Black Crag & Holme Fell

Distance: 7.55mi
Ascent: 1604ft

This walk was intended to be a nice easy couple of hours out on a winter day where there isn't the flexibility of a lot of daylight hours for the longer walks. As it turned out the snowline was quite low, and as a result we were walking in the snow from the start, where we had to abandon the car due to the ice on the drive in. It also started snowing about 3 miles in, all of which made some of the navigation a tad trickier - we couldn't see the paths due to the already lying snow, and visibility at the top of the 2nd peak (Holme Fell) was limited.

As it happened we were well equipped with GPS overlay on OS Maps and a map/compass backup, appropriate clothing and food, but it definitely served as a reminder that even just a few miles from the beaten track things could turn out differently if not prepared.

The start point for the route was the car park (or as close as we could get to it) of Tarn Hows.

 

Tarn Hows - frozen

Following the path on the east side of the tarn led to a style over a fence and on to a much less obvious path across the 'Torver Intake', though this may be more obvious without the snow. Once crossed and on the more established paths, route finding to the west of the Black Crag summit wasn't difficult, at which point we headed east to the summit - another point on the route where there were no paths we could see due to knee-deep snow. There is a fairly obvious wall leading to the top so difficult to go wrong.

Looking west on the ascent to Black Crag

Summit of Black Crag

Once back down to the path we continued on to pass Hodge Close quarry, a trudge that seemed to take forever in the ice and snow, accompanied by a few falls on bums!



As we approached Holme Fell there were again no paths we could make out, so we continued 'off piste' in the general direction of the top, past a couple of completely frozen disused reservoirs.

Looking up to Holme Fell across frozen disused reservoir 

Barren-looking ascent to Holme Fell

With the second peak in the bag we descended directly to the path and back to the car park, then on to the abandoned car.

Descent from Holme Fell

All in all this could have been a much easier day but was made a bit more interesting and strenuous by the conditions - thoroughly enjoyable. We even managed to tire out the dog!