The Ascent of Great Knoutberry Hill
The weatherman said the following day was likely to have rain and be windy. Nevertheless, as we were desperate to walk, we decided to do a short stroll starting from our base in Cowgill, which is a long straggly village in Dentdale with the River Dee flowing through it and the bulk of Whernside, one of the “Three Peaks” to the south.
Dent Station, which is on the famous Settle to Carlisle Railway Line, is, at 1150 feet above sea level, the highest mainline railway Station in England. Needless to say it was quite a “pull” up to the station but the tarmac surface of the road was certainly easier to walk than the waterlogged peat we encountered later on this excursion. Looking south from the Coal Road towards Whernside .
We continued up the
Coal Road, which at its highest point is 1750 feet
above sea level and has gradients of 1 in 5.
However, before we reached the highest point we
turned right at grid reference SD 779880 and
started to follow a bridleway at a level of just
over 500 metres (approximately 1640 feet) which
skirts the west and south side of Great Knoutberry
Hill. This was pleasant walking. The sun had even
glimmered for a few minutes, but unfortunately not
enough to break down the mist and clouds that were
covering Whernside to the south and the other hills
that surrounded us.
We had gone nearly ½ a mile along this bridleway
when a sign on our left indicated a concessionary
path to the top of Great Knoutberry Hill, which at
672 metres (2205 feet) is only 54 metres less than
Whernside, which at 736 metres is the tallest of
the “Three Peaks”. Anne was up for the challenge so
we clambered over a stile and started eastwards
along the path to the top of the “Hill”.
Initially the going was quite easy on the
concessionary path. And navigation was even easier.
All we had to do was follow a fence on our left.
However, the higher we went the peatier and sodden
our path became until it vanished and we found our
route very boggy and difficult to traverse. Then,
as we were nearing the top of the hill, we were hit
by a real cloudburst of a downpour. But we were not
too bothered about the inclement weather as we were
well waterproofed. However, it was so bad that Anne
commented that the likes of Mick, Larry and Peter
would find it difficult to call me “Fairweather” if
they could see the conditions I was now enduring.
A trig point, which we never actually touched as it
was surrounded by squelchy peat and water, marked
the top of the Great Knoutberry Hill (Grid
reference SD 789872). However, we got near enough,
3 or 4 metres, to be able to say we had bagged this
“peak”.
As the rain continued we wasted no time lingering
to admire the cloud covered views but started
downhill, initially eastwards but as the wall on
our left veered southwest we continued alongside it
and by the time we reached the T junction with the
top of a bridleway called Arten Gill the rain had
stopped. So we stopped, had a cereal bar and water,
before we started to descend west down Arten Gill.
Currently (September 2004) there is a large amount
of repair work taking place on the Arten Gill
Bridleway, so it is temporarily closed to vehicles
that can normally use it. The repairs are necessary
as it would seem the abundance of rainfall in this
area, and the traffic, has had a detrimental and
impact on the quality of the track. However, even
when it is finished, you would certainly need a
very robust four-wheel drive vehicle to traverse
this route.
As we went further down this track the repairs -
mainly improved water courses across the track so
the water coming from Great Knoutberry could get
down to the stream ( Arten Gill Beck) without
washing away this right of way - became very
evident.
Soon we could see workmen, who were building a
small ford to move water from one side of the track
to the other which in part would run down the
middle of the track.
Beyond this construction area, crossing the valley
was the impressive Arten Gill Railway Viaduct which
is another notable construction on the Settle to
Carlisle Railway Line.
As we approached the viaduct the rain started again
and we got under the viaduct to shelter, but this
really was a waste of time as the arches being so
high gave no protection from the precipitation.
However, I was really impressed by this structure.
The very impressive Arten Gill Viaduct.
At the bottom of Arten Gill we met the main road
through Dent Dale and turning right we crossed a
very narrow road bridge, only 8ft 6in wide.
Needless to say I was always careful crossing it on
four wheels. It was then a walk of one mile along
the road, which is also part of the Dales Way and
is parallel to the River Dee, back to our base at
the bottom of the Coal Road in Cowgill. My one
regret was we had started the walk too late so by
the time we passed the only pub on our route, the
Sportsman, which is mid way between the bottom of
Arten Gill and the Coal Road it was closed.
The total distance
walked was about 6 ½ miles and took about 4 hours –
we were in no rush.
The map used for this walk was the Ordnance Survey
Explorer Map – No. OL2 – Yorkshire Dales (Southern
and Western areas)