Outline of Route
Sedbergh - Crook - Calders - The Calf - Calders - Arant Haw - Winder - Sedbergh (Grid ref. SD 658920)
Total Distance 8.5 miles, Total Ascent 2550 feet, Equivalent Distance 13.6 miles
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Escape Routes
Details of Route
Starting from the Loftus Hill car park in Sedbergh (which I've heard is no longer is free) head north up Finkle Street and turn right at the top, along Main Street. Continue along Main Street then turn left up Joss Lane by Sedburgh's other car park (not free). Continue up Joss Lane and follow it as it turns right by the outdoor clothing suppliers. Go through the farm gate and take the farm track as it bears left, avoiding the farm, Hill. Follow the track photo through another gate and up the path near the wooded Settlebeck Gill till the open fell is reached via another gate. The main path (to The Calf) heads along the left bank of the gill but a smaller path drops down, across the beck and up the bank on the other side. Head up the slope, a wall gradually approaches the rather indistinct path from the right. The two come together by a corner in the wall where it branches off east across the fell. There are broad swathes of bracken up the slope ahead. Early in the year before this grows to any height it is simple enough to climb straight up the slope, avoiding the thickest bracken when needed. Otherwise follow a grooved watercourse to your left which runs parallel to the gill until the bracken subsides then head off to the right up to the summit of Crook. I found no path here but there is no need for one. Just keep going uphill, there are a few false summits on the way but the true summit has a prominent cairn which you will see well before you get there.
There are clear paths from the summit of Crook towards Arant Haw (also known locally as High Winder). Follow the one of your choice until you rejoin the main footpath to The Calf, high on the slopes of Arant Haw. Turn right along this and follow it round the shoulder of Arant Haw and down to a col from which there is a fine view of Swarth Greaves Beck photo. Continue up the path, now alongside a fence, as it zigzags up to the summit of Calders. Go north down to the col and up onto Bram Rigg Top, bypassing the summit but getting a good view to the northeast photo. Continue north down to another col then up to The Calf and its triangulation column. I am sure this is not the true summit, which seems to lie to the east of the path before you reach the column. There is a tarn on the rather flat summit of The Calf photo and walking round it seems popular with visitors. There is a fine panorama of the northern Howgills from the trig. point photo.
On the return to Calders a slight detour to the right allows the bagging of another summit, Bram Rigg Top, which has no footpath but is easily navigated. After descending the col from Calders and climbing towards Arant Haw one can find a path on the right leading to its summit. From this summit the northern panorama is one of the best views in this area - of Fell Head, The Calf, Calders and more photo, a scene which looks superb in snow photo. The path descends to the southwest to the Sedburgh/Calf path again from which we can look back at Arant Haw photo. A branch on the right at the col heads for Winder (rhymes with cinder), a popular summit with a direction indicator. Views are excellent, given its modest height, of the Lakeland Fells, the Lune valley and attendant M6, and Morecambe Bay.
Descend Winder by a clear path to the southeast until a path traversing the fell photo is reached. Turn right here and follow it down towards Lockbank Farm photo. The path curves round to the left as it descends steeply near the farm to a public access gate with a nearby signpost for those entering. Through the gate the lane passes between two walls to a second gate and the farm road leading to Howgill Lane. Turn right upon reaching this and follow the road as it curves to the right by a community centre and playing field and reaches Main Street. Turn left along here, then right into Finkle Street and back to the car park.
Rev. 02 September 2014