Martindale, Steel Knotts, High Street, Loadpot Hill, Jeanie Brewstr's Well, Cumbria
[ 19.1 km] Wed 28 Dec 2011

NY 4358 1922
The forecast was for high winds, getting worse in the early afternoon then reducing later. I arrived at St Peter’s Church in Martindale and parked in the same place as last week. I’d only been there a few minutes when 3 more cars turned up and it was still only 8am. The wind was quite strong and the car was getting a buffeting as I pulled my waterproofs and boots on. With large trees overhead I decided not to take any risks and moved the car to a car parking area by the road with no trees nearby. It was just coming light as I set off towards Lanty Tarn. The tarn has almost silted up and there was hardly any open water visible through the rushes. It was very overcast and windy but thankfully no rain.

There had been very heavy rain overnight and the path to Steel End was awash. Last night I’d created a gpx track file on the PC and transferred it to my smart-phone. The intention was to help find some of the indistinct tracks across Helton Fell. I’d also hoped it would show me the path up Steel End but a fairly distinct path was visible and turned out not to be the one shown on the map. The wind was coming from the west and was a bit of a problem at times. I got to the summit ridge without problems and headed for what looked like the summit cairn. When I got there another un-cairned peak was visible to the south. It seemed higher and when I got there found that it was by checking with the GPS. The wind was now becoming a real problem and at one point I was knocked off my feet. I was thankful for the wall along Brownthwaite Crag which gave me some shelter. Near Gowk Hill I reached Fusedale Beck and stopped at the ruined building for a quick look round.

 The path up to the Roman Road at High Street continued roughly SE and was easy to follow though there was a lot of evidence of the recent heavy rain. Nearing the top I tried to find some shelter to eat my sandwiched and managed to find some behind the wall just below the summit. It was still quite difficult in the wind as I headed north along High Street towards Loadpot Hill. Squally rain showers and some hail were very painful as they hit with a lot of force. Over Loadpot Hill I followed the main track to Wartches where I took and minor track to the right to look for Jeanie Brewster’s Well. There are a few tracks in the area and even though I started on the right one I found myself on the wrong part of the fell and had to cut across open ground to regain the right track. Across Helton Fell I found the well which turned out to be a spring that had a brick tank and lid built over it and was presumably being used for someone’s water supply.

My next objective was a reservoir on Barton Fell but with no path I had to walk on a NW bearing across open ground which was rather slow in places. The site of the reservoir was not at all obvious and presumably it is underground. A hole with a cast iron pipe sticking out was the only indication. I soon joined the main path off Barton Fell and followed it down to the main track above Barton Park. There were several people about now that I was off the high fell. It was still windy but not as bad. The track is the one I used last week and this time I used it to Martindale. When I reached the buildings at Bankhouse I left the track and followed a path across a field and down to the road. I stayed on the road most of the way back to the car, only leaving it to take short cuts at the zig-zag section. There were quite a lot of cars about and there seemed to be some sort of event on as people were looking up at the fells.