Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular) walk
Remote hill in wild countryside with fine views. Some rough and pathless ground. Return via Ure Force (waterfall).
![Baugh Fell in evening sun SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53895749735_55b988814c_n.jpg)
Baugh Fell in evening sun
SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)
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![Dandrymire Viaduct on the Settle - Carlisle, from ascent of Baugh Fell SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53895751645_777fb5b72b_n.jpg)
Dandrymire Viaduct on the Settle - Carlisle, from ascent of Baugh Fell
SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)
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![Unnamed tarn with Howgills beyond SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53895669109_2f1fec1759_n.jpg)
Unnamed tarn with Howgills beyond
SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)
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![Farms in Grisedale, from the A Pennine Journey path SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53895668544_2179d4b2b7_n.jpg)
Farms in Grisedale, from the A Pennine Journey path
SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)
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![Ure Force (upper part) and Wild Boar Fell SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53895668084_4ddee3e820_n.jpg)
Ure Force (upper part) and Wild Boar Fell
SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)
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![View of Baugh Fell from end of Station Platform SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53895333076_fc8dddfca2_n.jpg)
View of Baugh Fell from end of Station Platform
SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)
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![View of Baugh Fell from Coal Lane, Garsdale SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53895579783_25d5189ee3_n.jpg)
View of Baugh Fell from Coal Lane, Garsdale
SWC436 - Baugh Fell (Garsdale Circular)
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Length |
19.8 km (12.3 mi), with 536m cumulative ascent/descent. For a shorter walk, see below Walk Options. |
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Toughness |
8 out of 10 (6 out of 10 for length and ascent, but some pathless terrain and rough ground) with 6 hours walking time. |
Walk Notes |
This is a relatively straight forward expedition into some really wild countryside in southeast Cumbria. You walk up to a largely pathless hill and across its broad plateau, then into some wild and lonely valleys, providing for some superlative views (in good weather), plenty of rough ground and a considerable navigational challenge (in bad weather). The route initially provides for some easy navigation though by following roads, then tracks along or close to drystone walls up onto the top plateau of Baugh Fell. You should reach the highest point of the route with its splendid views, in the Tarn Rigg Hill area of Baugh Fell, in about two hours. Keep along the wall to a trigpoint on the subsidiary top of Knoutberry Haw before eventually turning right (north) away from the wall to cross the wide and substantially featureless plateau of Baugh Fell to West Baugh Fell Tarn some 1.5 kilometres away. The route described makes use of some of the few distinguishable features on the plateau to enhance the chances of getting to the tarn without problems. From the tarn, descend the north easterly flank of Baugh Fell via a smaller tarn and then pathless through rough pasture for 1.3 kilometres to a bend in the infant Rawthey River (obvious in clear weather, but good compassing work is needed in low clouds or mist). There, you ford the two streams that form the river and scramble up briefly across some steep grass to pick up the A Pennine Journey Long-Distance Path, a mostly good path along the hill flank. It leads into the lonely haunting Grisedale, crossing a few streams and soggy stretches along the way, to pick up a gravel farm track for a while. The descent off Grisedale Common/Turner Hill into the infant Ure Valley again crosses some rough pasture along an intermittent path. A loop across the Ure River and past the pretty Ure Force (waterfall) and The Moorcock Inn finishes this exciting adventure. |
Walk Options |
A more direct route from the road onto the hillside leads pathless across the heathery slopes instead of the (slightly longer) farm track.
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Maps |
OS Landranger Map: 98 (Wensleydale & Upper Wharfedale)
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Transport |
Garsdale Station, map reference SD 788 918, is 346 km northwest of Charing Cross, 75 km southeast of Carlisle and 343m above sea level and in Cumbria. It is a stop on the Leeds - Settle – Carlisle Line, with eight trains per day Mon-Sat and six on Sundays. Journey time to Garsdale is 69 minutes from Carlisle, 31 from Settle and 90 from Leeds. Saturday Walkers’ Club: The walk is doable as a daywalk from London with a very early start and late return. |
Lunch |
Picnic |
Tea |
The Moorcock Inn Garsdale Head, Sedbergh, Yorkshire, LA10 5PU (01969 667 488). The Moorcock is located 1.4 km from the end of the walk. |
Glossary |
Northern Glossary beck: stream, brook; brig(g): bridge; -by: habitation; cam: bank, slope, ridge; carr: marshy woodland or shrubland; clough: narrow valley, cleft in a hillside, ravine, glen, gorge, cliff, rocky precipice; crag: steep rugged mass of rock projecting upward or outward; currick: cairn, pile of stones, often locations used to keep watch for Scottish raiders; dale: valley; -ey: island, dry area in a marshy place; fell: hill, mountain slope (especially rough moorland); firth/frith: long, narrow inlet of the sea or estuary; force/foss: waterfall, rapids; frith: area of peace, protection, safety, security; garth: small grass enclosure adjacent to a house; gate: way, street; gill/ghyll: small narrow valley or ravine; hagg: part of an area of woodland, especially on a sloping bank; holm(e): island, inland promontory, raised ground in marsh, river-meadow; how(e): barrow, small hill; hush: (Roman era) mine on steep hillside, using dammed up water to wash away topsoil and boulders, revealing the underlying lead or ore veins; ing(s): meadow(s), especially water meadow near a river; keld/kell: spring or well; kirk: church; laithe/leeath: barn, agricultural building; lang: long; ling: heather; lonning/lonnin’: lane or track, something less than a road, more rural than a street, usually short; mell: sand dunes; mire: bog; moss: bog, marsh; ness: headland, promontory; nick: shallow notch, cut or indentation on an edge or a surface; pike: spike, sharp point, peak; rake: slant, incline; rigg: ridge; scar/scaur: cliff, rocky outcrop with a steep face; seat/set(t)/side: summer pasture or dwelling place; seaves: rushes; shaw: hurdle, gate; sike/syke/sitch: small stream or gulley, gutter; stang: pole, shaft, stake, wooden bar; stoop/stowp/stoup: post, gatepost, distance marker (milestone), standing stone; -sty: ascent, ascending lane or path, narrow pathway or course; tarn: lake or pond (especially in an upland location); thorp(e)/t(h)rop: village or small settlement; thwait(e): village or small settlement; toft(s): small farmstead with enclosed land, later applied to a village or small settlement; wath: ford; whinny: gorse, furze, thorny vegetation; -wich/wick: village or settlement. |
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Profile | |
Help Us! |
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By Train |
Out (not a train station) Back (not a train station) |
By Car |
Start LA10 5PP Map Directions |
Amazon | |
Help |
National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234 |
Version |
Aug-24 Thomas G |
Copyright | © Saturday Walkers Club. All Rights Reserved. No commercial use. No copying. No derivatives. Free with attribution for one time non-commercial use only. www.walkingclub.org.uk/site/license.shtml |
Walk Directions
Full directions for this walk are in a PDF file (link above) which you can print, or download on to a Kindle, tablet, or smartphone.
This is just the introduction. This walk's detailed directions are in a PDF available from wwww.walkingclub.org.uk