Dale Head

Dale Head

North Western Lake District

 

Route: Dale Head and Hindscarth

Area: North Western Lake District

Date of walk: 11th April 2014

Walkers: Andrew and Gilly

Distance: 7 miles

Ascent: 2,400 feet

Weather: Scattered cloud, bright spells, cold and breezy on the tops

Having been up these fells a few times before, I was looking for a new way up. As usual Alfred Wainwright provided the answer. Instead of ascending to Dalehead Tarn, which is the usual route, we’d turn off the main path and divert to the right in order to climb up via the old copper mine – ‘a mountaineering must’ according to the great man

Having parked at Chapel Bridge just beyond Little Town, we made our way up the valley, then crossed the beck to join a faint path. Looking ahead, we had our doubts about the route as the crags appeared to be impenetrable. We needn’t have worried as the ingenious and clearly little used route zig zagged among the crags taking us through dramatic scenery without any exposure

The views from the summit of Dale Head were sublime, and they continued as we made our way along Hindscarth Edge to the top of Hindscarth – an easy but fantastic ridge walk. We descended back to Newlands Valley via Scope End – a steep and rocky way down which necessitated some ungainly manouevres

We got back to the start reflecting on how lucky we’d been today to enjoy such incredible scenery – it was a really great walk

For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box

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