Wild Boar Fell, Rogan's Seat and Kisdon

Wednesday 8 April

 

Wild Boar Fell, the first of 3 tops today, was notable as being the first hill of this trip which had a mountainous look to it. That wasn't strictly related to its height (708m - the biggest of the trip), but rather due to its rugged, pointy appearance from our easterly approach. It's not just a fine-looking hill from the valley either; the plateau was equally pleasing, and we spent a good while enjoying it in the sunshine.

Watching Tocano (sp?) flying below us on our descent (they became something of a feature of the day), we impulsively tried a bit of a road-walking-avoidance short-cut, which worked a treat (and only involved the tiniest bit of trespass) and by 11.30 we were off on our way to Keld for our next 2 hills.

That journey didn't go to plan. In the same way that we were plagued with closed lay-bys last Friday, today we kept encountering road closure notices. A significant back-track and a detour saw us to Keld a little later than expected.

We've liked Keld since the first time we visited and the village and surroundings were as pretty as ever, but Rogan's Seat itself was a wholly unremarkable hill (except as a viewpoint to see over a dozen heather burns going on all around; obviously the ideal conditions for it today). With a very good track leading to within 100m of the highest point, and with the last 100m of height being gained over the course of 2km, it was also a very easy one.

Back down at the Pennine Way junction, just a stone's throw from Keld, we had a decision to make: whether to do Kisdon today or return for it tomorrow. Logistically it made sense to do it today (even though it was rapidly heading towards tea time and tummies were thinking about rumbling) so off we set.

Having had the binoculars out from across the valley, to scope out the best wall-avoiding route up, we promptly discarded all of the mental notes made per our cross-valley observations, and just followed our noses. A good tactic on this occasion, as 25 minutes after deciding to go for it we were standing on the top - it would have been silly to have had to return tomorrow for such a quick and easy walk.

With two more closures affecting roads we intended to use tomorrow, a bit of replanning has been required. As a result we're not where we expected to be tonight, but instead sitting very close to (and almost at the same height as) tomorrow morning's summit. What is the local authority up to closing almost every route in the area at the same time?!

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange