Hewitts Archives – James Stone

Completing the English Marilyns

30th October 2018 by James Stone Leave a Comment

After my Antipodean adventures, it was time to settle back into UK hillwalking. One of my longer term objectives is to climb 600 Marilyns. There are 1557 Marilyns in Great Britain. Of that number 175 are in England. So completing the English Marilyns seemed to be a reasonable objective as a starter.

Those familiar with the British hillwalking scene will know what a “Marilyn” is. They will also understand that “bagging” a Marilyn is not some sort of nefarious act.

A Marilyn is a peak in the British Isles that has a prominence of at least 150 metres. In other words, in order to reach any higher point from the top of your chosen peak, you have to drop at least 150 metres to reach that higher point. So in the British Isles, the highest Marilyn is Ben Nevis at 1344 metres. Its prominence is the same as its height because you would have to cross the sea to reach the nearest higher peak – Melderskin in Norway since you ask!

The lowest Marilyns are the high points of a couple of islands off the west coast of Scotland each at 154 metres in elevation.

And a final bit of trivia is that there are some well-known British hills that are not Marilyns, such as Cairngorm, Scafell, Yes Tor and Helm Crag. But you can still get some good views from them so don’t let that put you off!

By the beginning of 2018 I had 39 English Marilyns left to climb. These ranged from a couple up near the Scottish border and one in the Lake District to a multitude in the south of England and in the Welsh borders.

Shropshire

The seven remaining Marilyns in the Welsh Borders were tackled during one snowy long weekend at the end of March. There was so much snow that we were actually stuck there for an extra day, hemmed in by snow drifts. The western half of Shropshire is surprisingly hilly. It is not considered particularly as a hillwalking part of the country. There are a couple of better known hills there such as Stiperstones and Long Mynd. But, apart from them, generally we had the hills to ourselves.

Callow Hill and Flounder’s Folly built in 1838

The south east

Moving on to June, I attended a 40^th anniversary reunion of our University department that took place in Wimbledon. Whilst Julie and I had kept in touch with a few of our co-students, it was fun re-connecting with those who were able to attend and who I had not seen since collecting my degree. It was also an excuse for me to go down to Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

So over the next two days I visited the high point of Surrey, Leith Hill, with its tower:

Yes this non-descript street is a Marilyn!

By Cheriton Hill

And a summit in the middle of a golf course, amongst others.

It just goes to show how eclectic this pastime is. The mellow rolling hills of the south of England contrast starkly with the “proper” hills of the north of England. The southern hills are lower, more obviously touched by man, more accessible. But you only need to look carefully at the maps and you see barrows, standing stones, Roman roads and other remains, ancient field systems and Iron Age forts to get a feel for the history that surrounds you.

Although less challenging than much of the northern landscape, walking in these areas is not without interest.

The south west

Later the same month off the back of a business trip to Plymouth I had the opportunity to tackle some of the hills in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall far flung from home in the North. Here there is terrain on Dartmoor that almost matches some of the northern hills. But even Exmoor and Bodmin Moor have a more pastoral feel to them. Only on Dartmoor can you really get to places which feel a little remote with wide open heather clad spaces and bogs to match.

But it also gave me the opportunity to visit places I had not been to since my childhood – Minehead, Plymouth, St Michael’s Mount. It also highlighted the odd nature of Marilyn bagging – climbing through the scars of china clay mining, locating a summit in an 8m high hedge and standing on a summit looking at both the north and south coasts of Cornwall.

Christ's Cross — Trig in a hedge – Christ’s Cross, Devon

China Clay works at Hensbarrow Downs, Cornwall

Carn Galver tin mine from Watch Croft, Cornwall

Brown Willy, Cornwall – the highest point of Bodmin Moor (no sniggering at the back please]

High Willhays –the highest point on Dartmoor – from Yes Tor, Devon

The north

In July I tackled the final three Marilyns in the north. First there was Illgill Head in the west of the Lake District which has stunning views down over Wastwater. I climbed it on a rather cloudy day, a rare thing in our summer of 2018.

Instead of the usual route up Illgill Head from Wasdale, I climbed it from Boot in Eskdale where there is a car park at the rail terminus of the Ravenglass to Eskdale narrow gauge railway. This way provides a tougher but more interesting circuit than the usual one, including a chance to explore some stone circles near Boat How.

A few days later I went up to the Scottish border where two isolated hills, Peel Fell and Sighty Crag lie. These, particularly Sighty Crag, are infrequently visited. Sighty Crag must be one of the physically hardest Marilyns to reach, at least in England. Once an initial forest road is left, there are no tracks and it is ankle twisting territory with knee high grass, heather and bilberry whilst also looking to avoid the inevitable bogginess. I took what seemed to be an age to cross the 2km or so to the summit trig with a couple of false summits on the way.

On Peel Fell you can follow the England/Scotland border and have fun stepping in and out of each country. If ever Scotland becomes an independent nation I wonder how this border would be monitored.

Spectacular this countryside is not. But it is an area where you can easily lose yourself and where the terrain can be harsh and unforgiving. With our dry summer I had it lucky. In normal conditions you can expect sodden legs and feet. Perhaps the best time to climb them would be after snow and a big freeze to harden it up.

The end game

That then left a set of eight in Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight. That’s it about this crazy game. It takes you to places you would otherwise probably never visit. The exception is East Anglia – it is so low and flat that you will find no Marilyns there!

So I had never been to the Isle of Wight. On this occasion I had persuaded Julie and Jet to join me – not that Jet normally requires much encouragement…!

Another long weekend at the beginning of August saw us drive down to the Isle of Wight to catch the ferry from Lymington climbing Walbury Hill in Berkshire on the way. That same evening we climbed Tennyson Down. Tennyson Down is not a Marilyn but proves the rule that you can have spectacular views from hills that miss out on the 150m of prominence. We took a packed tea up there and marvelled at the seascape along the south coast of the island whilst enjoying the balmy weather. This hill is named after the poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who lived nearby for much of his life.

The following day was a mad dash around the island to find and climb the two Marilyns that the island had to offer – St Boniface Down and Brighstone Down – together with some other hills. As was the case with Tennyson Down, the other hills trumped the Marilyns for interest. St Boniface Down has a couple of contenders for the highest point, one being in the middle of a building site when we visited and the other in a patch of gorse and bracken. The top of Brighstone Down was in the middle of some woodland without a view. Much more pleasant were Bembridge Down with its fort, monument and views and St Catherine’s Hill with the remains of a 14^th century oratory.

St Catherine's Oratory, Isle of Wight — St Catherine’s Oratory, Isle of Wight

Having enjoyed our short stay on the Isle of Wight, we left for Dorset and Wiltshire where the final objectives lay. The next day saw us climb Nine Barrow Down which overlooks Poole and Swanage. As suggested by its name it hosts a string of ancient burial chambers. Nearby is the massive Corfe Castle, a significant feat of medieval engineering.

Then it was off to Hardown Hill, an oasis of heather and gorse between Bridport and Lyme Regis. I remember going to Lyme Regis when I was 6 or 7 and running from the beach as a plague of biting insects descended. This time it was the gorse that attacked us!

Finally on that day we did Lewesdon Hill and Pilsdon Pen. Lewesdon Hill is the highest hill in Dorset. Pilsdon Pen was once thought to be. Pilsdon Pen is by far the more interesting of the two. Lewesdon Hill is covered in trees so there is only a restricted view there. Pilsdon Pen hosts a substantial Iron Age hill fort and has more extensive views. It is just a short climb from the car park at its foot. The path passes through the two rings of ditches and embankments that mark the ancient fortifications and you pop out right by the summit trig. It is worthwhile walking across the level expanse of the hill top to the other side of the fortifications just to appreciate the size of the community that would have been supported there.

And so that left two to do on the following day. We were now in Wiltshire. First up was Win Green, a drive up topped by a large copse. The summit is hidden in the trees rather than being at the nearby trig. With its isolation this hill gives expansive rather than spectacular views.

And so it was on to the final One – Long Knoll. This mighty 295m high hill sits in splendid isolation and has a wonderful 1.5km long ridge that rises above the valley of the River Wylye to the south and rolling wooded ground to the north. Having first navigated a short stretch of busy road a right of way starts up the east end of the ridge. After a short steep climb through some woodland, there is then a wonderful undulating promenade along that ridge until the summit trig is reached.

It was another wonderfully warm day. And there it was. My final English Marilyn climbed on 5th August 2018.

I celebrated with a small bottle of fizz. We spent 50 minutes on the top sunbathing and admiring the views. It had been a wonderful journey taking me from the bleak hills of Northumberland to the Wolds of Yorkshire, to the bucolic but busy Lake District, along the spine of England’s Pennines to the unexpectedly fine Welsh borders and along the foot of England.

Long Knoll , Wiltshire — Long Knoll – the end of the road or the beginning of a new adventure?

We were going to drive all the way back to Yorkshire that afternoon. So it was time to go. But it was not the end of the journey. No, I am not going to try to do all of the Marilyns, though there are nine or so people who have done so. But a focus on other areas not previously visited or not visited for a long time might be in order. And perhaps a target of 600 Marilyns overall might be achievable.

I have around 800 Marilyn ascents with the repeats that I have done. So there will no doubt be some further re-visits as well – particularly on Yorkshire’s (if not England’s) finest little mountain, Ingleborough.

Four Yorkshire Hewitts

1st May 2017 by James Stone Leave a Comment

Yet another UK hill classification (or, more accurately, UK excluding Scotland) relates to the Hewitts. These are Hills of England, Wales or Ireland of Two Thousand feet in altitude (610m). They must also have a prominence of at least 100 feet (30m). There are 316 of them in England and Wales with a further 209 in Ireland.

Of these there are 20 in Yorkshire, all within striking distance of home. Some, such as the “real” 3 Peaks of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-ghent, are well known and I have climbed each of these each at least 20 times. But I thought that, in the spirit of maintaining my bagging credentials, I should perhaps aim to climb all of the Yorkshire Hewitts.

So I determined that I would try to climb four in a day. This would involve four separate walks, two of which would be relatively quick and the other two a little longer.

Lovely Seat

First up was the intriguingly named Lovely Seat and the most northerly of the four. It stands to the east of Great Shunner Fell on the Buttertubs Pass north of Hawes. The Buttertubs Pass was used on stage 1 of the Tour de France when the Tour visited Yorkshire in 2014.

There is parking by a cattle grid near the summit of the pass. Although it was a Bank Holiday weekend it was quiet, probably because I was at the start by 6.30am.

It was just a question of following a fence straight up the side of the hill. Lovely Seat misses out on being a Marilyn by about 10 feet (3 metres) and indeed has a stone built seat on its summit. I will leave you to judge whether or not it is lovely.

In fact the name is a misnomer. It should be Lunasett which in turn comes from the Norse for moon pasture.

It was still a bit cloudy and cool so I did not stay long. Up in 40 minutes and down in half that.

Drumaldrace

It was then back through Hawes and up the minor road in Sleddale to the south. This road rises to the watershed between Wensleydale and Langstrothdale further to the south. Near the watershed there is the line of a Roman Road which joined upper Ribbledale and Wensleydale.

Here it is now a farm track and bridleway. The top of Drumaldrace is just a couple of kilometres along this track. It is a fairly uninspiring hill that is dominated by Dodd Fell to the west. That said it was the only hill where I saw anyone anywhere near the summit.

Here is a pic looking back north to Great Shunner Fell and Lovely Seat.

Yockenthwaite Moor

The road drops precipitously down into Langstrothdale and then upper Wharfedale at Buckden. Langstrothdale is really pretty with the river flowing over and through rocky linns. It is a good spot for picnicking on a summer’s day.

There are a couple of places from where the climb of Yockenthwaite Moor can be made. The first is from Yockenthwaite itself, though space for parking is at a premium. Another point is from Hubberholme which is where I started from. Finally you can take the road from Buckden over to Aysgarth and park at the high point. All require a couple of kilometres of tramping across expansive bog.

In Hubberholme you can take the minor road into the village opposite the George Inn and park adjacent to the river. From there a public footpath on a vehicle track takes you through a farm adjacent to the 12^th century church of St Michael and All Angels.

The vehicle track takes you up to Scar House. This is National Trust property and has an interesting history being the location of an early meeting place for the nascent Quaker movement.

The track stops just beyond the house. From there it is bearing almost due north up the rough pasture, intersecting with a fence-line and then following Strans Gill. The angle eases for the final kilometre of bog.

Fortunately there had been little rain in the previous weeks so it was easy enough to avoid the worst of the slime. The trig came into view.

The trig sits on an island of dry grass with fine long distance views of Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent.

Trig on Yockenthwaite Moor with distant Pen-y-ghent and Ingleborough

I returned the same route, the round trip taking around 2 ½ hours.

Darnbrook Fell

Finally it was on to Darnbrook Fell. I drove the windy road through Buckden, Starbotton and Kettlewell before doubling back on myself up Littondale. I found a spot to park on the road near the pub in Litton. Here it was a bit busier with the pubs and eateries in Arncliffe and Litton doing good business. Look hard in Arncliffe and you can find good cream teas on offer.

A choice of paths will take you across the river in Litton so as to get on to a vehicle track that leads past Spittle Croft and encircles the hill. I followed this track for a kilometre and a half to the sheepfold on my left where a gate was conveniently open. That led to the open fellside. From then in it was the usual fare of rough pasture and occasional soggy bits all the way to the summit trig which looked as though it had been left a bit high and dry in the peat-hagged summit area.

Darnbrook Fell is really a subsidiary summit of Fountains Fell to the south west. As such the views to the south west are hidden by that higher ground and those to the west and north-west are blocked b Pen-y-ghent and its outlier, Plover Hill.

As is the case with much of the English Pennine hills, their rounded plateau-like tops are not conducive to good near views. But it had been a good day.

The four walks had involved over 1000m of climbing about 7 hours of walking. So I now have just two Yorkshire Hewitts to climb for the full collection. Many are not popular hills as evidenced by the fact that I only met one couple on the hills all day notwithstanding the fact that it was a Bank Holiday weekend.

Gragareth

11th April 2017 by James Stone Leave a Comment

This was my first outing with Julie following my return from Antarctica. Gragareth is the high point of the County of Lancaster but is somewhat dominated by nearby Great Coum and Ingleborough (which are in Yorkshire) and Whernside (which is on the Cumbria/Yorkshire border).

I had recently had a couple of days in the Scottish Borders which you can read about here and here.

It is possible to drive up to a high point in Kingsdale near the telecoms mast and start from there. But we decided to begin our walk in Ingleton in the hope that by the time we were finished a tea shop might still be open and we could find some refreshment.

We parked in the public (pay) car park by the Information Centre and set off.

We went down to and crossed the river before finding the public footpath that crosses the fields up to Thornton Hall. From there we walked up the road past the aforementioned telecoms tower to the beginning of the access land. Here we followed a track that wound its way up a short initial steepening before making its way towards Tow Scar.

We made a short diversion to the trig point on the Scar itself with its fine views south and east towards Ingleborough. The track peters out on North End Scar. So we then trekked north westish for about a kilometre to find the wall that marks the county boundary. Here the going was easier. A wet path followed the wall up to the trig on Gragareth and nearby small summit cairn.

The grass near the trig was firm and dry, so we sat there for our lunch. A broad green ridge continues north over Green Hill to Great Coum, the summit of which although higher is in North Yorkshire. Across the valley to the east stood Ingleborough. The higher Whernside, which is nearer, shows a less interesting uniform flank.

The atmosphere was unfortunately very hazy which spoiled long distance views despite the cloudless skies.

We left to bag the true summit and then reversed our outward route as far as the track into the road south-east of Tow Scar. Here we turned left for 400 metres and then right on to the rough road that leads to Twistleton Hall. Here it was busy. Ingleton has a fin set of waterfalls tucked away in a couple of deep set ravines. We ignored the first of these, but at Beezleys followed the river back down to Ingleton. Very picturesque.

We were too late for the tea shops. Never mind!

Yewbarrow and Seatallan

29th May 2016 by James Stone Leave a Comment

This is the last of my blogs for May 2016. I seem to have been fortunate to have been out in the hills a fair bit this month. This one covers an iconic hill, a further Marilyn and a good day out by Wastwater. I left home pretty early so as to get around to my start point at Overbeck Bridge by 6.30am. It is a bit of a trek from home to get to this part of the Lakes. But this was made up for by the scenery on the way round and the promise of a good forecast.

Though the photo below was taken towards the end of the walk, it shows the classic view of Yewbarrow standing proud over Wastwater.

Yewbarrow looks like a pyramid from this angle, but it is actually a long ridge with summits at each end. After a relatively gentle start, it rears up and, if you look for it, provides some easy scrambling through some rock bands. Some I had to help the dog through.

But as height was gained, the views became better and better. No wonder that Yewbarrow features in Trail Magazine’s top 100 mountain’s of Britain. Wastwater stretched away with Illgill Head and its screes on the other side of it.

We were soon at the top. This was the view along the ridge. We were soon joined by a couple who had come along from that direction. They were nearing the completion of the Wainwrights. They also warned me of a tricky descent off the far end of the ridge.

In the meantime we enjoyed the views across to the Scafells before we set off again.

Then this was the view back to the main top. The top at the far end is not at the obvious cairns but at a rock before they are reached.

Great Gable stood out to the east.

And here is Pillar to the north.

So it was time to see what the descent was like. For a (short) while it was OK if steep. Then it became a scramble and I had to guide the dog down, sometimes holding him by the scruff of the neck to ensure he could land safely on some very small landing areas. Anyway we made it and the terrain became easier and easier as we approached the col at Dore Head.

Here we saw some more people, including a guy who was running and being paced by three others. We followed them up the south ridge of Red Pike for 100m (330ft). When the contours relented slightly we broke off in a south westerly direction above Gosforth Crag.

Here is Yewbarrow, now behind us.

We had 500m of rougher ground before we descended down towards Low Tarn. We could now see our next objectives – Seatallan to the right and Middle Fell to the left.

The rough ground continued down to the tarn and along the south side that we continued beside. Towards the far end I found a rock to sit on and to have lunch. Jet took the opportunity to have a swim. It was warm though tempered with a light chill breeze. Seatallan and Middle Fell were looking closer.

After our rest, I took us to the outflow from the tarn and we followed this for a few hundred metres before turning right to cut down towards Nether Gill near its junction with Ash Gill which come down from the dip between Seatallan and Middle Fell.

Nether Gill was easy to cross and we crossed the bridleway on the far side and started up the slopes on the true left hand side of Ash Gill. A thigh burning 150m (500ft) of steep grass followed. I was glad to reach the broad expanse of the col.

Seatallan was next on the list. There was no obvious path where I emerged so I continued on a slanting rise almost due west and soon hit a narrow trail that then led straight up and easily to the dome of Seatallan. The Scafells and Great Gable were now looking somewhat further away. Yewbarrow which can be seen side on in front of the Scafells was now 3km (2 miles) away.

Because of the flat area around the trig, the views are less good here. There is also a shelter to keep the weather off. But it remained warm despite the breeze.

The true summit is not at the trig, but rather 55m away to the north east towards another cairn. Sellafield was obvious to the west. Seatallan is another Marilyn. I now just have one more Lake District Marilyn to do. I also saw my first people since cutting across country via Low Tarn. But considering the weather, it was hardly heaving – they were three in number.

It was time to move on. We followed our route up back down to the col. It was quite wet but a path up the north ridge of Middle Fell could be seen from afar. It is about a kilometre up the easy angled ridge. Things were becoming busier. A family group of eight passed me. On the top there was a single man and slightly below a couple were sunbathing.

Wastwater had come back into view.

And Sellafield could still be seen.

The final top that I was aiming for was Buckbarrow, some 2.5k away – a Wainwright I thought I may as well do since I was in the area. Buckbarrow has no significant prominence and is really only an appendage of Seatallan. I found a direct, if slightly unsatisfactory, way off Middle Fell by walking south for 100m or so and then just bailing off down the western slopes. The ground was a little more broken than the map indicated. But we safely made our way down to Greendale Gill.

I stopped to let Jet have a drink. I then started flicking water into the air from the stream and Jet (as is his wont) decided to try to catch it.

That fun over, we went south west over the expanse of moor.

Soon, in the distance, I could see what looked to be a rock or cairn sticking up. I made my way up to it. It was a cairn. It seemingly marked no particular point and was not marked on my (admittedly) old map. It was obviously well constructed. I found out later that it had been built by Joss Naylor as a cairn to mark the death of the Queen Mother.

So it was on to Buckbarrow which has a view of the screes but Wastwater is a little shy from this spot. We did not stay long.

And so we went slightly north of west to Tongues Gills. There is a path here (not marked on the map) that leads you down to Greendale Gill and the continuation of the bridleway that we had crossed over en route to Seatallan. We followed the bridleway down to the valley bottom and could look back up to the crags of Buckbarrow.

From there it was a walk along the road down to the Lake and then 2.5k on the road along the Lake itself. The place was now very busy and people had filled up most of the parking and picnic sites. Barbecues were being had, photos were being taken, sunbathing was being indulged in etc etc. Back to the reality of the Lakes on a sunny day in late Spring!