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STEEL KNOTTS (5) - WETHER HILL (6) - LOADPOT HILL (7)
Scroll down to view the photographs after the report or click here Today’s walk is tinged with sadness! Annette, Vikki and Siobhan have decided that they don’t enjoy climbing large hills and are not accompanying me on this walk. Its a shame really but I suppose it is asking a bit much of them to climb all 214 of Wainwright’s fells if they don’t enjoy it! Even though I would like them to be with me, at the same time I’m also looking forward to walking on my own, if that make’s sense? The start of this walk is from behind Martindale Old Church, situated just past the Howtown zigzags, and the 2new" Martindale Church. According to Wainwright, this is the easiest route up to Steel Knotts, 1,414 feet (431 metres), which suites me fine. It is also one of the recommended routes up to the High Street range. It was easy enough to find the path behind the church but somewhere along the way I lost track of the main path and ended up taking a slightly different route up to the top, following the stone wall most of the way. A bit steep in places. Close to the summit I recognised the rocky tor of Pikeawassa ahead of me, there isn’t a cairn as such at the top. At the summit I came across a couple that were following the same route as me. They had completed about 170 plus of Wainwright’s fells and had managed to do 40 fells during September! Mind you they were trying to complete them all during 1999! After the couple had set off on their way, I headed over to the rocky tor and climbed to the top of it, not too difficult as it turned out. I then sat beneath it and had a bite to eat and a refreshing drink taking in the surrounding views and enjoying the experience of being totally alone. One thing that did become obvious was the fact that I didn’t have anyone to take a photograph of me at the summit! Not to worry, camera perched on a near by rock, self-timer set, and then a quick sprint to take up my pose at the foot of Pikeawassa…SNAP, just in time! From here I was heading for Wether Hill, 2,210 feet (674 metres), and approximately 1 ½ miles away. I could see it, along with Loadpot Hill, which was the next one on my list today, from Steel Knotts. I had watched the other couple heading off earlier and seen which way they had gone, but it was pretty straightforward following Wainwright’s book. I headed off back down the fell and through a gap in the nearby stonewall and then followed the ridge south towards a ruined stone hut. Again I caught sight of the couple that I had met earlier, ahead of me in the distance, and they were going a slightly different way than I had intended to go. For a split second I thought I might be off course, but a quick look at my book confirmed that if I continued to follow this path, then I should soon come to the ruined stone hut alongside a stonewall. Sure enough, there it was in the distance. Soon I arrived at the ruined stone hut but not without a few mishaps! Firstly, the area was very marshy and boggy. I had tried to jump over a particularly bad section when, upon landing, my right boot sank into a smelly, muddy patch, reaching half way up my calf, URGHH! It was also at this point that my trusty old backpack finally decided it had had enough of carrying all that weight and one of the straps gave way. It would have to happen fairly early in my walk. I managed to fasten it to a cloth loop but within seconds that had given way also. I then had to fasten it to the other strap, which wasn’t ideal because now one strap was shorter than the other and a lot of pressure was placed on one shoulder. I was now at the foot of the final slope leading up to Wether Hill. There were two well-worn tracks and I took the longer of the two (heading towards a stone wall), which skirted the slope making the climb that little bit easier. Having said that, it was still a long drawn-out climb and I stopped about half way for a drink and a bite to eat. I again caught sight of the couple that I had met earlier on Steel Knotts, ahead of me. At the top of my chosen route it joined the High Street path, an old Roman Road, near to Keasgill Head. It was like a moor land top at this point. Close by were what Wainwright describes as "Peat Hags". Soft mounds of, I presume, peat! It was also at this point that I caught sight of a group of three wild black ponies lying down amongst the grass. It was a great sight. I got as close as I thought safe to take a couple of photos. From here on the walk was a pleasant one. Fairly level along good paths (the old Roman Road), and I could see Wether Hill about a mile north of me. As I walked along this old Roman Road, I couldn’t help letting my imagination run away with me. I could almost hear the clattering of the Roman soldiers armour as they made their way across here thousands of years ago and was half expecting to see ghostly apparitions coming towards me! It wasn’t long before I arrived at Wether Hill. It has two rounded grassy mounds of similar altitude, separated by a slight depression, the northern mound being where the summit cairn is situated. According to Wainwright the cairn also has a wooden stake set amongst its rocks, but it isn’t there now. Mind you, it was 1957 when he wrote his book! He also describes the summit as uninteresting. I couldn’t argue with him on that point, but the views over to the west are breathtaking. I could see some of the distant fell tops were covered in low cloud and there were menacing dark grey/black storm clouds gathering. At this point they looked as though they were heading away from me even though the weather forecast predicted rain. I had another stop at the cairn, a drink and a bite to eat, and another photo using the self-timer! I lifted a rock, which I was going to use to rest my camera on, only to discover underneath, some old toilet paper, maggots and the remains of someone being caught short on the summit! I will leave it to your imagination! I left Wether Hill having met a few other walkers and in particular an older couple whom I had a good chat with. They had already done the Wainwright’s but didn’t start until their fifties, so hope for me yet! It’s funny really. You can walk for ages and not meet another soul, which I quite enjoy, but then they all come along at once. A bit like busses really! By the time I set off again there wasn’t anyone about except for that couple I met at the start of my walk, who I could see way ahead of me in the distance. It was another straight forward walk following the old Roman Road towards Loadpot Hill, 2,201 feet (671 metres) and again approximately a mile further north. I stopped a couple of times just to enjoy the complete silence. It’s a strange feeling, total silence. It was only interrupted by a lone birdcall. Pressing on I passed yet more peat hags and was making my way towards a landmark that distinguishes this fell from all others, that of the remains of Lowther House, or to be more precise, that of the chimney of Lowther House. Lowther House was a former shooting lodge, with stables. In Wainwright’s time the chimney was quite complete but not anymore. Its just a pile of rocks now with a concrete base where the house once stood. Still quite a sight though. These remains stand just below and south of the summit. It was pretty well waterlogged on the summit and fairly soggy going over to the cairn. Once there I found the rocks at its base were pretty unusual. They had high quartz content, just as Wainwright had described. A little further on was an Ordnance Survey trig point. It made a good base for me to stand on! Again Wainwright describes this summit as a 30 acre field rather than a mountaintop! Still, good views over to the west. More photos using the automatic timer. Don’t know what they’ll turn out like! After another rest and drinks etc. it was time to be making my way down into Howtown. I had intended to call into the Howtown Hotel for a pint of beer shandy, but as it turned out, I had to give that a miss. Read on! The only other person I had seen here was another lone walker who had set off a short while ahead of me. He seemed to be heading in the same direction as me. I had intended to retrace my steps to the remains of Lowther House and pick-up the path leading down the fell. I didn’t, I walked over the top of the ridge, in the same direction as the other walker, in the hope of picking-up the track that way. It worked but, instead of following the track to the right (or left as it happened) to join the well-worn paths leading down, I made my way down the fell over a grassy, and sometimes craggy, surface. This turned out to be a big mistake! Those dark rain clouds that I had seen earlier had made their way towards me and it had now begun to rain lightly, this was the least of my worries! I had now lost all hope of finding the "proper" route down and began to realise what I had let myself in for. It became more and more overgrown, and the descent became steeper and steeper and I was beginning to get rather concerned, with good reason! I came to a point where I decided it was too dangerous to carry-on along this route, but as I turned to climb back up the fell, it was obvious it was just too steep to climb back. No option but to carry on. I could see in the distance and below, a farm, Cote Farm, and I knew I had to get to there. I decided to follow a stream, Dodd Gill, running down the side of the fell, which again turned out to be a bad idea. It became steeper at its edges, and I lost my footing more than once. The rain by now was very heavy and I stopped to put my coat on. The fell side was that steep that my rucksack started to roll down the fell! The rain also made it very slippery underfoot. I had no choice now but to veer off to the right of the stream and through the waist high ferns. This was again very difficult. I couldn’t see what was beneath them and stumbled over hidden rocks and walked into unseen streams. Also the ferns were very dense (a bit like me for getting into this position in the first place!), and it was like rope at their base, which kept tripping me up. I was very wet, my boots were full of water and I was becoming more and more exhausted. Wishing I were anywhere other than here, I pushed on. I could see the farm below and just hoped that I could get there soon, if left much later then Annette may start thinking of reporting me missing! After what seemed like an eternity, I eventually started getting closer to a clearing and I could actually see grass. Lovely, beautiful, lush grass. Now I could feel it under my feet, I had done it; I was down off that bloody fell side. What a relief it was, but it soon dawned on me that I still had a long hike ahead of me to get back to my car. I could see a walker passing the farm that I was heading for which was probably the same lone walker that I had seen at the summit of Loadpot Hill, only he had come down the "proper" path!. I started following the farm walls heading towards Ullswater which I could see in the distance. It was still hard going. I was getting cramp in both calf muscles and was very tired. More mud, more streams. Needless to say I was in no mood for my pint of beer shandy when I reached the Howtown Hotel and passed it by. I now had to follow the road, which was flooded, back towards the Howtown zigzags, up the zigzags, which was hard going, passed the “new” Martindale Church, and onto the start of my walk at the Martindale Old Church, about another half mile further on. What a relief to be back at the car. Sat in the driver’s seat, door open, off came my soaking trousers and on went a dry pair of waterproof over trousers, a passing car having full view of my antics although I didn’t much care! A drink, something to eat and time to head for home, reflecting on a very eventful day! At least its another three fells in the “bag”!
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