The Newlands Round

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Route: Little Town, The Vicarage, Skelgill Bank, Catbells, Mart Bield, Hause Gate, Bull Crag, Maiden Moor, Narrow Moor, High Spy North Top, Minum Crag, High Spy, Wilson's Bield, Dalehead Tarn, Dalehead Crags, Dale Head, Hindscarth Edge, Hindscarth, Littledale Edge, Robinson, Blea Crags, High Snab Bank, Little Town

Date: 14/10/2018
From: Little Town

Parking: Car park near Little Town
Start Point: Little Town
Region: North Western Fells

Route length: 11.7 miles (18.8 km)
Time taken: 08:51
Average speed: 1.9 mph
Ascent: 1257m
Descent: 1264m

Wainwrights on this walk:
Catbells (451m), Maiden Moor (576m), High Spy (653m), Dale Head (753m), Hindscarth (727m), Robinson (737m)

Additional summits: Brandelhow (338m), High Spy North Top (630m),

Other points of interest: Moss Force

While not containing many truly towering peaks, any lack of height around the Newlands valley is easily overlooked by the sheer variety of shapely mountain profiles; where slender, airy ridges rub shoulders with burly crags and magnificent glacial valleys. The Newlands Round must be saved for a good day.

The Newlands Round, as suggested by most authors, is a circular walk that takes in the fells of Catbells, Maiden Moor, High Spy, Dale Head, Hindscarth and Robinson. With this in mind, we parked near to Little Town, partway between the feet of Robinson and Catbells, our starting fell.

After a stroll along the route between Little Town and Catbells, the path reaches the foot of the aforementioned fell before starting the climb towards the summit. While the morning was cloudy and dull, the forecast was for the sun to make a lunchtime appearance so we were not in any great rush.

A drab morning in Newlands following a day of very heavy rain

Hindscarth and Robinson

Causey Pike and Rowling End

Maiden Moor

The ridge leading up to Catbells was busy, as expected, with a large number of people making for the summit. Once achieved, most of them turned back, happy with their day's work and I don't blame them, the ridge and subsequent summit are a fantastic place to be with expansive views of Newlands, Keswick, Derwentwater and Borrowdale. It's hard to think of a more dramatic view for the effort. Speaking of the summit, a bare rocky top offers a splendid view of Borrowdale and Newlands alike.

Keswick and Derwentwater

Newlands below Causey Pike

Skelgill Bank

Cat Bells panorama

Derwentwater

Looking back to Skelgill Bank

Cat Bells summit

The central ridge of the Lake District

A tiny scramble leads off the summit into the depression of Hause Gate before starting a slow and steady climb up towards the wide summit of Maiden Moor. The views across the valley are still a sight to behold, ever-changing as we continued the climb. A fork in the path leads to a slight dilemma for the unaware, the main path bypasses the summit of Maiden Moor whereas the slightly shabbier looking path leads right to the top as well as passing above the impressive Bull Crag which falls to the valley floor with as much drama as can be found in Lakeland Fells.

Mart Bield and Maiden Moor

Hause gate

A handy sign marks the way

Flooding at the head of Derwentwater

Looking down Bull Crag into Newlands

Maiden Moors summit

Views from Maiden Moor are limited to those to the west, such is the broadness of the top. In addition, the meaning of the fell's name is obscure, the name "Maiden" is given to many prehistoric hill forts but there is no evidence that a hill fort ever existed on the fell. It may refer to a place where games or rituals were played where maidens took part.

As the path from the summit heads south, it rejoins the main route as it crosses Narrow Moor, unsurprisingly, a narrow ridge that links Maiden Moor to the loftier High Spy. As with the route from Catbells to Maiden Moor, it's a fairly uninteresting grassy plod, though the views (as always in this part of the world) more than make up for it.

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Hindscarth

The summit of High Spy soon comes into view, a tall cairn marks the top and marked our first break. The traditional handful of Jelly Babies spurred us on towards Dale Head with the tantalising prospect of a well-deserved lunch. Why well deserved? Wilson's Bield stands in the way, a steep 100m below High Spy and an even steeper 250m below Dale Head.

High Spy

High Spy's summit

A look back to Maiden Moor

Dale Head and DaleheadCrags

Blue skies approach over the Scafells

Tarn above Miners Crag

Miners Crag

The descent from High Spy

Newlands Beck

Dalehead Tarn

An entertaining crossing of the infant Newlands Beck and a quick look at Dale Head tarn precedes the unpleasant climb. It's pretty tough work, though made slightly more palatable thanks to a series of stone steps that allows you to slowly plod away. A sweaty half hour or so later, we reached the summit.

Wilson's Bield

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Bowfell and Glaramara

Skiddaw and Newlands

Great Crag

The Helvellyn range

Dale Head's summit

As I've probably eluded to throughout this post, the views are, once again, particularly good, this time directly down the barrel of the Newlands valley, backed by the king of all sloping hills, Skiddaw. If ever you wanted to show someone a typical U-shaped glacial valley, this is probably one of the prime examples, though you can't really move around the Lakes without bumping into one.

As with High Spy, Dale Head is also marked by a tall cairn, this time teetering on the edge of the Dalehead Crags and Great Gable, the bold rocky face you can see in some previous photos. As you may have already concluded, Dale Head is the head of the dale, hence its name. Though only reaching 753m in height, Dale Head is also the high point of this walk. In addition to these exciting facts, it also marks a change in scenery as the mighty Scafells, the dramatic, craggy Buttermere fells and the small-yet-imposing Fleetwith Pike all come into view.

The high southern fells

The column on Dale Head

The Buttermere fells

Skiddaw

Dale Head panorama

Hindscarth is the 5th peak on this walk, found after descending down Hindscarth Edge. It needs to be climbed for completeness, it would be a shame to miss it out as it can be easily bypassed if you remain on the ridge bound for Robinson. Despite this, it's an easy climb, a relief after the punishment of Dale Head.

 The entrance to Buttermere from Honister

Hindscarth Edge

Looking back along Hindscarth Edge

Dale Head

The easy climb to Hindscarth's summit

 The summit stands in the centre of a patch of bare rock, with a low wind shelter marking the high point. Views here are quite limited thanks to a broad plateau so we quickly turned around and headed back to the ridge.

Hindscarth's summit

Crag Hill and Sail

Skiddaw

Pillar and the Buttermere ridge

Littledale Edge

Honister Hause backed by Rosthwaite Fell

In contrast to Hindscarth, Robinson has a fairly stiff climb to reach the top, this time along Littledale Edge. Not as difficult as Dale Head but still enough to require a couple of pauses on the way. My excuse is to take some photos, so now you know the truth.

Like Hindscarth, the summit area is largely level. Robinson is unusual in that it sits above two road passes. To the south, the road to Honister Pass begins its climb below the slopes of Robinson. To the north, the road from Buttermere to the Newlands Valley over Newlands Hause runs up the slopes north of High Snockrigg, then runs down the far side of Keskadale.

The flat summit plateau of Robinson

Robinson's view of the northwestern fells

Buttermere and Crummock Water

After the final summit of Robinson, it was time to make our way back down to the valley via the long northern ridge. Ultimately, the descent is straightforward aside from a tricky scramble at Blea Crag which caught us out slightly. The rock was greasy and angled away from the main face. In the end, after searching around, we bypassed it. With the sun setting and the last light shining over the western fells, we returned to the valleys of Newlands.

Beginning the descent down Robinson's north ridge

Calf Screes on Hindscarth 

High Snab Bank

Littledale Edge

Cat Bells and High Crags

Looking back up the ridge

Whiteless Pike and the Loweswater fells

High Snab Bank leading back to the valley

Castlenook Mine 

The sun sets on a great days walk

Skiddaw and Blencathra

Some beautiful colours in the sky

A wisp of cloud above Robinson

It was well and truly dark by the time we got back to the car - perfect timing if you ask me. The light of the moon meant we could do without head torches for the final stretch to the car park. It was a superb end to a very enjoyable day.

The moon behind Maiden Moor

Maiden Moor, Hindscarth and Robinson

Newlands chapel

The car's precarious parking location