Mallerstang Edge, Swarth Fell & Wild Boar Fell

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Route: Thrang Bridge, Outhgill, Eller Howe, Sloe Brae, Slow Brae Gill, Trough Riggs, High Seat, Steddale Mouth, Archy Styrigg, Gregory Band, Long Gill Head, Scarth of Scaithes, Little Fell, Outer PIke, Low Capple Mere, Hell Gill Bridge, Hellgill, Aisgill Moor Cottages, Stubbing Rigg, Swarth Fell Pike, Swarth Fell, The Band, High White Scar, Wild Boar Fell, Yoadcomb Scar, Blackbed Scar, The Nad, White Walls, High Dolphinsty, Little Wold, Hazelgill The Holmes

Date: 13/04/2019
From: Outhgill

Parking: Small layby off B6259
Start Point: Thrang Bridge
Region: Yorkshire Dales

Route length: 14.7miles (23.6km)
Time taken: 06:44
Average speed: 2.5mph
Ascent: 1,068m
Descent: 1,071m

Summits: High Seat (709m), Archy Styrigg (695m), Hugh Seat (689m), Little Fell (667m), Swarth Fell (681m), Wild Boar Fell (708m)

Other points of interest: Lady's Pillar, Hell Gill, Hellgill Force

The Eden Valley is some new walking territory for me, despite it being closer to home than the Lake District and North Wales. That said, it's tucked away in the north of the Yorkshire Dales and takes some getting to. I have driven past it many times on my way to the Lakes but only today decided to venture in.

The River Eden has its source in the Mallerstang area of the Yorkshire Dales - the focus of today's walk. It rises in the peat bogs of High Seat, the fourth-highest hill in the national park and the first on today's outing. The other tops on the list would be Archy Styrigg, Hugh Seat, Little Fell and then Swarth Fell and Wild Boar Fell on the opposite side of the valley.

Wild Boar Fell rises above the valley

Parking is a little tricky in the Eden Valley at Mallerstang thanks to a profusion of drystone walls that line the narrow road. Fortunately, there is a small spot next to Thrang Beck which could accommodate a few well-parked cars. As I arrived, it would seem someone with a penchant for yellow MGs had left a few lying around, one of which was sat right in the centre of the layby - I snuck in next to it.

Thrang Bridge

The River Eden at Thrang Bridge

Starting out, I made my way down to the infant River Eden and followed it north to the hamlet of Outhgill. Here, a lane leads east onto the Access Land below Mallerstang Edge, which rises overhead. There is a path of sorts that winds up towards a large drystone enclosure and Sloe Brae Gill. After a momentary pause, I decided the best route would be to follow the stream up through the crags of Mallerstang Edge.

Mallerstang Edge

Looking across Eller Howe towards Mallerstang Edge

Wild Boar Fell on the opposite side of the valley

The lower slopes of Mallerstang Edge

Sloe Brae Gill

Following the stream bed ended up being a sensible move as it climbs up through the broken scars of Mallerstang Edge. Only one or two sections proved slightly tricky but they were ultimately conquered. A final series of steeper, grassy ramps leads out onto the fells above.

Sloe Brae Gill looking up at Mallerstang Edge

The Eden Valley

Climbing through the crags of Trough Riggs

Sloe Brae Gill

Coalwell Scars

A cairn sits below the summit of High Seat

Despite the warmth and sun of the valley, a cold wind was blowing across the high hills around Mallerstang - enough to warrant putting some gloves on a snugging up my hood in the shelter of a tall column that stands over the crags of Mallerstang Edge. After a brief, pathless climb I reached the first top of the day, High Seat.

The Eden Valley from the cairn

A final climb is needed to reach High Seat

High Seat's summit

High Seat has a couple of interesting facts: firstly, the unassuming mound is the fourth highest peak in the Yorkshire Dales. Secondly, it is the highest point on the main east-to-west watershed in the Dales, the three higher fells (Great Shunner Fell, Ingleborough and Whernside) being some distance away. Therefore, three of the great English rivers have their source in the peat bogs here; the Swale, the Ure and the Eden.

Archy Styrigg seen over Steddale Mouth

A quad bike track runs along the crest of the fells that form Mallerstang Edge and makes for some pretty easy walking. Views over the vast moorland to the west are pretty extensive with Great Shunner Fell dominating much of the scenery. A string of cairns also lines the route. The next top, Archy Sryrigg, is merely a bump along the ridge which precedes Hugh Seat.

High Loven Scar

Archy Styrigg

 The old name for this peak was Hugh Seat Morvill or sometimes Morvil Hill. Near the summit there is a column of cut stones, known as "Lady's Pillar", and the inscription AP1664 can just be made out - for Anne Pembroke, Lady Anne Clifford's married name. The pillar was erected in 1664 to commemorate Sir Hugh de Morville, Lady Anne's predecessor as Lord of the Manor of Mallerstang. The border between Cumbria and North Yorkshire is marked near the summit by a fence.

Cairn on Gregory Band

The vast peat moorland of Angram Common

Shelter near Gregory Band

Looking back at the subtle rises of Archy Stryrigg and High Seat

Hugh Seat's summit sits on the Cumbria / Yorkshire border

Lady's Pillar

Following the boundary fence leads to a depression called Scarth of Scaiths before the final modest summit along Mallerstang Edge, that of Little Fell. A pathless ascent leads to a small pile of stones on the summit.

Little Fell rises over Scarth of Scaithes

Ingleborough and Whernside

Approaching Little Fell

Little Fell's summit with a distant Great Shunner Fell

From the summit, I turned due west to descend the gentle slopes of Little Fell, following the course of Jingling Sike until I reached the Pennine Bridleway at Hell Gill Bridge, which offers a tantalising glimpse into Hell Gill itself.

Wild Boar Fell

Cairn at Outer Pike

An odd, fenced contraption on the slopes of Low Capple Mere

Hell Gill Beck

Hell Gill Beck

Hell Gill Bridge

Had I known what to expect at the time, I may have spent a bit more time exploring Hell Gill - the entrance was obvious from my route of descent. Hell Gill is, in fact, a 500m long slot canyon, similar to those you may find in the Canyonlands of America, though made from more local Limestone rather than sandstone. The bridge offers a glimpse into the cavern but the real drama is well hidden by the steep walls and vegetation covering the top. Here is a photo from the internet:

https://www.summitpost.org/hell-gill/983610

The river returns to a more normal state at Hell Gill farm before being thrown over an escarpment at Hell Gill Force. It was here, while I paused for a break, that the famed Tornado steam train tore past along the Settle-Carlisle railway line which passes right along the Eden Valley. I just managed to get the camera and a photo. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

My view of Hell Gill from the bridge

Farm track leading from Hell Gill Farm

Hell Gill Beck

Hellgill Force

Hellgill Force

The steam train Tornado

The path leaves Hell Gill and crosses the railway at Aisgill Moor cottages, the watershed between the Eden and the Ure. Only a few hundred metres south of the River Eden the waters of the River Ure turn south and begin their long journey to the Humber. From the road, another quad bike track offers an easy route to follow as it climbs the southern slopes of Swarth Fell.

Aisgill Moor Cottages

Wild Boar Fell

Little Fell

Looking across to Hell Gill Farm and Hugh Seat

Swarth Fell

Though the gradient is not too steep, it's quite a long climb up to Swarth Fell and I was glad when I eventually reached the ridge at Swarth Fell Pike. Across the valley looms the enormous Baugh Fell - another of the Yorkshire 2000s that's on my list. The path now turns northwest to cross the top of Swarth Fell with the summit standing at the end of a long, shallow rise.

Swarth Fell Pike

The rise towards Swarth Fell's summit

Swarth Fell

Looking west towards the Howgill Fells 

A col with an unnamed tarn separates Swarth Fell from Wild Boar Fell, which is easily to most impressive of the hills on this outing. A steep escarpment on the eastern face defines the hill and gives it its impressive profile if you view it from the north. You'd be forgiven for thinking Wild Boar Fell was a fine, peaked mountain. It is, in fact, flat-topped and geologically similar to Ingleborough. The path from the col climbs the southern slopes before cutting across the top of the Band and Aisgill Head, the source of Ais Gill.

The Eden Valley

Wild Boar Fell

The rolling Howgill Fells

Swarth Fell

The path appears at a collection of 'stone men', a group of cairns that is quite common on the fells of the Pennines (think Nine Standards Rigg for example, or Gragareth). There seems little agreement on when, why, or by which people such cairns were built. One common suggestion, that they were built by shepherds as markers for paths, wouldn't be fitting to those on Wild Boar Fell, sat atop the steep escarpment. The cairns would appear to be clustered around the summit, however, the true summit stands on the opposite side of the wide, flat plateau. The trig pillar which once stood here now seems to be little more than a pile of stones.

The stone men of Wild Boar Fell

Cairns above High White Scar

The stone pillars

Wild Boar Fells summit

The summit with the Howgill Fells beyond

I returned to the stone men, eager to see the main features of Wild Boar Fell, the three escarpments that give the fell its distinct profile. A path hugs the edge of the cliff as it leads around to The Nab with the wind howling right across it - something the photos fail to show. At the Nab, the north ridge descends in dramatic fashion above Scriddles.

The high Pennines

Hugh Seat

The Eden Valley

Blackbed Scar

The stone men above the scars

Scriddles

Wild Boar Fell

At High Dolphinsty, I met the Pennine Bridleway which offers an easy route back into the valley only a short distance from the car. It passes beneath the Settle railway (a good spot to have seen that train!) before following the fields back to Thrang Bridge.

Limestone pavement at Angerholme Pots

The Pennine Bridleway

The Settle-Carlisle railway