Walking Britain Howgills Walk
Blease Fell & Hare Shaw from Tebay
Walk Route Description
Click thumbnails for larger images.
The Howgill Fells are one of my favourite places to walk, inspired by Wainwright's book that detailed a number of walks on these rolling hills. This route is not too demanding with relatively easy gradients compensated by some good views. One word of warning is that in poor visibility the Howgills can be a confusing place to walk with many interlinked ridges and a general lack of landmarks. Always take a 1:25000 map and make sure you know exactly where you are just in case the cloud descends.
The start is Mount Pleasant on the eastern side of Tebay where roadside parking is available (grid ref. NY618044). After parking leave the A685 and take the minor road to Gaisgill heading east. A short distance take the tarmac lane on your right leading to Edge Farm. At the first fork bear right and continue to a second fork. Again, go right and continue towards High Woodend Farm. At the third fork bear left off the farm access track and continue climbing on a clear track to reach Tebaygill cottage (grid ref. NY619036).
Continue straight ahead past the cottage and, with the wall on your left, follow am ascending track (indistinct in places) to reach the wall corner (grid ref. NY619033). From here you need to take with navigation following a generally rising path heading almost due south aiming initially for the minor hill of Powson Knott (grid ref. NY619021). Continue on a rising path, with a good view across to Borrowdale on your right, following the ridge south to the 411m spot height on OS maps. From here continue in the same southerly direction to the summit of Blease Fell (grid ref. NY623004). The best view is not from the highest ground but from a cairn s short distance south where a grand view of the Lune Valley can be enjoyed.
The onward route takes us around Tebaygill Head and onto Hare Shaw. In clear weather this section is quite straightforward providing you head just east of north keeping the Tebaygill valley on your immediate left. As you get nearer to the summit of Hare Shaw a clearer path begins to develop and the summit is marked by a small cairn (grid ref. NY627012). Leaving Hare Shaw continue on a clearer path heading just east of north to follow a clear ridge leading to the Knott (grid ref. NY630022).
Following the path north continue onto Weather Hill (grid ref. NY630031) which only just rises above the moorland. The path keeps to the left of the highest ground and heads down towards Waskew Head. I did lose the path but made a beeline for Waskew Head. Bear left onto the farm access track and continue over Tebaygill (grid ref. NY621039) to re-join the outward route. Retrace your steps downhill to the start.
Maps | |||
| Ordnance Survey Explorer OL19 | Sheet Map | 1:25k | BUY |
| Anquet OS Explorer OL19 | Digital Map | 1:25k | BUY |
It is recommended you take a map. The preferred scale is 1:25k. | |||
GPS files - right click or option-click the button and choose "Save As..." to download this file.
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