The The and The Rest - Photo Gallery

I drove to Howtown on the eastern side of Ullswater and parked opposite St. Peter's Church, Martindale at the foot of the popular path up Hallin Fell.

I walked along the road to Martindale, the road bends round to the left and continues up the valley. Just before reaching the end of the road at Dale Head I passed a gate with a sign that said Private Road, No Right of Way. However there was also a poster fastened to the gate advertising a holiday cottage called The Bungalow so I decided to go and investigate.

The good track up to The Bungalow soon became a quad bike track up grass that seemed to be getting steeper and I as I reached a wall I had to climb over a metal gate. The path was certainly steep for a driveway and the rough grass bore very little evidence of previous traffic. The path was becoming quite steep and quite wet underfoot and then I came to another wall with a wooden barricade that I had to climb over.

I began to suspect that I had strayed from the path to The Bungalow and I had accidentally begun to climb The Nab. I could in fact see the red roofed Bungalow quite a long way below, the hills behind were topped by mist and the wind from the east was becoming very strong.

After climbing over the barricade the gradient became steeper but I came across a faint path that seemed to be leaving the ridge to go around the steep nose of the fell. Well now that I was here I decided to climb it by a route that nobody else had done so I headed straight upwards.

I had to scramble up the steep grass on all fours, it was very steep and further than it looked. I wondered a couple of times if I had not made a mistake in making a direct climb especially when the strong gusts of wind forced me to stop and hang on the grass. After a strenuous climb I reached a flatter section of grass, the summit was a couple of hundred yards away still requiring some work to get there. Just as I got to the flat area a gust of wind caught me and I was going downhill quickly until I dropped to the ground in order to stop myself. The walk to the summit of The Nab was very hard with the wind almost too strong for me to walk into.

From the summit I could see the top of every other fell was covered in dark grey mist, not a day for exploring. There is a visible path over to Rest Dodd made by those walkers who sneak over to The Nab. The depression between the two fells is good enough reason not to visit The Nab, it is a real peat bog. Fortunately this year's good summer has left the bog in a passable condition with just a few long steps required to avoid the worst of the mud.

There is either no path up the steep grass slope of Rest Dodd or more likely I missed it, never mind I love those steep grassy climbs. The summit of Rest Dodd bears two cairns either side of a dryish depression that might have been a tarn at one time. From the summit you can see one end of Hayeswater and although The Knott is covered in mist you can identify it because of the wall that goes straight up it towards the summit.

Walk down hill in the direction of The Knott and you will find the wall, follow it down to the wet depression and all the way to the summit of The Knott. At least from this direction you don't feel that you are cheating by claiming you have claimed it. The summit of The Knott bears a considerable cairn and provides a good view over the other end of Hayeswater before making the short descent to the Straits of Riggindale.

The first good path of the day makes its way towards High Street but turn left at a cairn on another obvious path for a collection of summits. By now I was walking in mist and I could have waited for a reasonably obvious turn off but I know where Rampsgill Head is so I set off over the pathless grass in its general direction. It isn't that difficult, just keep heading towards the highest ground you can see. You should find the path that takes you to the summit and the nearby cairn overlooking Ramps Gill, today's view isn't very extensive.

From the summit is a path that takes you back to a much more obvious path, turn left and you soon reach the summit of Kidsty Pike, another short view today from a spectacular viewpoint. Head northwards and you will soon find a path which then meets a larger path coming down from Rampsgill Head, turn right to get to the summit of High Raise.

Carry on over a broad featureless plateau, you will meet a wall and a signpost at a gate that mentions an alternative route to High Street. Ignore this and continue northwards alongside the wall until you go through a gate and cross to the other side of the wall. Then you cross a broad flat ridge, featureless at the best of times but completely view less in the mist, at least I was sheltered from the wind by the wall here. The wall leaves you and eventually you will come to a fence, make sure you go through the gate to cross the fence. Another wide, flat and wet ridge follows and eventually you will cross a dilapidated wall.

After a shallow depression an easy climb brings you to an unexpected cairn, this is the summit of Wether Hill or at least somewhere close to it. Retraced my steps back down to a shallow depression that I took to be Keasdale Head, there should be a path hereabouts but I didn't see one but I did see Gowk Hill and headed downhill to the depression between it and Steel Knotts. Down over rough grassy slopes I didn't find a path until I got to the ruined buildings close to the crossing point of a small stream.

Finally out of the mist I followed the ridge to Pikeawassa on Steel Knotts and all of the way to Steel End for a steep awkward descent on grass before the final walk back to the car.

Andy Wallace 8th November 2003