Captain's Log

Hawes

I was back in the Dales for a week of walking. The Kapitan, Cabin Boy and Ted had joined me for the expeditions. I planned our first outing from our base in Hawes. It would follow the Pennine Way northwards from Hawes along that long gradual ridge to the top of the mighty Great Shunner Fell. Ted had yet to claim the hill on his Dales 30 tick list and so at least one of us would get a tick. We’d then make our way across to another Dales 30 in the east, Lovely Seat. Again, only Ted was missing this tick. The route would involve dropping down to Buttertubs pass from Great Shunner which consequently meant a steep climb up to Lovely Seat. I'd tackled Lovely Seat with the Kapitan and Cabin Boy a couple of years ago (see Captain's Log, Lovely Seat And The Black Cat) and today we’d descend by the ascent route we’d used on that occasion. This would involve some trackless traverse of a moor and then an easier ramble along a stone road that follows the perimeter around the top of the moors. We’d then drop back down to the village of Sedbusk and make our way back to Hawes. I expected it to be a tough 14 mile outing, but the gradients would be reasonably gradual and so hopefully it wouldn’t be too arduous. 

Great Shunner Fell

We followed a couple of backpackers up the country lane from Hardraw. I positioned myself on the right side of the Kapitan and Cabin Boy so that I could chat with them as we approached. Given the size of their packs, I guessed that they were Pennine Way NoBos (NorthBounders). I’d only completed the national trail a month ago (see Captain’s Log, Pennine Way SoBo) and so I didn’t want to waste the opportunity to Tommy Top them with a chat. Unfortunately, they were engrossed in a deep conversation as we overtook them and despite slowing my pace, I didn’t find a suitable opportunity to intervene…I didn’t want to appear too heavy handed. 

Our progress up Great Shunner’s south ridge was assisted by a southwesterly that blew persistently at our backs. There were one or two spots of blue in the sky, but it really didn’t feel like a summer’s day. Occasionally we would hear the sad, solitary call of the Golden Plover. I managed to get a photo of one, but it was too far away to appreciate the wonderful colour of its feathers. It was about a 4 mile trudge up the long ridge to the summit. At least the ascent was spread out fairly evenly over that distance and so it didn’t really feel like much of a climb. We could see Lovely Seat over to our right. It looked quite far away; it was going to be a long day. 

The northerly quadrants of the stone cross shelter on the summit were the ones out of the wind. One of the quadrants was occupied by a chap who turned out to be a Pennine Way SoBo. He’d actually walked from Berwick-upon-Tweed and was using the Pennine Way as his motorway to Derby. This knowledge was a bit frustrating since I couldn’t Tommy Top him. He didn’t seem very happy and complained about the exceedingly boggy section he trudged through just before the Tan Hill Inn. I was about to tell him about how I avoided that particular nightmare by an alternative route, but he was on his feet and heading south before I had the opportunity. I joined the Kapitan, Cabin Boy and Ted in the other quadrant to have our lunch. 

Buttertubs Pass

The wind seemed to be blowing even stronger now and so we soon dropped down to the east from the summit. The area was still exposed though and we couldn’t avoid the gusts. There were one or two spots of rain in the wind too and so we put on our waterproofs. The route down from Great Shunner Fell to Buttertubs Pass meanders across boggy, trackless moor. This would make navigation quite difficult in bad weather if the route hadn't followed a wire fence all the way. There wasn’t much of a path, in fact there was none at all in a lot of places. We passed the small stone cairn that indicated the flat summit of Little Shunner Fell. From there we made our way to Grimy Gutter Hags, whose name encapsulated the area quite well. The wire fence then diverted southwards to the top of Buttertubs Pass. About 300m from the road we came across a tall, well-built cairn. This seemed a bit odd since it didn’t seem to be positioned at the very top of the pass and was still quite a trudge to reach from the road. We intersected the road just as a cyclist was tottering over the pass. He’d made it all the way up from Swaledale to be met by this strong headwind on the other side. I thought he might have to pedal on the descent, but gravity did its job. Now we were close to Lovely Seat, the ascent didn’t look quite as steep as it had done from afar. We headed off to follow another wire fence to its summit. 

Lovely Seat

There were one or two steep sections on the ascent to Lovely Seat’s summit, but it really wasn’t that bad. The strong wind assisted us on our climb to make it feel even easier. The gradient flattened out and the summit cairn came into view. We trotted across and found meagre protection from the wind on its leeward side. The moors on the east side were bleak and seemed to stretch forever. We sat down to have our lunch. The Kapitan has the responsibility of the ‘coffee carrier’ on our expeditions and he controls the logistics of how much we can have.
‘Anybody for more coffee?’ I heard him announce after he’d had his sandwich. 

‘Aye, I wouldn’t mind’ I replied. I was spitting feathers after the climb up to Lovely Seat.
Five minutes later, I’d still not had a refill and so I poked my head around the summit cairn to find out what was causing the hold up.
‘Oh, I’ve already drunk the remaining coffee,’ the Kapitan said brightly, wiping copious amounts of the stuff from his moustache with the back of his hand. Apparently he’d ‘not heard’ me make a claim for the remaining coffee earlier on. I’d consider the repercussions of this misdemeanor during my descent. Maybe I could demote him and make the Cabin Boy the ‘coffee carrier.’ It might be a case of 'Out of the frying pan and into the fire' though. We headed off from the summit straight into the headwind.  

Perimeter Walk

On our last walk up to Lovely Seat, we had made good use of a stalker’s path that had taken us up a significant distance from the perimeter of the moor to the summit. I hoped to find this path today, but it wasn’t to be; it remained hidden in the undulations of the moors and heather. To be fair, our more or less direct route to Sod Hole Gill wasn’t too difficult. There was tufty grass and a few deep bogs to contend with, but we were able to avoid heather-wading altogether. We got a wonderful view back across the valley to Great Shunner Fell and Wensleydale further to the south.

At Sod Hole Gill we met up with the significant stone track that roughly followed the perimeter of the moors. This was flat, easy walking and we made good time. Lapwings and Curlews took exception to our presence though and they circled and swirled around us. There were dozens of them. To say that both species are endangered, they seemed to  be doing very well on these moors. The stone road swung east to North Rakes Hill and Hawes came into view down in the Wensleydale valley. We branched away from the stone road to make our way towards it. 

Return

After a steep drop, we reached the first stone wall of the field system. It was then just a case of field-hopping our way downhill. Shutt Lane brought us into the rear of Sedbusk and we walked through its narrow streets to reach another stile and more field-hopping on the other side. When I’d passed through Hawes on the Pennine Way recently the road had been shut off near to Hayland’s Bridge. A large excavator had been repairing the river bank. It was all complete today though and the road reopened. We made our way back into the centre of Hawes. It hadn’t seemed like a 14 mile walk to me. When I enquired about the matter with the Kapitan, Cabin Boy and Ted, they had all agreed that it had indeed felt like that distance. 

It had been an excellent walk though with the wonderful panoramic views from the giants of Great Shunner Fell and Lovely Seat. The area shouldn’t be underestimated though and I’d guess that navigation could get tricky in bad weather.