| Not Quite A Mountain |
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Date : 28th March 2010
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Leader : Robert Eccles |
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Report by : Robert Eccles |
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Photos © : Robert Eccles |
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| Great Whernside - Kettlewell - Gate Cote Scar from Moor End | |
It was a sunny start to the walk with the promise of at least sunny spells
for the day. There was a bit of a wind but nothing drastic at this point.
Starting from the unofficial, but cheaper, car park in Kettlewell we crossed
the bridge and headed more or less south on a new path designed to prevent
too many ramblers getting squished on the road. This soon joined up with the
original path over the fell to Hawkswick. We would only do half that journey
since the plan was to walk along the top to its highest point (Firth Fell).
During our first 200m climb the wind became more noticeable until, when we
reached the wall at the top, it was (1) unavoidable and (2) COLD ! When the
walk was first tested the wall that runs along the length of the fell was seen
as a problem, something that detracted from the walk, but with the icy blast
coming over from Littondale it suddenly got promoted to a plus point.
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left:
Great Cote Scar on way up from Kettlewell |
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right: Mr Wall - runs along top of Fell |
Heading north west along the top we came to our first trig point (434m) together
with dolines and lines of bell pits. These funnel shaped depressions are caused
by the top-soil dropping down - like sand through an hour glass - into caves /
fissures (dolines) or man made excavations (bell pits).
Using the wall as a wind break we continued on a second more gentle 200m climb
to Firth Fell. We passed from limestone into the millstone grit that tops most
(if not all) the peaks in this area and thus the going got a little boggier and
a lot more like the South Pennines than the Yorkshire Dales.
A number of the pools and puddles were home to frog-spawn but unfortunately some
looked like they would dry out long before the froglets would be ready to move on.
At Old Cote Moor Top we had to abandon our new friend Mr Wall and face the wind
alone. About a km later we had navigated the moorland and reached our second
trig point (607m - about 3m short of a mountain) on Firth Fell.
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left:
First sight of Firth Fell plateau |
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right: Trig Point at top of Firth Fell |
Whilst the views were good : Pendle to the South West, Fountains Fell to the West,
Pen-y-ghent to the North West, Whernside and Horse Head to the North, Buckden Pike
to the North East and Great Whernside to the South East (you can see why they put
a trig point here !) there was little lingering and a bee-line was made to our
old friend, Mr Wall, who had come to join us again.
Dropping down North East to Buckden over Birks Fell is a longer trek than it looks
on the map. Much of it is still on the millstone grit, thus boggy, and we didn't
pick up the cleaner, dryer limestone until about Redmire Pot. Continuing the descent
via Redmire to Dubb's Lane we turned right onto the Dales Way heading back towards
Kettlewell. The next part of the journey to Starbottom is fine but can be a bit,
well, dull, if you've walked it once or twice already. However one thing worth
noting is just what a fine job that glacier did carving the valley.
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left:
Pen-y-ghent from Firth Fell |
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right: Climbing hill near Bounty |
We had a decision to make at Starbottom : continue along the Dales Way or climb back
onto the fell. It only took a second or two to reach the correct decision and we
turned right onto a path that took us, rather sharply, 200m up through a wood and
onto the top again. The elevation brought us good views down onto the meandering Whalfe
with our final destination of Kettlewell about 2 miles away. Curlews were fighting
about something or other a little further up the fell. We stayed fairly level, and
thus kept the views, to Moor End before we started the fairly steep drop back into
Kettlewell and the cars.
All in all a good walk: 12 miles, 610m of ascent, frog spawn and curlews (spring at
last !). One to be done on a dry day with much of the walk being on high ground and
the option of climbing back up the fell at Startbottom well worth the extra effort
on a clear day.
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| Buckden Bridge on Wharfe | |
