Climb the Yorkshire Dales Mountains with Kids
Welcome to the final instalment of Nuttall bagging in the Yorkshire Dales with the Kids…
All in one year…
Yes, this is part three, if you’d like to start at the very beginning (because it’s a very good place to begin) then head to our Mountain Bagging with the Kids Part I page. In Part one I covered the first seven walks, in Part two, the next eight, now it’s time for the final seven! (Can I get a little fanfare please?!) We began the challenge in March 2024 and having got off to a decent start, the weather towards the end of the year… well it played out pretty much as the beginning of the year did. Unsettled and blummin’ windy! You wait until we hit Wild Boar Fell. Let’s just say, it wasn’t the boar that was wild…
If only we’d decided to do this challenge in 2025. It would have been MUCH easier and to be honest, there would be far more blue sky pictures like the one above!! Actually, that one WAS from 2025, the year March treated us to some FINE mountain days. In fact some perfect weather days no less.
But the end of 2024? Well… let’s see how that panned out first eh?
(You can read more about the planning process on the Yorkshire Dales Mountain Challenge page)
Gragareth and Friends
16 August 2024
Gragareth, Green Hill, Great Coum, Crag Hill
The one with two trigs
Gragareth and buddies…
The one that should be a circular. *Sigh.
Cast your mind back to the Great Shunner Fell incident with the fence and none existent path, and you’ll understand why the kids wouldn’t let me make this into a clearly obviously achievable circular. The memory was too raw! But with the blummin’ wind making an appearance AGAIN, I wasn’t going to argue.
By this point in the year, I was ready for an easy life (and was sick of wind) and so, despite it actually making the walk longer, I agreed to an out and back. But never fear, this is another that we shall be revisiting to make it a properly satisfying circular (mainly because, we’ve now challenged ourselves to bag all the trigs in the Dales!)
In terms of obvious peaks, this one was a little hit and miss. Two trig points at the beginning and end made up for the ‘is that REALLY a peak?!’ moments and the views from the top of Gragareth and Crag Hill across Dentdale, towards the Howgills and Lakes and then towards Ingleborough and the three peaks were incredible.
Gragareth and Crag Hill, we SHALL be back. Green Hill and Great Coum? Only because they are literally on the route. (Harsh, but true…)
Gragareth and the Rest: The Route
If you look at the map, you’ll see that I couldn’t resist the urge to go off piste at the end to make it a little more interesting on the return route. It was fine, tussocky, uneven and a few big old dips down into the streams. Would I repeat it? Probably not. Did it scratch a navigational itch? Yes because I am a map nerd.
Otherwise, despite there not being a public footpath, trail or bridleway on the map, there is a clear trodden route which handrails the wall more or the less the whole way. It is boggy in places, but I feel after we’ve come this far that I don’t need to mention that. EVERYWHERE is boggy in places!
ROUTE NOTES: Decent navigation skills are a must to make sure you’ve hit all the tops and safely navigate yourself around the mountains.
Image is copyright of Ordnance Survey and always carry a fully detailed OS Explorer map with you.
Gragareth and Friends Challenge Facts:
Distance Walked: 15.53km
Total time spent walking: 4 hours 18 minutes
Summit Heights: Gragareth 627m Green Hill 628m Great Coum 687m Crag Hill 682m
Total Actual Ascent: 425m
Ranked: 33rd, 32nd, 11th & 12th in the Yorkshire Dales
The top of Green Hill. Not very hilly.
The trig point of Crag Hill with views beyond to Calf Top
The approach to Green Hill from Gragareth with the full ‘horseshoe’ beyond.
Lovely Seat
18 August 2024
The one that actually had a lovely seat
What a Lovely Seat.
And that pretty much sums it up for this one! The question is, did the seat come before the name, or the seat because of the name?
Well actually, I believe that Lovely Seat isn’t the correct name for the fell at all. A little bit of reading will say that this is actually called Lunasett, or moon pasture (in Norse). The rumour is that it was misheard when creating the map of the area and has ever since been Lovely Seat. Either way, it definitely has a lovely seat on the top!
We tackled this one as a quick bag. With the mountains still stacking up and the time (particularly in daylight terms) getting short, this was a short clamber from the parking area on Buttertubs pass.
Stunning views, but SUPER short.
Be aware that during hunting season in the Summer parts of this fell are closed to the public.
Lovely Seat: The Route
There’s not much to say about this in terms of route notes!
As per usual, there is no marked footpath on the Ordnance Survey map and the route on the ground handrails the boundary line all the way up. It is extremely boggy towards the bottom, but there is a handy stile at the top to give you access to the summit seat.
The only real things to mention are that:
a) it really is a lovely seat
b) there are some stunning views
c) there’s not much else going on!
There’s no obvious circular route to try, the east side looks like a total bog-fest. So I reckon, this is probably your only desirable option, with the kids or not!
Image is copyright of Ordnance Survey
The view of the seat from behind (super short, no photos)
Lovely Seat Challenge Facts:
Distance Walked: 2.82km
Total time spent walking: 48 minutes
Lovely Seat Summit Height: 670m
Total Actual Ascent: 148m
Ranked: 18th Highest Nuttall in the Yorkshire Dales
Wild Boar and Swarth Fell
12 October 2024
The one with the bad call.
Oh Wild Boar Fell.
Where Lovely Seat was a straightforward wham bam bagged it Stan mission. Wild Boar was not.
Check out the time difference in terms of the dates. September was a write off. I completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge one weekend then we had some epically wet and windy weather. In fact, the weather on the Y3P weekend was pretty pants too! We attempted Water Crag and Rogan’s seat towards the end of the month but had to turn back because of the wind. Yes the wind. AGAIN! (No shame in turning around though and all that.)
So on my birthday weekend, we booked a treat stay to attempt Wild Boar Fell and its next door neighbour Swarth Fell. Our fourth stay in the Westmorland Dales in an attempt to bag their Nuttalls and yet in eleven possible mountain days, we had only managed to use three, mainly down to wind!! You see why this was becoming frustrating yes?!
The weather on the run up to the weekend was looking pretty steady, Saturday was great, Sunday was not great which was fine, because we were going to be home and dry (quite literally) by that point. The day before was a glorious Autumn day, blue skies, warm temperatures. I had a stunning birthday dip in Ibbeth’s Peril in Dentdale after heading over after school. On the Friday evening we enjoyed a wonderful birthday meal at the Black Swan in Ravenstonedale (highly recommend if you’re in the area - they accommodate families beautifully)…
aaaand then the forecast started to look a little more sketchy for the Saturday afternoon.
But never fear I thought, we were planning an early start and by the mountain forecast, it looked as though we had a window long enough to bag the fells and be at least mostly down before the weather came across.
Well… if you know the Westmorland Dales, then you’ll know the stunning views towards the Lakes, towards the west coast and towards the weather that’s almost certainly headed in your direction!
At about the point of no return, on the final slog up to Swarth Fell, we could see the weather turning across the sea and then coming in rather sooner than expected. Never have we ever completed an ascent more quickly than this one (it’s why we look so miserable on the summit picture!) The weather was on our backs, we were at the furthest point and when you’re out with the kids when the weather takes a nosedive, the pressure is REAAAAL. I look back at the videos from the day and the wind on Swarth was LOUD!
So the weather came in, a lot more quickly than predicted and it meant BUSINESS! Let’s just say that I regretted wearing glasses, I was not appreciative of the horizontal hail and I really regret not putting on my waterproof trousers. LITERALLY WHY?! They were in my bag! But perhaps this demonstrates just how quickly we were trying to get off this mountain! It also demonstrated how the kids really needed a kit upgrade… and it’s why in the photos going forwards, you will note a full new waterproof collection!
Now. I am Hill and Moorland leader trained. But we all make mistakes and this one probably should have been shelved for another time. But we live and learn and we laughed after this one. Admittedly, NOT at the time when I couldn’t read the map because of the rain on my glasses and the visibility was SO poor that it’s genuinely been the worst I’ve experienced so far.
Just a reminder that these Yorkshire Dales mountains can bite. Hard.
Wild Boar Fell Route
Ok. I’ve bored you with the reality of a pretty wet, cold and epically windy day in the fells, but would I do this route again?
Yes and no. It did the job. This area of the Dales proved the hardest to get bite-sized walks for the kids and I’ll be honest it’s the trickiest bit for us to get to as well, because we live on the south eastern edge of the national park.
But I do want to go back to Wild Boar Fell. It’s stunning. It really is. Before the rain came in, the views were incredible. There are ancient cairns, it’s the place where (allegedly) the last wild boar was hunted and it really is beautiful in Mallerstang. But I have another route up my sleeve for the next time we do it and it will not include Swarth. So if you’re bagging the Nuttalls with the kids? This one works. If you’re after a lovely walk? Maybe not.
Navigation notes: To begin with, this walk follows the Pennine Way route and so is clear to follow. at High Dolfinsty, it heads roughly south, following the line of the ridge. Thereafter, there is a path on the ground but not on the map to the top of Swarth.
Image is copyright of Ordnance Survey
The ancient cairns on the edge of Wild Boar Fell
Wild Boar and Swarth Fell Challenge Facts:
Distance Walked: 16.55km
Total time spent walking: 4 hours 31 minutes
Summit Heights: 708m Wild Boar and 681m Swarth Fell
Total Actual Ascent: 696m
Ranked: 5th and 13th highest Nuttall in the Yorkshire Dales
The summit of Swarth Fell the look of… WE NEED TO LEAVE!
Wild Boar Fell is the pointy one in the distance
Mallerstang Fells
1 March 2025
High Seat, Hugh Seat, Archy Styrigg (Gregory Chapel) and Little Fell
Mallerstang Edge was my favourite.
I thought I’d start with the picture of the last fell from the other side of the dale… STILL covered in cloud!
Check out the time lapse. October was our last Nuttall and now we find ourselves in MARCH 2025! Nearly 5 months since the Wild Boar affair. Why? I hear you ask.
Well, it wasn’t for want of trying. November to January is a crazy busy time with Christmas, kids’ birthdays and family taking priority over mountains. The daylight hours were super short and our remaining mountains were all in the farthest flung parts of the Dales which meant round trips that would be in the three hours plus zone. The remaining walks had time estimates in the region of five to six hours (and then some) ranges, were epically long in terms of distance, were over rough pathless terrain and were in unchartered areas that I’ve not walked before. So being in charge of two kids and all, it would have been reckless of me to even attempt anything that involved too much risk (even though I am partial to a bit of night walking!)
In short, logistics and risk assessments got in the way of mountain bagging. BOOOOO.
So, despite a singular attempt in January to get to Rogan’s Seat (again) which was this time thwarted by the roads being flooded rather than wind, we shelved it. In the hope that Spring would help!
It did result in us bagging Buckden Pike twice though during the challenge window, which is thoroughly wonderful when it’s completely frozen and I’m definitely taking that as a bonus Buckden to make up for that extra day at the end!
And so on the first of March 2025 we tackled the one that had given me the most anxiety. The Mallerstang Fells.
Why the anxiety? Well look at the map. There is no marked path and there is a hell of a lot of ‘edge’. Despite that, this turned out to be my absolute favourite walk of the entire challenge.
Mallerstang Route
High Seat, Hugh Seat, Archy Styrigg (Gregory Chapel) and Little Fell
Loved this route, but there are a few things you need to know if you’re going to try to follow the same one!
We began at the small parking area near The Thrang, the same point where we finished Wild Boar Fell all those months back. and followed the path to Outhgill. From there, there is a path on the map, which is just about visible on the ground which takes you as far as the edge and then stops.
Here, you will find your own route up what is one of the steepest ascents I’ve ever experienced (until… well you’ll see in a bit!) We kept the line of the stream to our left and headed more or less straight up. At the top of the steep section, there is a handy well built cairn to use as a guide.
The paths along the top of the edge ranged from very faint to wide clear farmers quad tracks and the cairns ranged from teeny tiny on the biggest (High Seat) to epically large in completely random places. Nevertheless, the views from the top were immense, which is why it ranks as a favourite!
Little Fell was not as easy to reach and a small amount of fence dodging was required (not to worry, the ‘dodging’ was pretty straight forwards) and from there, the route down was what could definitely be described as non-existent (an ankle turner for sure and of COURSE there is no path on the map) despite the fact it has the most enormous cairn at the top. but once Hell Gill is reached, it’s plain sailing from there along Lady Anne’s Way, passing the Water Cuts sculpture and offering incredible views to where you’ve just been.
Navigation notes: There is a LOT of off piste hiking here, it is of course boggy and the descent from little fell is very tussocky no matter which route you opt for!
Image is copyright of Ordnance Survey
The cairn waiting for you at the top of the initial ascent
Mallerstang Fells Challenge Facts:
Distance Walked: 16.14km
Total time spent walking: 5 hours 26 minutes
Summit Heights: High Seat: 709m Hugh Seat: 689m Gregory Chapel (Archy Sty Rigg): 695m Little Fell: 667m
Total Actual Ascent: 633m
Ranked: 4th (High Seat) 8th (Archy Styrigg) 10th (Hugh Seat) and 25th (Little Fell)
The steep section of ascent at Mallerstang Edge
The top of High Seat is marked by a small pile of stones, which seems unfair for the 4th Highest Mountain!
The cairn of Gregory Chapel, locally known as Archy Styrigg.
The summit point of Hugh Seat, Lady’s Pillar
The descent from Little Fell. The top of that is celebrated by the tiniest cairn, so this one, which marks the point of descent makes the gallery!
Tarn Rigg and Knoutberry Haw
2 March 2025
AKA Baugh Fell… (or Bog Fell)
Knoutberry Haw and Tarn Rigg
Definitely some of the more obscure peaks! But check out the VIEW! Oh wait…
This was the first pre-planned Nuttall bagging weekend away (of now five) that fully went to plan! Sure, visibility was poor, but when there was no wind and no rain as well as no views? Well I was going to take it! Particularly as the end of the month marked the deadline for the end of the challenge (and we still had 6 left to bag in the remaining weekends!)
Before we headed out, I had heard that the locals nicknamed this one ‘Bog Fell’, so I wasn’t greatly looking forward to yet another bog fest, I’ll admit!
And they are quite right, it’s pretty blummin’ boggy up there!
Baugh Fell Route
Another pathless wonder on the planning front!
In reality, there is a pretty easy to follow route on the ground. We parked at the large (and incredibly potholey) parking area at the top of Tom Croft Hill and walked down the road to Garsdale Foot where there is a gateway onto the access land. The path then mostly handrails the wall all the way up to Knoutberry Haw trig point. It’s actually not too tricky to navigate, despite there being no ‘real path’ it is patchy in places, but with the perimeter there to help, it’s not too hard to stay on track.
From here, it’s a bog hopping expedition across the summit plateau until you reach the pile of stones that marks the top of Tarn Rigg, again closely following the line of the wall.
Whilst we didn’t get any views from the top, I imagine that on a clear day, the views towards the Howgills would be spectacular!
I wish you all the luck in your bog negotiation on this one!
Image is copyright of Ordnance Survey
Re-emerging from the cloud with views across to the Howgills and Sedbergh
Baugh Fell Challenge Facts
Distance Walked: 12.24km
Total time spent walking: 3 hours 50 minutes
Summit Heights: Knoutberry Haw 676m, Tarn Rigg Hill 678m
Total Actual Ascent: 610m
Ranked: 15th and 16th in the Yorkshire Dales
The very pretty trig point of Knoutberry Haw, I love a bit of moss.
The suckiest of bogs on the way back from Tarn Hill Rigg
Yarlside and Randygill Top
15 March 2025
Don’t mention the descent
Yarlside. I’ll mention the descent.
If you look at the Howgills, you’ll probably be forgiven for thinking that they look like lovely grassy hillocks. Alfred Wainwright called them, ‘sleeping elephants’. Cute huh? Must be some easy mountain terrain right?
WRONG.
Some of these bad boys are big old beasts and much like an elephant, they have some disconcertingly big old straight down bits. Go on, look at those contour lines, almost so close that they are touching right? Now, I do my research on routes incredibly thoroughly and despite looking at the map and going WOWEE that looks steep, the generally accepted route for Yarlside and Randygill Top uses the descent we did on the day.
But I shall never do it again. Genuinely, the feeling like you were walking off the edge of a precipice was REAL. But we made it and yes, it is A route and others were attempting it on the day too, not that I generally lean towards being a lemming at all! But to bag this one with the kids? Well sorry, this one is steep no matter which route you take. There’s no getting around it, even if you were to bag Yarlside as an out and back (which was an option at one stage) the ascent to the summit is SO steep, you’ll be using hands and feet and bum on the way down. So yes, not for ones with vertigo, because it WILL be triggered!
Will I go back up Yarlside? No. Was it beautiful? Yes. Was it worth the anxiety? Absolutely not. Randygill, also steep, but not quite the beast that Yarlside was.
So in summary, yes, you guessed it, STEEP.
Yarlside and Randygill Top Route
SEE? STEEP!
Yet another pathless wonder, with no footpath marked on the Ordnance Survey Explorer map, but on the ground there is a trodden path which takes you right up the nose of Yarlside. There really isn’t another option (answers on a postcard if you know of one!)
Parking at Cross Keys Temperance Inn is always limited, so if you are going to tackle this one, get there early or take the bus from Sedbergh. There is a bus stop right at the beginning. The descent that we researched heads down the eastern flank of the fell and it is INCREDIBLY steep. I shuffled down on my bum, the kids used the hiking poles (I am incredibly clumsy - hence the bum!) I wouldn’t even dream of attempting it when the grass was wet or icy.
Looking back, there was a possible option of heading down Yarlside on the northern side and on the ground there was a route. This did come with the down side of dropping to 360m before having to climb back up Randygill, whereas the descent to the saddle only dropped to 500m or so. This was the reason for the decision I made.
In hindsight, I’d choose to take the hit on the loss of elevation, even though it is 160m of it!
Navigation Notes: As per usual, this is mostly off path navigation with some vague trodden paths along the way. Towards the end, you reach the descent of Cautley Spout (also steep) which is a clearly stepped path.
Image is copyright of Ordnance Survey
The summit of Yarlside with The Calf beyond
Yarlside and Randygill Challenge Facts
Distance Walked: 10.91km
Total time spent walking: 5 hours 28 minutes
Summit Heights: Yarlside 639m, Randygill Top 624m
Total Actual Ascent: 772m
Ranked: 31st and 35th in the Yorkshire Dales
Why do the photos never do it justice? This was the descent from Yarlside. I am not a silly goose, it was the steepest descent of my life and believe it or not, I have climbed quite some number of mountains thus far (not just in the Dales!) Kensgriff is the next fell with Randygill beyond.
Taken from Randygill looking back towards the descent from Yarlside. Perhaps this shows the steepness a little better!
The summit of Randygill Top
The descent from Randygill top is also a steep one, but look at those views! (Also, nowhere near as steep as Yarlside!!) The return route was along the valley.
The final descent from Cautley Spout, the country’s tallest cascade. Also steep!
Rogan’s Seat and Water Crag
16 March 2025
The FINAL PAIR!
I wonder whey they called it Water Crag?
Well, it could be because of the BOG?! I think it might be that.
The final two. It felt pretty good to be honest, by this point we all just wanted to finish the challenge so not EVERY spare day was filled by climbing mountains (or me obsessing over mountain forecasts and windspeed!!)
I’ll be honest, we were intending on doing the final walks the other way around, but we had friends come to join us for the final mountains and I REALLY didn’t want them to do the descent from Yarlside so I switched them over!
Obviously, you’ll see from the photos that the previous day was the better weather day, but compared to some of the weather we’d been dealt so far during this challenge, it was pretty blummin’ ideal, shame there weren’t any views from the top, but this is an area we’ve been to plenty of times and we’ve enjoyed them before!
We didn’t finish on a favourite, but it was in our favourite area, so a win nevertheless!
Water Crag and Rogan’s Seat Route
I looked at tackling this route from so many ways, but the shortest and easiest route was the one from Keld. Gunnerside only missed out as a starting point, because it was marginally longer, as was the one from the Tan Hill Inn, although to finish at the country’s highest pub would have been a win!
In the end, the promise of some cool mining ruins and waterfalls meant we opted for Keld.
In a break from the norm with, most of this route was on paths and wide moorland tracks, the only off piste sections were to reach the summit of Rogan’s Seat and then to get to Water Crag. Here, once again, it was a simple case of handrailing the perimeter fence until the trig point was just about visible.
There was one complicating factor and that was the HAGS! There was quite a lot of climbing down and then back up again after leaving the quad track, which meant that final stretch was a bit more labour intensive than the rest!
But it did the job. And it kind of felt appropriate to finish the challenge with yet another out and back route!
Navigation notes: There are exposed drops on the Coast to Coast path along Swinner Gill. The path is narrow, but solid.
Image is copyright of Ordnance Survey
The Coast to Coast path as it climbs from Swinner Gill
Rogans Seat and Water Crag Challenge Facts
Distance Walked: 17.44km
Total time spent walking: 6 hours 33 minutes
Summit Heights: Rogan’s Seat 672m, Water Crag 668m
Total Actual Ascent: 581m
Ranked: 21st and 22nd in the Yorkshire Dales
The summit of Rogan’s Seat, marked by a little cairn (as per!)
The approach to Swinner Gill. This place really is pretty and is one of the reasons why I chose this route, which after this point is mainly featureless moorland!
One of the uppy downy bits on the final slog to Water Crag. They’re a bit bigger when you’re 9!
So there we go! Yorkshire Dales Mountain Challenge COMPLETE!
All 39 (plus those other random ones that bloke mentioned on the internet) Nuttalls in the Yorkshire Dales climbed and conquered by the kids. Aged 10 and 8 when they started and 11 and 9 when they finished one year (and one day) later (although I’m genuinely thinking we should cancel one day because we did Buckden Pike twice!)
There are many that I will never see again, nor will I miss them.
There are many that we will revisit again against my will during our trig bagging challenge.
There were mountains that nearly broke us (Wild Boar Fell…), mountains that surprised us (the Mallerstang Fells), mountains that were simply stunning (Great Knoutberry Haw) and many in between!
Since completing the challenge, we’ve climbed Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen y ghent multiple times, Great Whernside and Buckden Pike feature regularly in our weekend hikes and we have since tackled Drumaldrace again, following the route we hoped to do during the challenge. There are those which I cannot wait to do again! The Calf (hopefully in the sun), Wild Boar Fell (yes I know what you’re thinking), Mallerstang Edge (although not including Little Fell) and Gragareth and friends (to get that satisfying circular!)
Writing about them all a year after we completed the challenge has made me realise that it was so much more than just a peak bagging mission. It was the core memories made with the kids that really stick, the bad AND the good and if you’re up for the challenge, then I would highly recommend it!
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