DSC01689
We'll be staying in a hostel converted from a church in Kirkby Stephen (pronounced Kurby), one of England's smallest market towns at the northern end of the Howgill Fells Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Despite the entire town sitting on just a couple of streets, there are lots of pubs close by and a small supermarket over the road from the hostel. The town is overlooked by two of the highest English mountains outside the Lake District: Wild Boar Fell and Nine Standards Rigg.
The Howgills were described by Wainwright as like "a herd of sleeping elephants" and the description is pretty apt. These rounded hump-back fells radiate out in a complex series of high ridges like spokes on a wheel. The deep valleys between the ridges are almost deserted apart from sheep and the occasional wild pony. The most impressive of these valleys lie to the north along the border with the Yorkshire Dales National Park close to Wild Boar Fell (708m).
Uldale is littered with gills and waterfalls, which are perfect for some wild swimming in the heat of the Spring sunshine or even for some simple gorge walking. Mallerstang Edge is a huge limestone escarpment several hundred metres high offering glorious views over the Howgills and towards the mountains of the Lake District and Peak District.
Nine Standards Rigg above Kirkby Stephen is adorned with nine enormous cairns on the summit and forms a part of Wainwright's famous Coast to Coast route.
DSC01689
We'll be staying in a hostel converted from a church in Kirkby Stephen (pronounced Kurby), one of England's smallest market towns at the northern end of the Howgill Fells Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Despite the entire town sitting on just a couple of streets, there are lots of pubs close by and a small supermarket over the road from the hostel. The town is overlooked by two of the highest English mountains outside the Lake District: Wild Boar Fell and Nine Standards Rigg.
The Howgills were described by Wainwright as like "a herd of sleeping elephants" and the description is pretty apt. These rounded hump-back fells radiate out in a complex series of high ridges like spokes on a wheel. The deep valleys between the ridges are almost deserted apart from sheep and the occasional wild pony. The most impressive of these valleys lie to the north along the border with the Yorkshire Dales National Park close to Wild Boar Fell (708m).
Uldale is littered with gills and waterfalls, which are perfect for some wild swimming in the heat of the Spring sunshine or even for some simple gorge walking. Mallerstang Edge is a huge limestone escarpment several hundred metres high offering glorious views over the Howgills and towards the mountains of the Lake District and Peak District.
Nine Standards Rigg above Kirkby Stephen is adorned with nine enormous cairns on the summit and forms a part of Wainwright's famous Coast to Coast route.