Yorkshire 600s

Where to go?

The Howgills

What a fabulous day for walking! 

We checked out the Mountain Weather Information Service website yesterday evening and early this morning. All was looking favourable - no rain, cloud-free summits, negligible wind and good visibility.

Several options were discussed, but as we were unable to start walking until late morning, something close at hand was favoured. Our walk today would enable us to 'bag' a couple of Yorkshire 600s.

Away from the madding crowds of the Lake District and the honeypot villages of the Dales, The Howgills seemed an obvious choice. Now and again it's wonderful to find a walk when the only people about are those that are silhouetted on the horizon. A walk that when you stop, only a far off bleat can be heard. A lunchtime spot that gives 360 degrees of fabulous fellside views... the Lakeland crags, the Northern Pennines, The Dales, as well as The Howgills.

Looking beyond the A685, key features from Wainwright's Coast to Coast could be recognised...the distinctive white church at Orton, Sunbiggin Tarn and Smardale Fell (It's viaduct could also be seen). Nobody knows how many would be walking that route today as they made their way to Kirkby Stephen.

A solitary figure passed us as we 'bagged' our first objective of the walk and drank in the views. 

For a get-away-from-the-world walk, The Howgills could not have been bettered today.