Last updated 14:02, Thursday, 28 August 2008

A walk for a clear day with views stretching across the North Pennines

Panorama: The tall cairns on Wild Boar Fell high above the upper reaches of the River Eden

MAP: OS Explorer map OL19.

Start: Garsdale Railway Station.

Finish: Kirkby Stephen Railway Station.

Public transport: The Settle to Carlisle railway line (telephone 0871 200 2233).

Refreshments: Variety of pubs and cafes in Kirkby Stephen.

Distance: 12 miles

Total ascent: 2,362ft

Time: 6½ to 7½ hours

Grade: Hard

Overview: The long tramp from Garsdale Head to Kirkby Stephen makes for a wonderfully wild day on the hills – and you get a trip on the Carlisle to Settle railway thrown in. Ordnance Survey maps show no paths on the lonely Pennine tops of Swarth Fell (2,234ft) and Wild Boar Fell (2,322ft), although, in reality, there are routes on the ground and the walls and fences also aid navigation.

Nonetheless, this walk is best saved for a clear day – if only to appreciate the magnificent views of the Howgills, the North Pennines and even the Lake District. Keeping close to Wild Boar’s distinctive escarpment edge, you also get a giddy chance to look down into the upper reaches of the River Eden far below.

At this time of the summer, the ground underfoot is usually relatively dry, but if you’re saving this walk for later in the year, it can be boggy in places.

The Walk: Having left the station, turn right along the minor road and down to a T-junction with the A684. Cross over and go through a tiny gate in the wall opposite. There isn’t a clear path on the ground; simply keep about 10 yards between yourself and the wall on your left, and you will reach a small gate. Go through and continue in roughly the same direction, following the line of a gully a little way over to your left. Beyond the next gate, head along the grassy swathe – towards Swarth Fell in the distance (NNW). About 80 yards after passing a farmhouse on your left, go through a gate in the wall on your left. A narrow, grassy path heads NW to pass through a gap in a wall about 50 yards to the left of a small barn. Continue in the same direction to reach another wall gap and then drop down to a quiet lane via some ruined buildings and hen coops (1.2 miles from the start).

Turn right and follow the asphalt until it ends on a bend just beyond a gate above East House. Here you will see a bridleway going off to the right, but you should swing left (NW) along a rough track. After almost half-a-mile, you will see tree-lined Flust Gill ahead. When you can pick out an easy line, make your way over to this limestone gully and then bear right (N) to follow it upstream.

The beck ends in a boggy mire just beyond the end of the wall on your left. Continue following the fence uphill until it meets another fence on the ridge. Here, you will find a wooden stile, which you cross. Now turn left along a faint path running alongside the fence (NW). The bleak, peaty dome over to your left as you climb is Baugh Fell, the sort of place where few walkers venture.

The uphill work is easy at first, but becomes a little steeper as you climb to the cairn on Swarth Fell Pike (3½ miles from the start). You now get your first decent view of the Howgills to your left and Wild Boar Fell, ahead and slightly to the right. Continue alongside the fence and then a wall to reach the highest point at the NW end of this elongated summit. You can now see right across the top of the Howgills to the Lake District fells.

Follow the wall down into the saddle between Swarth Fell and Wild Boar Fell. Here, as you pass a long, thin tarn, the wall swings away to the left. Continue alongside the fence for the time being. About half-way up the next slope, bear right at an indistinct fork in the path (NE). Instead of climbing to the trig point, this path hugs the escarpment edge, which it reaches near a line of tall cairns (5.7 miles from the start).

If you thought the views were good up to this point, you’re in for a real treat now. Cross the stile in the fence and follow the faint path along the edge of the fell. Huge slabs of rock lie in piles at the foot of the crags to your right. More than 1,300ft below, the infant River Eden snakes it way through a magnificent valley at the start of its long journey to the Solway Firth. Further north, the valley widens as the river skirts the base of the highest of the Pennine hills, including Cross Fell.

Dropping from the summit area, you reach a wall where you cross the route of a bridleway. Don’t go through the gate here; instead, continue in roughly the same direction, with the wall on your left. When the wall swings left, keep straight ahead (N) on a gently rising path that leads on to Little Fell. From the cairn at its northern end (7.25 miles from the start), quad bike tracks lead the way N across the open, grassy fellside.

Soon after joining up with another wall, you reach a fork where you should bear left up on to Greenlaw Rigg. When you reach a minor road (8.9 miles from the start), turn left and walk along it for about 100 yards. As the road starts swinging left, bear right along faint track through the grass (NNE). Bear left at the wall and follow a faint track under the railway.

Beyond the gate, you are channelled down to a farm track, along which you bear left. You pass some buildings on your left and, as you draw level with the end of the last one, bear right to follow a rough track down to a pair of gates. Go through the one on your left and then climb to a gate to the right of the ruins of Lammerside Castle (see “points of interest” later).

There is a clear line through the crops in the next field. It heads N at first and then swings right (NE) to pass through a small gate in the field corner. Go through another gate opposite and then continue in the same direction. Once through the next gate, follow the line of the fence on your right until the field narrows. Now go through the large metal gate on your left and turn right along the concrete track. Ignore the turning on your right almost immediately; simply follow the track up to Wharton Hall (10.8 miles from the start) and then, when you reach the buildings, pay close attention to the guiding waymarkers.

The concrete track ends at a cattle grid at Halfpenny House (11.4 miles from the start). Turn left just before the cattle grid (signpost reads: “Public Footpath Railway Station”). Walk with the wall and then a fence on your right. When you reach a wall barring further progress, cross the wooden stile on your right, then a stone stile on your left, followed immediately by another wooden stile in the fence on your left. Follow the field boundary on your right until you reach a small gate. Go through and turn right along the lane to reach the station at Kirkby Stephen.

Points of interest: Lammerside Castle was built in the twelfth century and then strengthened in the fourteenth century to provide protection against Scottish raiders.

It was occupied by the Wharton family, but they abandoned it in the 17th century, when they moved to the fortified manor house, Wharton Hall, which dates from the early 15th century.

England’s last wild boar – before the packs now roaming the south-west escaped from captivity – is said to have been killed on Wild Boar Fell by Sir Richard de Musgrave, who lived at Hartley Castle. A boar’s tusk was found in his tomb in Kirkby Stephen church.