Start point-Grassholme Reservoir
parking area (NY 929216)
Summits Achieved
Name
Height (ft)
Height (m)
Grid Ref
Shacklesborough
1490
454
NY 9086 1706
Preface
We were relaxing chatting over
lunch of marmalade sandwiches and tea.
"These are excellent
sandwiches Grizzly", remarked Tetley.
"Well I use the marmalade that
Dad gets from Mr Williamson at Barbon. This is ginger and you can
really taste the spiciness", he replied.
"It seems we may well have a
new challenge in the offing, as last week I heard Dad talking to
Uncle Bob about where to walk next, and the North Pennines were
mooted", said Shaun.
Yes", agreed Allen, and
continuing, "since then Dad has been doing some research on
the Internet and has found a list on "Go4awalk", of 71
tops.
Little Eric put his paw in saying,
" he also found a longer list on Wikipedia. I saw him
working to cross reference the two and of those over 1000ft (305m),
he reckons there is another 17, making 88 in all, but he needs to
get some extra maps to be able to confirm a definitive listing."
"Looking at the list it will
be quite a challenge as generally they are overall higher than
the Yorkshire Dales, and spread over some pretty wild and
forbidding terrain", interjected Tetley."
"Well it will keep him fit",
mused Grizzly.
"It certainly will", said
Dad as he walked into the room. " I have come to tell you
that having just talked to Uncle Bob, we are walking tomorrow in
the North Pennines. We are going to climb a hill called
Shacklesborough, starting from Grassholme Reservoir, which is
just a few miles from the town of Middleton in Teesdale."
"Hooray", we all cheered
in unison.
"It will be great to have
Uncle Bob's company as it was November when we last walked with
him", said Shaun.
To the Start
It was quite a long drive to the
start, so we had to be up early and settled in the car by 07.30.
Again the route took us north leaving the M6 at Tebay, but
instead of taking the road towards Appleby, we drove along the
road to Brough.
"It is very flat and straight",
remarked Little Eric.
"That is because it was once a
railway line, and when it was closed in the 1960's, this road was
built", said Tetley.
After a while we came to Newbiggin
on Lune, a small village just off the road.
Tetley called out, "Little
Eric , if you look to the left now, you will see a house, that
was once the railway station"
"Oh yes, I see it", cried
Little Eric. "So that was Newbiggin on Lune railway station."
"Well no", replied Tetley.
"Despite it being at Newbiggin, it was actually called
Ravenstonedale, the name of the next village along the road!
"Mmm", said Little Eric,
with a confused expression on his face.
Soon the road climbed up what is
called Ash Fell, and on through Kirkby Stephen to Brough. Here
going right, it was then along the road towards Middleton in
Teesdale. This climbed ever upwards through wild and desolate
countryside, the snow still piled up at the sides of the road
where it had been cleared by ploughs. We agreed with Dad's remark,
not a place to breakdown. The foggy weather at home had given way
to clear skies with frost on the ground, that was until we
started along this road. Now the mist came down making it look
even more forbidding. In fact this was to be the weather
throughout the walk today. After about 10 miles we turned right
down a narrow road to reach the car parking area at Grassholme
Reservoir, our start point. Amazingly we pulled in just seconds
after Uncle Bob.
The Route
Here is our route. Basically from Grassholme,
we followed the Pennine Way south, almost to Backton Grange. From
here wild countryside was crossed to ascend to Shacklesborough,
before heading roughly north-west over similar terrain, to
Balderhead Reservoir. Taking the track then road on the north
side, it was east above this to East Carnhill, where we headed
north again to regain the start. Read on below to find out about
the various points marked on the map.
The Walk
Dad and Uncle Bob got their boots
etc on, and we settled ourselves in the rucksack, snuggling down
for warmth. Setting off, it was left over the narrow road bridge,
and then over the substantial stone step stile on the right. The
sign read Pennine Way, and we were to follow this part of the
long distance path for some miles, crossing thirteen stiles in
the process.
After a few yards, Allen called out,
"just look at those nice reflections in the water, of the
trees and bridge."
At the next stile, as Dad made his
way over, Uncle Bob snapped this picture. What a poser! [STAG
have no room to talk. Ed.]
Photograph
courtesy Bob Woolley (Uncle Bob)
By the house called How, we crossed
the road and continued on the Pennine Way over the fields to
Kelton Bottom. Cutting the corner of a field via two stiles, then
on ahead down Hazelgarth Rigg, over more damp pasture we arrived
at the Hunderthwaite to Balderhead road, at East Hunder. Here
Uncle Bob posed for his picture.
Our continuing route was right
along the lane as indicated by the signpost.
As well as being the access to High
Birk Hatt, it also leads to Low Birk Hatt, the former farmhouse
where Hannah Hauxwell lived, passing her meadow where she grazed
her cattle and sheep, some idea of which can be seen in the
picture below.
This is a rare example of a
traditional northern hay meadow. The two hay meadows and a
grazing pasture have always been managed without the use of
artificial fertilisers pesticides or herbicides. The resulting
species-rich meadow contains several plants that have disappeared
from other meadows of Upland Durham, due to intense farming
methods. Because of the presence of species such as wood
cranesbill, globeflower, ragged robin and adders tongue fern,
Hannah's Meadow is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The
flowers can be seen at their best in June and July.
It is named after the enigmatic
Hannah Hauxwell whose story became known through a national
television documentary. She lived and farmed the land at Low Birk
Hatt alone without the benefits of running water and electricity
for many years until her retirement in 1988. Durham Wildlife
Trust then acquired the land, to manage it as a nature reserve
preserving the traditional management to maintain the fragile
habitats. The farmhouse, having been renovated and improved, is
in private ownership, and in respect of their privacy, we have
decided not to include a picture.
From the house we continued along
the Pennine Way and through the gate ahead, then on the track
that led above the western reaches of Blackton Reservoir, seen in
the picture below. Hannah's former home can just be made out
amongst the trees in the centre.
It is owned by Northumbrian Water,
and here as well as at other reservoirs they have created nature
reserves. This western end of Blackton Reservoir, at periods of
low water, has exposed mud flats. It is used as a breeding ground
by several species of wader, especially the common sandpiper.
Mallard, wigeon and tufted duck may also be seen here.
After crossing Blackton Bridge, we
finally said goodbye to the Pennine Way, taking the footpath
right to pass by Blackton Grange Youth Hostel.
"Where now", asked Tetley.
"Through this gate on the left,
and up the field and through the wall at the top", replied
Uncle Bob.
A further field followed, the gate
in the wall needing to be climbed as it would not open. Now on
open fell we climbed to the modest rise of Turf Hill, then
continuing to make the crossing of a deeply snow filled gully.
Dad was ahead and snapped Uncle Bob making the crossing.
Uncle Bob then took a bearing with
the compass, indicating our direction was nearly due west, the
rounded hump of Shacklesborough soon looming out of the mist, and
we followed a tractor track heading towards it. Just to the left
of the track stood the remains of an old stone building and more
modern wooden hut.
"Whatever is that in aid of?",
enquired Grizzly, somewhat mystified.
As we approached closer, Shaun said,
"it's a pigeon loft."
"Seems an odd place for one so
far out in the wilds", remarked Allen.
"Can't argue with that",
Dad replied.
Walking on, the track divided and
we took the right fork. This eventually looped round and ascended
to Shacklesborough's summit marked by a trig point and shapely
tall cairn. Much time must have been spent on its construction.
We did not need a second asking to leap out and settle on the
trig point for our picture, an important one as it marked our
first North Pennine summit.
The cairn is so impressive bearing
in mind the relatively modest elevation of the hill, so we reckon
it deserves a picture on its own. Also it truly marks the highest
point on the fell.
After lunch and while Dad was
settling us in the rucksack, Uncle Bob took a bearing and pointed
out to Dad that we needed to aim for a gap in the snow on the
distant hill. So we confidently set off descending from the
summit. As we reached level ground however the mist thickened,
and we could not see more than 50 yards, never mind the reference
point on that distant hill. The rough moor was totally trackless,
bearing out why it is so important to be properly equipped with
map and compass, and indeed GPS.
After walking for a while Uncle Bob
took another bearing to ensure we were on track, and we finally
reached a stream called Bleagill Hearne.
"That's good. We are on the
right track", remarked Dad.
The GPS gave our position and Uncle
Bob took another bearing for the River Balder and its bridge,
that came into view after a little while, so all was well. It had
been hard going over this section of trackless bog, and at one
point Dad caught his foot in a tussock and he fell full length on
his face. We were all right and could not stop ourselves laughing,
as incidently did Dad.
Uncle Bob commented, "well at
least you had a soft landing!"
As we descended towards the bridge,
the huge Balderhead Reservoir stretched away ahead into the mist.
Crossing the bridge the clear track
heading east was followed, above the reservoir and later looped
round to avoid the large Mea Sike gully. This eventually led to
the road at the parking area. In an adjacent field a flock of
inquisitive black faced sheep came to give us the once over, and
chat to Shaun.
The road was now walked to East
Carngill, where we went left along the signed path. The cart
track was followed for a while, before we struck half left to the
boundary wall at Black Hill. Here we climbed the stile and went
roughly north descending the boggy pasture to its bottom right
corner, then on ahead through the gate to Lane Head Farm. Here
joining the access track we strolled on to the narrow road, where
we turned right. Soon though we took the path left descending to
cross Selset Weir. This amazing construction controls the flow of
water from Selset Reservoir into Grassholme Reservoir.
The huge bank in the distance is
the dam of Selset Reservoir, and you can see where the water
comes through via a wide pipe at very considerable force.
Skirting round, the path then
climbed up to a gate and across a field to a stile. Uncle Bob and
Dad's boots were quite clean up to this point, but this next
field was one of the muddiest ever, caused by the horses that
today were in an adjacent paddock. Thankfully there were some
puddles on the road beyond Low Selset, so they managed to wash
some off.
"That's the last of the stiles,
and I make it 17 for this walk", said Grizzly.
"I agree", said Allen,
who had been keeping notes.
Going right a we descended to pass
Grassholme Farm to the car park. It had been a cracking walk and
even in better weather conditions we think that the terrain would
still have been quite bleak.
Thanks Dad for taking us, and just
great to have Uncle Bob's company too.
We settled in the car, and after
goodbyes were said, Dad headed back over the road to Brough. It
was very bleak and forbidding through the wild and desolate
countryside, especially as the skies darkened towards evening.
Not surprisingly Dad was hungry, so
he went to Junction 38 Services at Tebay. A large plate of
chicken curry with rice and chips, washed down with tea,
replenished and refreshed him for the rest of the journey home.