Starting The Plod

Route finding wasn't an issue on the first part of the walk up to the summit of Great Shunner Full (GSF) - we just followed the Pennine Way signs. The fingerposts directed us to Hardraw by use of the road to Buttertubs and some field hopping. One of the fields contained some cows which gave the Cabin Boy some concern, but they were more interested in eating than chasing. It was a glorious day; sunny and a little hazy. At the pretty village of Hardraw we joined the country lane that would be the start of the plod to the summit of GSF. 

The first part of the lane had a stone wall either side. We soon reached a gate that was the gateway to a more open landscape and views. Over to the east we could see two cairns, near to the top of Pike Hill ,where we'd recently stopped for a break on another walk (see Lovely Seat And The Black Cat). A bit more plodding and we reached a fingerpost. One finger indicated the route of the Pennine Way up to the summit of  GSF, and the other finger to Pickersett Edge, which would be our descent route back to Hawes. I was encouraged that the Hearne Coal Road looked quite a good track.

Great Shunner Fell

The ascent up to GSF is so long and gradual that sometimes it doesn't feel like an ascent at all. The path follows a broad ridge. The summit shelter could be seen as a small pimple on the highest point of the ridge. It is an honest trail; there are no unexpected undulations. A lot of the path was slabbed with a few sections that have submerged into the bog. Some of the slabs were supported on a pivot of earth so that when you stood on them, they see-sawed. This caused me to splash bog water up my leg a few times, much to the Cabin Boy's delight. As well as the sun, there was a stiff breeze, and so it didn't take long for my trousers to dry. It always seems to be windy on GSF; maybe it is the shape of the hill. The slabs made for fast walking and it wasn't long before we reached the final ascent to the top. Nobody was ensconced in the large, stone  cross summit shelter. There were plenty of flies ensconced though. We checked all the quadrants, but there wasn't one that was unoccupied by them.  A few metres from the shelter, we settled down on the grass to have a break. Looking over towards the Swaledale valley I thought I could make out what might be our next objective, Low Shunner Fell. That would have to wait; it was time for a coffee and a sarnie now.

Little Shunner Fell

A young woman had followed us to the top of Great Shunner Fell. While we munched our sarnies, she set off in the direction of Pickersett Edge and disappeared from view. Looking at the OS map, I could see that we could get to the summit of Little Shunner Fell by following wire fences that traversed the fell. The one heading over to the east had a track running alongside it and we followed it down to a marshy area that also supported a fair distribution of stones. As we progressed eastwards, I noticed the young woman that we'd seen earlier, making her way across to our fence. She ended up about a 100 metres ahead of us and she followed another fence towards Little Shunner Fell's summit. She reached the small cairn before us and continued onwards to the east. She was obviously going down to the Buttertubs pass. There wasn't much of a view from the summit of Little Shunner Fell since it was fairly flat. We retraced out steps to the original wire fence and the Kapitan set a bearing to the south to take us to Pickersett Edge. It was a bit of a trudge over trackless moor to get there.  We went by quite a large tarn and eventually came to a stone road. There was a large sign saying that there was no public access beyond the notice and that the only exit route available was over to the east, towards the Buttertubs Pass. Well, I wasn't expecting that!

Hearne Coal Road

The OS map showed the end of the Hearne Coal Road path ending up at a place to the south of this sign. In other words, you would have to walk beyond the sign to get to the public footpath. There was nothing for it, but to head down towards the Hearne Coal Road path and ignore the sign. Later, when I looked at Natural England's Access website, there does appear to be open access on Fossdale Pasture. The stone road then appears to run on to private land at Fossdale Pasture. Presumably, the landowners don't want walkers to use the stone road as a descent route and stop them right at the top of Fossdale Moss.

On our trackless descent to Hearne Beck we came across a small wooden cross and plaque with 'Ian' written on it. I'm not sure who Ian was but his memorial is well tucked away. There wasn't much water running down the beck and so it was easy to cross. Less easy was finding the Hearne Coal Road. I'd visualised it as a wide stone track, but all we could see was marsh and bog. As we made our way down the valley we would occasionally drift on to what looked like the vaguest of tracks, but it would soon disappear again. There were sporadic wooden posts that actually marked the track. I checked the gps readings and these correlated with the green track shown on the OS map. It was quite hard going and we would probably have been better taking a higher line, away from the official footpath, to avoid the worst of the marshy areas. Eventually the posts led us to a more discernible track and this got gradually better the further down the valley we trudged. By the time it intersected with the Pennine Way, the Hearne Coal Road was actually a decent path. I won't be rushing to pay a return visit to that path again.

Return To Hawes

It had turned into a lovely day weather wise. The sun was out and there was a gentle breeze. The Pennine Way brought us down into Hardraw where we found the patio seats fully occupied outside the Green Dragon Inn.  I'd mooted the idea of visiting Hardraw Force which is accessible through the pub, but the place looked very busy and I decided to leave it until another day. Just outside Hardraw, the Kapitan spotted some name plaques on a stone wall including, Zeus, Spot and Sam. I presumed we'd stumbled upon a pet cemetery, unless some of the past locals had had exotic names. The cows had disappeared from this morning and so the Cabin Boy looked happier. In the next field we came across a Landrover with five Collie dogs stood up near to a wall. They all stared at us as though they were just about to pounce off towards us, but mysteriously they remained static. It was only when we got close to them that we could see that each had been chained to a stone on the ground. We'd seen posters up for sheepdog demonstrations and so I guessed it was something to do with that.

On returning to the carpark the crows were still singing their Van Morrison numbers. They never seem to give up; neither could Van Morrison, from what I seem to remember. It had been a great walk in good weather. The Hearne Coal Road path wasn't quite what I expected, but every walk should have a surprise or two.