Soft Snowshoe Shuffle in the Northern Pennines

Over the last two weekends we have been able to take advantage of the wonderful snow conditions and go out on to the Pennines snowshoeing! Snow shoes are a great way of getting about on the rolling fells in the snow - you don't sink in as far as you do in walking boots and walking is much easier. The snow shoes also have the added bonus of a little set of crampons on the underside, so if you happen to find a bit of ice to walk over then you get some grip! The Pennines are ideal for snow-shoeing and we certainly had a great time over the 3 days we were out. Our first day was one of fantastic views as there was a cloud inversion over the Eden Valley with the trees of the Penrith Beacon appearing as an island in a white sea! We were in bright sunlight looking out towards the Lake District fells and the Solway Firth with the Pennines around us:

        From near Hartside, looking out over the Solway with a cloud inversion in the Eden Valley

We snow-shoed out along the Pennines to Fiend's Fell and then Little Knapside Hill, and then followed the fence down until we met the line of the old tramway, which went from the lead mines on Melmerby Scar out to the main road - then the ore would have gone to Alston to be smelted. The tramway was covered with heather and the snow was a bit wetter so snow-shoeing was a bit harder than we thought! We passed a line of grouse butts - evidence of the current use (in season) of this part of the world. Red grouse flew up and disappeared off with their characteristic call of "go-back, go-back, go-back". It was a pleasant journey gently down hill until a small rise back to the cafe!
The following day we took a couple of friends out with us as they wanted to try snow-shoeing - there were plenty of interested walkers and skiers enquiring as to how the snow-shoes worked and how effective they were when we were out on day 1. Day 2 saw us introducing Jill and Mary to snow-shoeing and they both found it a pretty easy way to get around in the snow.

                                              Mary, Mel and Jill at summit of Fiend's Fell

Day 3 was a week later when we decided to try a journey by snow-shoe across the Pennines. Our friends, Lee and Rachel, joined us and we took our car up to Hartside and set off from there, travelling via Fiend's Fell to Knapside Hill above Melmerby Scar - site of lead mining and the start of the tram way we had walked on the week before. The weather was fine but we were in cloud on the tops, so no good views for us! Ian and Lee were expert navigators so we always knew where we were!

                                                        Mel at lunch at Knapside summit

After lunch at Knapside we carried on under Dun Edge and crossed the Roman road of the Maiden Way (which goes from Kirby Thore over the Pennines to Whitley Castle Roman fort near Alston and then on to Hadrian's Wall at Carvoran) and then followed the wall along to Brown Hill where we dropped down into the green lane which heads down towards Ousby by Fellside Farm. It was a long, long way down off the fell!! As we hit the end of the walled lane we had to take our snow-shoes off as we ran out of snow, so we then walked on down to our village and home! About 8 miles and 6 hours snow-shoeing! All it needed was a shuttle up to pick up the car from Hartside and then we were done! A good walk, but a shame we didn't have the fantastic views of the week before.