south east, follow the path left when it splits, this goes down and back up to Bush Howe (659981) ignoring the one heading to Fell Head. The path is clear and goes up and down slightly twice onto White Fell Head before finally arriving at the day's high point, The Calf at 676m. (667971)

5. After stopping for a bite to eat, its now worthwhile making an extra 1 mile round diversion to view Cautley Crag and Spout. Take a trackless north eastwards descent after an again unmarked tarn, crossing a couple of gills before climbing to the Cautley Crag edge, if you've worked this just right you should get good views of the cascading waterfalls. Cautley Crag is an impressive edge one of very few in the Howgills which are typified by rounded grassy hills, don't mark it down as one to come back and climb, its looks for too fragile for that. There should also be great views eastwards to Wild Boar Fell.

Cautley Ridge - being in the Howgills it's more rounded than ridgey

6. Follow the Cautley Crag edge along a clear path southward to Great Dummacks (679964). From here head south west for a km to the summit of Calders (672961). Calders is only two metres lower than the Calf, and could have been reached directly from the Calf by losing little height, but this would have omitted the some great views.

7. The remainder of the route down to Sedbergh is along a clear bridleway, though thankfully not all upgraded to virtual A road status, as it appears to be between Calders and The Calf. From Calders this bridleway descends slightly before rising to a minor summit of Arant Haw (notice on the OS Map the path is marked south and lower than this summit).

8. Continuing the descent south-east its again worth leaving the bridleway and gaining a little final height for the day to Winder (654933) at 473m marked by a trig and view point. The views in all directions are grand, back along the route to Arant Haw, west to the Lakes, south to Sedbergh itself and south east to the Yorkshire Fells.

9. From Winder descend directly south down the steep grassy slopes to rejoin the bridleway and follow this through Lockbank Farm. Meeting the road, turn left and follow this down for a short distance into Sedbergh. Now its time to either enjoy either a cuppa in the cafe on the high street (which even has sign welcoming cyclists!), a pint at one of the many pubs or a raid on the small outdoor shop for some new gear.

Comments:- Great linear route allowing the full Howgill fells to be discovered. The outward route does not follow a path, the Howgills are rounded hills with few distinct features when visibility is poor, so the ability to properly navigate in poor conditions is essential. Apart from that the views are great, and it's surprising more people haven't discovered them.

If you cannot arrange transport to do the linear route above, The Calf can still be culled on a circular walk from Sedbergh. Follow our descent route from the Calf in reverse and then return by the bridleway on Bram Rigg descending to meet the Roman Road by Smithy Beck. Turn left on the quiet country road and follow this for 3 miles back to Sedburgh.

 

2. Hunting the Wild Boar

Unlike on the Calf there are no footpaths or bridleways marked on Wild Boar Fell, so its choose your own route time. We started from and finished at Garsdale Railway Station (789918) on the Settle to Carlisle line.

Start and Finish: Garsdale Railway Station (789918) Free parking!

Distance: 11 miles

Time: 5-7 hours

OS Map: OS Outdoor Leisure 19

Taking the minor road from the station back to the main A684 we took a footpath 20 yards on the right which headed up the attractive Grisedale valley though our views were mainly low cloud. This footpath joins a deadend minor road at a farm (777930) which we followed to its end at East House and then took another footpath heading North West. This footpath continues up the valley, we left it and headed north to gain height onto the flanks of Swarth Fell.

Low cloud covers the Wild Boar

Eventually on the brow of the hill the fenced boundary marked on the map is reached, there are occasional stiles to cross it. A faint path runs parallel to boundary, we followed this north west to the summit of Swarth Fell (755967) marked by a cairn. This was after an eventful incident when one of my friends, Nige, decided to test the ice on one small tarns - it broke and he fell in to his waist! Thankfully we were on hand to drag him out very quickly, and were able to share some dry clothes after he was over the shock.

Strangely we had suddenly found ourselves above the cloud, and there were glorious views eastwards which revealed the crags on the side of High Seat fell above a swarm of white clouds. These views were brief as we descended following the boundary fence initially north-eastwards.

We followed the faint path onto the Wild Boar, which led a splendid gritstone edge marked by several tall and well-maintained cairns (762988). Here we were again above the clouds and the sun cast our reflections onto the clouds below.

Looking down into Sedbergh at the finish

The Wild Boar's true summit (759988) and trig point is 500 yards to the west and we made a round trip to visit it. Returning to the cairns we then retreated along our ascent route for mile before descending south-west down the tussocky grass slopes into the Mallerstang valley.

We met the B6259 valley road opposite Helgill Force waterfall and just before Aisgill Moor Cottage (777963). From there it's either a slog along the road or take the bridleway back over to the Grisedale valley and follow the outward route. As time was tight we chose the former, before taking the shortcut footpath at 793935 to return over Garsdale Moor to the A684 road and then back to the station.

Comments: Great outward route, the return back is quite a slog. There are no marked paths on the map, so again good navigational skills are needed. But don't worry pick your own route, other options to the above route include:- starting and finishing in the Mallerstang valley (roadside parking on the B6259 road), or from the Eastern side starting and finishing at the Rawthey Bridge carpark layby (712979).

Lloyd Bower - Feb 2001