1st November 2008 – Fountains Fell Loop – 9.25 miles and around 1,500 ft of ascent
OS Explore Route
Like a bobble-hatted train spotter, beardy bird watcher or spotty pokemon playing herbert, over the last couple of years I’ve been gradually trying to 'collect them all' by running all the hills, peaks, ridges, beauty spots and whatevers that appear on the southern and western Yorkshire Dales ordnance survey map. So far I’ve <takes deep breath> nabbed:
Beamsley Beacon, Carncliffe Crag, Simon’s Seat, pretty much every inch of the river Wharfe from Bolton Abbey to Grassington, High Bradley Moor, Skipton Moor, Carlton Moor, the disused railway line from Elswick to Skipton, Skipton Woods, Embsay Crag, Embsay Moor, Rylstone Cross, Rylstone Fell, Sharp Haw, Rough Haw and Flasby Fell, Calton Moor, the Dales Way from Grassington to Kettlewell, Hawswick Moor, High Cote Moor, the Monks Path out of Arncliffe, Mastiles Lane, Weets Top, every inch of ground between Malham, Gordale Scar, Malham Tarn and Malham Cove, Kirkby Fell, Rye Loaf Hill, every blade of grass between Settle, Stainforth, Langcliffe and Malham, Attermire Scar, Warrendale Knotts, Langcliffe Scar, Giggleswick Scar and Smearsett Scar, Feizor Wood, Long Scar and Moughton overlooking Helwith Bridge (where I fcuked up my knee), Pen y Ghent left, right and sideways, Plover Hill, Hull Pot, Black Dubb Moss, Foxup Moor, Littondale, Eller Carr, Langstrothdale, Ingleborough from Horton, Ingleborough from Austwick, Ingleborough from Clapham, Ingle-bleeding-borough from Newby, Ingleborough from Ingleton, Ingleborough from Chapel le Dale, Ingleton Falls, the whole Whernside ridge top to bottom, the top half of Kingsdale and finally…. Great Coum and Dentdale.
Anyway that’s all a very longwinded way of saying that up until yesterday I’d never been up Fountains Fell (to the right of Pen y Ghent if you look down at the map) before and it was starting to get to me. I had planned to do a longer route but didn’t have time and instead drove up through Langcliffe to my starting point, a lay-by at Henside. Its was cold first thing too and especially so given that Henside is already at a height of 1400 ft – mind you that made for less hill to climb on my run.
I planned to run the Fountains Fell ridge south to north, where there is a wall line but no formal path to follow, before hitting the Pennine Way at the very top and circling back eastwards following that before taking another path at Great Hill Scar diagonally straight back to my starting point. Although there was no proper path marked on my map going up Fountains Fell there was a quad bike trail most of the time so it was fairly straight forward…… mind you this electric fence at the trig on the very first peak made for an interesting climb over:
Here and there the 'path' completely disappeared too to be replaced by what looked like pretty insurmountable obstacles:
Anyway without too much of a fuss I managed to follow all the right walls, didn't electrocute myself, didn't get swallowed by any icey bogs and made it to where the Pennine Way dissects almost the exact top of Fountains Fell, and then began to follow that down the other side. Well actually I thought I was following the Penine Way – there were these wooden marker posts and everything – but I eventually came to the conclusion that I’d actually ‘misplaced’ the Pennine Way and was in fact following the other side of the wall that I’d not long before been running up beside. How the hell do you lose the Pennine Way? Anyway no worries I knew the direction I needed to be going in and eventually crested the ridge, with the low cloud now clearing, and could see the Arncliffe road far below. Somewhere down there is my lost Pennine Way:
After a fair amount of trackless cotton grass wading and hacking I finally reappeared on the Pennine Way and followed that all the way down to the Arncliffe Road and Great Hill Scar. Up until this point the whole run had been disappointingly not very muddy - don't get me wrong the whole of Fountains Fell was a mudfest but it had all been unfortunately hardened by the frost. Down here though with the sun out the mud was perfect and the final couple of miles back to my car were both easy running and muddy as hell.
1 hour and 39 minutes.
Reply With Quote