Little Town Round - Photo Gallery
It was raining again all the way to the small car park between Little Town and Newlands Church and I wasn't really surprised to be the only person there. It had more or less stopped raining by the time I started walking in the direction of the church and through the gate that leads to it. I continued on past the church but not before I had a look around inside it, the narrow road takes you to the entrance of High Snab farm.
You continue along what is now a track that becomes less substantial after you pass through the farmyard at Low High Snab. Then you carry on along a wet, green path by the side of Scope Beck, you can see a big hole in the side of Hindscarth caused by mining activity, I wonder if it does go all the way through to the Low Snab side of the hill.
As you go through a gate in a stone wall there is an obvious path upwards on your right, a steep lawn like corridor through the dead bracken. Steep grass isn't my favourite way of climbing a hill but this particular path is the least rewarding slog I have come across. At least it wasn't raining as I plodded up the convex slope, each false skyline being replaced by another until you eventually reach High Snab Bank, a fine airy ridge that really is worth the effort.
The walk along the ridge is easy and gives you plenty of opportunity to think about how wet the rocks are going to be on the scramble over Blea Crags. The scramble was obvious enough but most of Robinson was completely hidden in mist, this was the only visibility I was going to get today. On a dry day this would be a lovely hands on scramble over rock but when they are wet the rocks are very slippery. I need to take care, the steep rock is a hard place to fall over and there is some exposure in places.
There are two climbs that require your concentration, this is the kind of fell walking that is most therapeutic, there is no time to think about whatever it was you wanted to forget about. There is a third climb that is less demanding being nowhere near the edge and soon afterwards all you have left is a steepish climb to the large summit plateau. I was by this time in thick mist and as on all large summit plateaux the path just disappears and it is sensible to have a quick look at map and compass so that you don't go off in the wrong direction.
The summit of Robinbson is unmistakeable, an avenue of grass between two low ridges of rock, the summit cairn being on top of one of them. The cold misty conditions don't encourage you to stay around long and on the other side of the left hand ridge is an obvious path going southwards. You descend to a fence where there are a couple of large cairns, follow the fence to the left along Littledale Edge.
Shortly after you reach the lowest part of the fence a less obvious path bears left, I suppose it seems like a shortcut to Hindscarth. It is the route I took but I think it is no more effort to carry on along the main path to meet the good ridge path that comes up from Hindscarth Edge. I suppose in good visibility I would have chosen the ridge path but there isn't much to be seen today.
The path slants easily upwards along the flank of Hindscarth high above Little Dale, I think you need to be aware that at some point you have to go upwards. There seem to be reasonable looking paths that would bypass the summit and you wouldn't want that to happen after making the effort to get this far. The climb upwards starts at a rocky gully that also seems to be a way off Hindscarth avoiding the descent of Scope End, why would anyone want to do that?
The mist was still quite dense as I got to the ridge and turned left to head for the summit of Hindscarth. I passed a big cairn that might have been the summit and carried on until I got to a much larger cairn that also did the job of a wind shelter. I knew at that stage I had been to the summit even if I couldn't tell where it was.
I doubled back at this stage following the good ridge path but taking the left hand branch when it appeared, this is a bit of a shortcut to Hindscarth Edge. On a good day Hindscarth Edge is a fine airy ridge and you should keep to the crest for the most exhilarating route and best views. On a day like today the easier path is a reasonable alternative, there is some climbing to be done but the gradient isn't too steep. When you arrive at the summit of Dale Head it is very obvious with its tall circular cairn.
If you follow the path beyond the cairn the descent is obvious over fairly steep eroded rock outcrops at first and after a grassy ledge someone has built a substantial pitched path. These paths should stop the hillside from being eroded and provide a better walking surface but on this path as with many others the stones slope downwards and they become very awkward and slippery when they are wet. This then causes people to have to walk at the side of the path which will eventually increase the erosion the path is supposed to prevent.
At least the route is obvious if a little wet and slippery, the mist seemed to be clearing a bit as I got closer to Dalehead Tarn. An awful lot of effort has gone into making a path up the hillside but very little effort has gone into preventing the wet path by the side of the tarn from becoming a quagmire. At least the enclosure in the shelter of a rock wall near the tarn makes a good place to shelter, it seems curiously incapable of being used as a sheepfold but is a very large construction for a people shelter.
I carried on to the youthful Newlands Beck, there is quite a lot of water in it but it isn't wide enough yet to cause any real problems. There is a reasonably obvious path going upwards towards High Spy but with it being quite rugged it is easy to come off the path so you should keep looking for the cairns. There are a couple of large cairns at a flat wet area showing the way to Rigghead Quarries but ignore them and carry on upwards.
The gradient eases after a while and most of the day's climbing is now over, there is some visibility too on the High Spy plateau, I can see the mist still covering the route I had come. The summit cairn of High Spy seems to have sustained some damage, it seems to be a least a couple of feet shorter than when I last saw it.
The walking from here is much easier as long as you avoid the wetter sections, a high level flat walk over the length of High Spy, a slight descent and you are on your way across Maiden Moor. It is very difficult to determine what might be the summit of Maiden Moor, I always follow the little path on the edge above Newlands Beck and there is a small cairn at the highest point of it. This is probably just the highest point of the path and there is a wide slightly undulating area of grass and any one of the slightly higher mounds could be the summit. I have wandered around a couple of times and not been able to definitely say I had reached the summit.
On the map the descent from Maiden Moor looks extremely easy but even here there are a couple of places where the eroded path crosses the top of a very steep drop above Grange. When the rock is wet you really have to take care, once you slip you move too quickly to stop yourself from falling. My plan had been to head back down to Little Town from Hause Gate but having got so close to Catbells it seemed a shame not to climb it, for a small hill it has a lovely rocky crown.
Having walked back down to Hause Gate there are many obvious ways down to Little Town through more old mine workings, the industrial scars somehow add interest if not beauty.
Andy Wallace 11th December 2004