Читать книгу Great Mountain Days in the Pennines. 50 classic hillwalking routes онлайн

66 страница из 71

Three of the walks in this section (Walks 13–15) head for the highest point, The Calf, each by completely differing routes that reveal the best the Howgills have to offer, and encourage further independent exploration. Included, too, are three excellent walks that are neither truly Howgills nor wholly within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Flanking the Eden valley are two outstanding and much neglected walks, including one that visits the source of both the River Ure and the Eden. Further north, Nine Standards Rigg is plumb on the Pennine watershed and enjoyably ascended from the market town of Kirkby Stephen.

WALK NINE

Hartley Fell and Nine Standards Rigg

Start pointKirkby Stephen NY775087Distance14.5km (9 miles)Height gain540m (1770ft)GradedemandingTime4–5hrsMapsOrdnance Survey OL19 (Howgill Fells and Upper Eden Valley)Getting therePlenty of parking in Kirkby StephenAfter-walk refreshmentKirkby Stephen is well endowed with pubs and cafés

‘Rigg’ means ‘ridge’, and so Nine Standards Rigg is the ridged summit of Hartley Fell, a short distance south-east of Kirkby Stephen and marginally outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park boundary. You can get bogged down, literally as well as metaphorically, if you try to shoehorn Hartley Fell into a ‘Pennine’ or ‘Dales’ category. It’s much more agreeable to ignore all that and to enjoy this airy saunter for its own merits. The whole of the ascent takes the line of the northern Coast to Coast walk; the onward route from Nine Standards Rigg lures you into the boggy clutches at the head of Whitsundale. But you don’t have to be drawn; you can simply go back the way you came.