Bill's Walks

Tarn Rigg and Grisedale

Approx. Distance: 10 miles

Start: Garsdale Station (GR 789918)

Click to view start position

Map: OL19: Howgill Fells and Upper Eden Valley

“Tarn Rigg, where’s that?” was the question when we met for a walk last week.
“It’s near Grizedale”.
“Oh we are going to the Lakes!”
“No we will be in the Pennines and the weather forecast is good. We are going up Baugh Fell East.”
“Where’s that?”
“It’s above Garsdale.”
“Why are we going there?”
“Because its one of the English 2000ft hills that l have not climbed.
“Good reason, lets get going!”

This chat illustrates how little is known about this top, in a quiet area which is Pennine rather than Dales. Wainwright in his “Walks in the Howgill Fells” visits Tarn Rigg as it is listed in the Buxton and Lewis list of hills above 2000ft in England and Wales, but in his book (Walk 29) he calls it Baugh Fell East. His walk starting in Grisedale is only 6.5 miles so we opted to start at Garsdale Station to bring the walk up to 10 miles. What a happy choice. The station is an absolute gem on the Carlisle to Settle line. Opened in 1876 it was closed in 1970 and reopened in 1986. For the railway anoraks it is the only station on the line that does not follow the Derby (Midland Railway) pattern of two gables facing the platform and another facing away. The Settle to Carlisle was built when the Midland Railway failed to get access to Scotland on the existing LNWR route over Shap and decided to build on a new route. This ended up as the most expensive railway in the country due to the difficult terrain but left us all with a magnificent legacy of Victorian engineering with many superb viaducts and a route which is arguably the most scenic in England.

Near to the station were the highest water troughs in the world and the turntable at the station was surrounded by sleepers to prevent it going out of control in the high winds which could sweep up Garsdale. Also at the station are sixteen terraced cottages from 1876 when the line was opened and a further six are just up the line near the Moorcock Inn. Perhaps the nicest thing about the station is the full size statue of Ruswarp, a border collie dog. It belonged to Graham Nuttall who was a founding member of the Save the Carlisle to Settle when it was threatened with closure in the late 1980s. Sadly Graham disappeared on 20th January 1990 when walking in the Welsh mountains and his body was not discovered until 7th April 1990. Throughout that winter his dog had stood guard over his body. An English story to match Greyfriars Bobby! Until 1959 the station served as a junction with the old LNER branch to Hawes and was known as Hawes Junction and it is hoped to reopen this line to Garsdale. Currently it terminates at Redmire in Wensleydale but after the building from scratch of the A1 Tornado who knows?

You descend the station access road down to the main road (A684) and cross over the stile opposite waymarked Flust to climb up over rough pasture on a path. After going across two walls via footpath gates you see the farmhouse of Blakeys Mire and the hidden valley of Grisedale. Those of a certain age (my own!) will no doubt recall a famous TV documentary of 1975 and a subsequent book entitled “The Dale That Died” which told the story of the last farm in the valley. The others had all been abandoned and the grazing was deteriorating badly. Mention is made of this by Wainwright as well as by Mike Harding in one of my favourite books “Walking The Dales”. Happily there has been a revival with the land being leased out to nearby farmers and some of the houses being renovated sometimes as second homes. The process is still continuing today although from my observations there is only one working farm in the valley.

The road is joined at Moor Rigg where the lady of the house does not take kindly to Wainwright’s suggestion of parking near there. He was correct however as it is on the public highway, so be warned. Here you can continue on a footpath to the derelict Round Ings past Reachy (which is lived in) or continue on the road to East House, and just past the end of the garden take the old Farm road to Fea Fow. A lovely feature here are the large number of ponies which are obviously bred at East House. The footpath continues up the valley in limestone terrain with numerous shake holes and some wet parts up to the watershed – a distance of about one mile from Fea Fow. In the mist we missed the cave although we did see it later looking down when the mist cleared.

The footpath ahead decends down Rawthey Gill to eventually join the Sedbergh to Kirkby Stephen road which makes for a fine moorland walk and avoids anything strenuous but not for today. We take a 90 degree turn up the side of Grisedale Gill for a climb of about 800ft to the plateau which is when you find out why the hill is so named. There are two fair sized tarns and other smaller ones, the first one of which was very atmospheric with its tall narrow cairn. Head south over some sludge to the summit wall where the highest point is Tarn Rigg. To the west is Knoutberry Hill or Baugh Fell West (Wainwright Walk 30).

The best descent is via Grisedale Pike with its many cairns on the 2000ft contour and continue in the same direction to make for the plantation where a red sqirrel might be seen. Mike Harding thinks that these cairns on Grisedale Pike could go back to Celtic times. This wood is not shown in Wainwright’s book. In mist you can descend by the wall all the way to the Grisedale road using the broken down wall in places to walk on but watch your ankles. Whichever way you choose you will come to the Grisedale road which is followed south to the old road. Here turn east to Clouch Cottage and then there is a climb to end the day up to the station. Hopefully this will give you a thirst as the Moorcock Inn is well worth a visit!