Introduction
The Howgill Fells
I'm a Yorkshireman, so as far as I'm concerned, a big lump of these big lumps is in Yorkshire - The West Riding of Yorkshire, created in perpetuity (ie forever) by Halfdene, King of York in 875 AD as properties awarded to one third of the Danish army at the time. Spookily enough, there were two other Ridings for the other two thirds, one of whom, he obviously wasn't too keen on as they got Hull and Bridlington. I think he kept York for himself due to there being a chocolate factory there and it was quite handy for the train to Kings Cross. I know a lot about history, me.
The Howgills are all in Cumbria now, lying between the M6 to the West, Sedbergh to the South, Tebay-Kirkby Stephen in the North and Kirkby Stephen-Sedbergh in the East.
Geographically, they're more like the Lake District than the Yorkshire dales, being all Silurian stuff, although the Yorkshire Dales National Park boundary coincides with the old border of the West Riding of Yorkshire. The Dales are mainly Carboniferous, y'see, not shaly like the Howgills. Different.
The hills are steep-sided, round-topped and mainly grassy with only a few crags and scree fields. Some of the slopes are outrageously steep, though. There's a lot of grass, very few trees and a little bit of heather. Some of the higher tops have a layer of peat, complete with hags and bog-trotting ground, although mostly the tops are reasonably dry, so its very good countryside for walking about on.
There are few walls or fences, once outside the intake walls, and the lack of features at high levels, combined with parallel valleys and ridges in the North, can make navigation a problem. The consequences of a navigation error are usually no worse than a much longer walk than expected, and, possibly a phone call to a friend, or to a taxi firm in Sedbergh. I'd sort of considered including the phone numbers of Sedbergh taxi companies, together with doctors, dentists and hairdressers for those walks that come to a really bad end. But then I thought, why should I? You have to have a certain level of self sufficiency to be a successful hillwalker, as opposed to one who requires the ministrations of a skilled barber after every walk. So, no. Look them up yourselves.
Anyway, as I was saying, the hills have a small population of semi-wild ponies, lots of sheep, but nothing dangerous, although there may be adders I suppose. Try not to feed the ponies.
The hills have a remote feel to them, particularly along the Northern ridges and dales, although noise from the M6 spoils this along the Western side. They have a lot of similarities to hill ranges just across the Scottish Borders, especially those South of Peebles, or along the West side of Nithsdale. They are much less crowded than the Lake District and Dales which is a great big plus. They're not as quiet as they used to be, however, and you will need to check carefully for potential witnesses if you're after having a pee or doing anything illegal or otherwise naughty.
There's nothing terribly, terribly exciting about the Howgills. They're good quality hill-bashing country, but there's very little to fall off, and your main hazard will be coming down off the hill a long way from where you started, having become dislocated in hill fog or having your hair ruffled by a strong breeze. But do go up there if it is foggy on the tops - it's a great way to practise your compass/pacing/timing skills. The views are quite nice, if a bit repetitive - the hills do all look fairly similar, and so do the valleys.
I'm quite fond of the place, though. No reason - I just like these hills.
So here is my 12 months of walking in the Howgills. 13 walks in all (yes, I know...)
Enjoy them, but whatever you do, don't try to use this diary as a walking guide. I'm not Alf Wainthrop y'know...
