Friday 18 January 2019

Yorkshire Dales Mountains & Fells over 600 metres

The Yorkshire Dales 600s

There are 42 mountains and fells in the Yorkshire Dales over 600 metres, with a relative height of 20 metres or more. This website charts a walk to the summit of each and every one of them. Some of the summits are well-known and well-trodden, whilst others only see one or two pairs of boots each year.

This photographic journey began in February 2010 and I finally completed the Yorkshire Dales 600s in January 2019, with a walk to the 'summit' of Brownber Head.

Cheers, Mark Reid


Saturday 12 January 2019

Brownber Head (601m)

Brownber Head & Kaber Fell (601m)

My final 'Yorkshire Dales 600s' walk, after 9 years of slowly ticking them off! I was joined by three other people, who came to enjoy the wild beauty of Kaber Fell. 

We started this 7 mile route from a lay-by near High Greygrits on the Brough to Tan Hill road, from where we followed the moorland road and then the shooters' track of Kettlepot Road to reach the shooter's lunch hut in Kettlepot Gill. It was then 'off piste' walking across moorland, bog and peat hags to reach Brownber Tarn and then on up onto the long and broad summit ridge of Brownber Head, with the stone cairns of Nine Standards clearly visible ahead. Our return route took us down alongside Bleaberry Beck, with many lovely waterfalls, into the head of the River Belah, before rising up back to the parking lay-by. We then headed to the nearby Tan Hill Inn for a celebratory drink (highest pub in Britain).

Climbed: 11/01/19
Brownber Head: NY 856 068
OS Map: OL19
Time Taken: 5.5 hours
Weather: Misty to begin with, then the mist lifted with good visibility. Cold wind.
Route: Lay-by along moorland road between Brough and Tan Hill (467m spot height along Long Band), High Greygrits, Kettlepot Road, Kettlepot Gill, Back Gutter, Brownber Tarn, head of Horseman Gill, Brownber Head (600m ring contour), northwards down alongside Brownberhead Beck then Bleaberry Beck to Lingrigg Bottom and Woofer Gill (head of the River Belah), then back up Potter Side to the road. 

Photos (c) Mark Reid 2019 





























Sunday 6 January 2019

Little Whernside (604m)

Little Whernside (604m)

7 mile route from Scar House Reservoir in Upper Nidderdale, on New Year's Eve 2018 with my two children. We reached the summit just at sunset, and walked back down in the most wonderful pink light. The flat summit plateau is a morass of peat hags and bog, but the views are extensive towards Pen Hill, Buckden Pike and Great Whernside, with lovely sweeping views down into Coverdale. The winds on the summit were also gusting 30+mph. 

Climbed: 31/12/18
Little Whernside: SE 028 776
OS Map: OL30
Weather: cold, very windy, dry
Route: Scar House Reservoir, Lodge, Shaw Gill Close, saddle between Dead Man's Hill and Little Whernside, west up onto Little Whernside following the fence to the summit (cairn just on the northside of the fence). From the summit, followed the fence southwards down Hard Bank to pick up the bridleway across Angram Pasture, which we followed eastwards back to Lodge and Scar House Reservoir.

Photos (c) Mark Reid 2018