right to follow the track roughly northeast and keep straight ahead down a grassy track. The track narrows and becomes a rather rugged path as it approaches New Water. There used to be a stone bridge here, but it collapsed long ago, leaving only a single abutment. Fording the river will result in wet feet if there has been a lot of recent rain.
Climb up from the river and go through a gate, brushing past vegetation to continue along a much clearer track. Watch carefully for a right turn where timbers are embedded in the ground, then follow another grassy track up a slope of grass and heather on the lower slopes of Middle Top.
Pass above a sheepfold and continue along the side of a valley, watching carefully to spot a point where a fence crosses New Water. Go down to the river and ford it just above a waterfall, caused by an outcrop of the hard doleritic Whin Sill.
There is a gateway in the fence nearby. Go through it and climb up the rugged moorland slope, avoiding deep heather by walking over surprisingly firm areas of moss and rushes. It might be worth drifting left at a higher level to pick up a vehicle track, but this can be rather messy, especially in wet weather, as it has been worn through thick black peat.
The track leads to a stony turning area, where a left turn leads along a track passing through a gap in a wall. There is a trig point just to the left, at 591m (1939ft) on the summit of Croglin Fell. Views take in the nearby moors, the East Fellside stretching away to Cross Fell, the Lake District beyond the Vale of Eden and Criffel in southern Scotland.
An outcrop of the Whin Sill causes a waterfall on the course of New Water
The track snakes invitingly ahead across the broad and bleak moors, but walk only as far as a junction of tracks, and turn right to go down through a gate. A broad and obvious track runs downhill, through a couple more gates, before being enclosed on both sides as it passed above Fieldhead.
When a house is reached at a junction, it should be recognised as the one that was passed earlier in the day. Simply turn left, walk down a steep track, turn right at the bottom and follow the road back through Croglin to finish.
Twenty years before Bram Stoker unleashed Dracula on an unsuspecting world, vampire attacks were taking place at Croglin and were reported in the Gentleman’s Magazine as chilling fact. In 1875 an Australian family took the tenancy of Croglin Low Hall, where one member, Amelia Cranswell, was attacked in her bedroom. She described a demonic figure, reeking of decay, clad only in a black grave-shroud. It burst in through her window, bit her face and neck, and left immediately. A doctor pronounced her injuries to be the work of a beast.
The family packed and took a holiday in Switzerland, but later returned to Croglin and took a number of precautionary measures. By all accounts, the Croglin Bat was at large elsewhere, judging by rumours around the area, but it eventually returned to Croglin Low Hall, where it was pursued and shot. It escaped down into an old crypt, which was later opened by well-armed villagers and found to contain a decomposed body with blood-stained fangs. The Bat’s heart was promptly pierced with a stave of rowan, a magical tree, and for good measure the coffin and its contents were burnt.
CHAPTER 2
THE EAST FELLSIDE
A small dam near Haresceugh (Walk 5)
In its fullest extent, the East Fellside is the name given to that formidable flank of the North Pennines that rises from the gentle, agricultural patchwork of the Vale of Eden. The highest Pennine summits rise one after another, with few breaches between them, either for roads, walkers, or even the weather. The nature of the slope gives rise to the peculiar Helm Wind – the only wind in Britain with its own name (see the section on the Helm Wind in the introduction to this guidebook).
Six walks are described in this chapter, and every one takes in one or two of the red sandstone villages crouching at the foot of the Pennine scarp, and each features the broad and bleak moorland crest above. Take note of the villages, which were all originally tightly built around broad greens, so that crops could be safely guarded and animals herded inside for the winter months, safe from border reivers and other raiders.
Cross Fell dominates the East Fellside, and the Pennine Way National Trail is encountered from time to time on these walks, between Cross Fell and Dufton. Two walks, one along Maiden Way and the other over the Knockergill Pass, run from the East Fellside, across bleak moorlands to South Tynedale (see Chapter 12).
The Settle to Carlisle railway line runs through the Vale of Eden and allows access to the East Fellside from Appleby and Langwathby, but connections with local bus services are very limited. Fellrunner bus services link some of the villages with Penrith and Carlisle, while Robinson’s bus services link some of the villages with Penrith and Appleby. Some East Fellside villages have a small range of facilities, while others offer nothing at all for passing walkers, beyond interesting vernacular architecture and expansive central greens.
WALK 5
Hartside, Black Fell and Renwick
| Start/Finish | Hartside Top Café (NY 646 418) |
| Distance | 17.5km (11 miles) |
| Terrain | High moorlands, boggy in places, with few paths. Walls and fences can be used as guides. Field paths and tracks are used at a lower level. |
| Maps | OS Landranger 86; Explorers OL5 and OL31 |
| Refreshments | Hartside Top Café. |
| Transport | Buses serve Hartside Top Café from Alston and Penrith in the summer. Very occasional buses link Renwick with Penrith and Carlisle. |
This route starts so high that there is very little climbing onto the moors. Gradients are gentle, and if the weather has been dry, then the ground won’t be too boggy. Walls and fences allow easy route-finding along a largely pathless moorland crest, taking in Hartside Height, Black Fell, Watch Hill and Thack Moor. There is an easy descent to the charming little village of Renwick. Payback time comes in the shape of a long walk up a series of old tracks, regaining all the lost height to finish back on top of Hartside. Bear in mind that the Hartside road is one of the first in England to be closed by snow.
If arriving on the summer bus service, start from Hartside Top Café, England’s highest café at 580m (1903ft). If arriving by car, don’t use the café car park, but park in a small limestone quarry round a bend in the direction of Alston. Go through a gate in a fence above the quarry, then follow a fence straight up the moorland crest to reach a junction with a drystone wall at 624m (2047ft) on Hartside Height.
Cross a step-stile and turn left to follow the drystone wall across a gentle gap on the moorland crest. The ground is grassy and mossy, while the wall gives way to a fence on a boggy stretch.
Another stretch of wall leads up a short, steep slope where the ground is firmer. Enjoy views of the whole of the Lake District across the Vale of Eden. The wall zigzags along the moorland crest, giving way to a fence that zigzags across boggy ground. A junction of fences is reached at a trig point at 664m (2178ft) on Black Fell.
The
