Little Whernside

Sunday, July 15th 2012
13.9 km (8.6 miles) - 3hr 39 mins
Map : OL30 - Yorkshire Dales (Northern & Central)

A reasonable day, although the wind was pretty strong and probably our toughest walk of the year so far. The guide (from www.walkingworld.com) reckoned on a height gain of 330 metres but it was a fairly gentle ascent despite the pretty stiff breeze which we headed into for the outward stretch of this walk.

I have to admit I'd never heard of Little Whernside until I found this walk but it turned into a delightful Sunday afternoon and that added bit of exertion made me feel a little virtuous at the end !!

The walk starts from the car park for Scar House Reservoir  (GR : SE 070766) right ot the very top of Nidderdale.  I have to say it is a pretty popular spot and not what I expected at all.  The first section of the walk is very straightforward as you follow the road that runs along the side of the reservoir until the dam of Angram Reservoir is reached (GR :  SE 044762).  The dam takes you across to the foot of the delightfully named Pudding Hill and it is a pretty straightforward uphill pull moving in the direction of Little Whernside to gain a reasonable amount of height in a fairly short time about 100 metres in just short or a kilometre).  However, instead of dragging all the way to the top a (fairly) faint path is encountered (GR : SE034769)  which heads off to the left and contours around High Pasture and Angram Pasture whilst, at the same time, gently pushing you uphill.

It was on this section that we discovered two geocaches, the first a traditional cache (left a snowman who came from who know where ?) the second containing just a log book - but well done to those who hacked all the way out there just to place a cache ! 

The next section of the walk is pretty easy as the trek around the two pastures mentioned above meets a wall which descends from Great Whernside (GR : SE012768) - turn your back on the "big hill" and follow the wall up Little Whernside. As height was gained so the peat hag got deeper, although to be fair and given the amount of rain that has fallen it wasn't that bad !

Anyway here's a first for this blog !  A video taken opposite the cairn at the top of Little Whernside. I hope it gives you an idea of the scenery and fantastic views available - sorry, about the wind noise, nothing I can do about the howling gale !

From the top of the hill the only way was down ! Again, through peat hag and moss bog to begin with but the going got easier until we met a path (GR SE043782) which dropped back down to Scar House Reservoir and, eventually, the dam and a short stroll back to the car park !

A fanstastic day - some glorious views and whilst my bones are aching it was worth the effort.

As usual a collection of photos taken on the walk.

Let's hope the weather keeps up and that I can keep up with this blog !!