Sleddale Fells from Swindale

We knew it would be a bit of a drive round from where we were staying but the forecast was still showing quite cold/windy weather, and we felt like staying lower down. We opted to park at Swindale & chose to follow the 13 mile route in the Nuttals guide book we had with us. We had a bit of a panic when we got there as we thought we could drive further down the lane that we could - clear no parking beyond this point signs show where you need to park before following the lane to Swindale Head. We weren't sure if the route in the guide book was from the end of the lane or where we had parked, so all day we weren't quite sure how long the route would be (it being split over 2 OS maps which we were following the route from which didn't help with the estimation process!) Turned out after that the route did include the walk in from the parking point.

The lane made for an easy walk in to the beautiful Swindale Head which for the Lake District feels like a very remote valley.

After passing various farm buildings we began our route uphill which initially heads up Old Corpse Road (known as this as coffins used to be carried this way for burial) We soon left the path to follow the ridge of Sellside Pike to the summit. Although it had started off sunny the snow showers promised in the forecast started to blow in as groupel (soft hail/snow pellets) & out came the goggles!

The ground conditions were easy going and we were soon at the summit shelter. It's great to have a ready made shelter in the winter to kick back and eat some food without getting too cold. It also saves getting out the mountain shelter..

Onwards we went following the fence whilst getting pelted with groupel, the goggles and balaclavas certainly helped, although you can't help but feel like you are in a bit of a surreal bubble after a while!

Our next summit was Branstree North East top, nothing to write home about, but was easy going to get there. I was amazed how well Emma was coping with the conditions, we were all enjoying how easy these hills were underfoot esp as most the wetter sections were frozen.

Our next hill top was Branstree which the guidebook describes as having a bird bath like marker on the very top. Due to the weather I think we probably missed the highest point as we didn't pass anything of this description - think we probably got distracted by the surveying pillar which we were all speculating as to what it was there for. (they were put in place by the Manchester corporation during the construction of the Longsleddale aqueduct) 

Next up was Tarn Crag which had a nice rocky top to it and reminded my of a mini Glyders, we were treated to some views whilst the snow held off for a short while. The wind was pretty cold so we didn't stop for long.

We followed the wall down to our next top and we had fun walking/sliding down on the compacted snow. We bumped into another walker towards the dip between the two hills who took advantage of our waterproof map in the sleet to check her way on. The wall was another bonus in shelter of which we took advantage of before the climb back onto the hillside. A great place to eat sandwiches and drink hot squash!

The way on started becoming a bit boggier, and we made our way back uphill to our next hill top (I'd spoken too soon at the wall at to how easy going the walk had been conditions wise!) We had some debate as to which was the highest top but we visited them all to be sure!

Our final hill of the day was Harrop Pike and it didn't disappoint, another nice shelter cairn and beautiful views.

We headed straight down to pick up the boggy river bank along Little Mosdale Beck.The route in the guidebook goes via the bothy which would have been a lovely distraction, but we were concerned it might be a bit too much of a detour for Emma. Just as the bog hopping was getting a bit tiring we started to see shapes on the horizon and started to debate what they were. It turned out it was a huge heard of deer much to Emma's delight, one by one they started jumping over a small fence which was even more impressive. The valley could be mistaken for somewhere in the Scottish Highlands.

We picked up the footbridge over the beck then followed a footpath/track which took us back to our initial lane. We passed the waterfalls at Swindale Head which looked particularly impressive with the water raging down them. Our walking poles came in handy on the final descent as the sheep mown/sodden path was like an ice rink of slipperyness!

We all had tired feet walking back to the car, and felt quite envious of the farmers quad bike and trailor as they sped past us on our walk out. These hills are brilliant winter hills, and I would have no hesitation returning again.