Great Shunner Fell

Blue skies and sunshine all day long

First day out! And what better destination could I chose than the mountains?
The neighbours shared their 30-year Yorkshire Dales weather experience with me which made one thing clear: if the skies are blue, run for the mountains!
Blue skies and a gentle breeze are an exception here and you outdoor people know what its like to be on the top in a fog, blast or heavy rainshower. So I grapped my chance while it lasted.

Yorkshire Dales England Great Shunner Fell

From the cottage, I first head for the highest waterfall of England, which happens to be around the corner (yes really). Unfortunately, it has a ticket office that opens at 10am. Not wasting good weather in waiting, I head for the Pennine Way that leads to Great Shunner Fell, a mountain with a height over 700 meter. The Pennine Way is a walking route through the Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines and today I'll walk part of that amazing route.

An easy uphill walk takes me out on the Moors and those first amazing views over the valleys. The mountains in the distance are covered in a haze, which adds some mystery to the scenery. I continue my way up and the effort and the sun soon have me walking in my t-shirt. I'm delighted - it's only the beginning of March, I worried about snowdrifts and packed ski trousers and all and now here I am, enjoying the outdoors as if it were summer.

There something funny about hiking up these flat-topped mountains. From below, you can't see the top. You only see the next height and always you get tricked into the belief that you're almost on the top. Walking up to Great Shunner Fell, that happened to me five times. Five guys, really. Considering how flat it looks from the side (I took a picture from the neighbouring mountain), you wouldn't say that it would be hard to find the top but I kept walking endlessly before I finally got there. Ah well, that may be slightly exagerated, given that I took my time bathing my feet in a stream, enjoying the views every couple of steps, so it took me ages but not really because of the distance.

On the top of Great Shunner Fell

Meanwhile, the Pennine way was annoying me. I don't like to walk the trodden paths (who's laughing now?). Finding my way through the lands, sensing where I can walk and where not, is what really gives this connection with the land. It also requires some agility in the way we move and it brings you into the moment as you have to watch your very step. It's invigorating and energising to activate and train these capabilities as they are our true nature.
With reaching the top of Great Shunner Fell I decide that it's enough. I got three choices: back the way I came, onwards and back via the road or ... make my way through a boggy area up to the next mountain that leads home...

Off I went through the marshes. Some parts seemed to be a bog, most was wetland though so it wasn't too difficult. Celebrating I'd made my way out, I take a break to give my feet a proper rest and enjoy the sunshine. Not for too long, because I honestly ain't got no idea how long it will take me to get back home. As I only got a direction and no clear path, I suspect hours and I need to be down and out of the valley before darkness falls.

Great Shunner Fell Yorkshire Dales England

There are many tracks in the right directions and so even though I go through marshes again, I cover ground quickly. Until ... I get to a fence with a sign reading "private, keep out. To get to the valley, walk east and join the road". Too tired for angry farmers and hungry dogs, I walk down eastbound. Halfway down the hill the track ends and I get to a fence again. Even worse: they send walkers down a steep unhikable valley and then 300 meters or more up again too steep to get to the road. Too tired for that as well, I decide to walk in the direction I need to get home - over their lands to see if I can cross the valley somewhere else. Nope, too steep everywhere. I go up again, using their road. Scouting for another way 'round, I see none and given that I got just one hour left before dusk, I ignore the signs and walk on. I notice that I'm not the first...

I'm rewarded for my bravery with the discovery of small gorge with a nice waterfall. Something I would have missed out on had I not "trespassed" haha.

If you want to keep people off your lands ... put the sign in a fair direction at a reasonable spot where it's still possible to chose an alternative route. It's bizar how much moorland and mountain tops are claimed to be private. From a distance that's often invisible and you don't expect non-farmland to be fenced off.