Yorkshire Dales
1 NY782026 First explore Pendragon Castle, then take the minor road right of the castle, up past a farm to the second right-hand bend. Leave the road on the waymarked bridleway to a bridge over the SettleCarlisle railway.
2 NY774027 Cross the bridge; take a faint quad track roughly south-west to meet the wall. Follow it upwards, ignoring the gate where the bridleway leaves you. Continue uphill with the wall, curving left (south-west then south) till it falls sharply away down the hill. At this point, stay on the main walked line straight ahead, to Little Fell and its summit cairns. Continue 0.5km to the wall corner and follow it up to the path junction at High Dolphinsty.
3 NY765000 The summit path follows the escarpment up to The Nab and its ancient summit cairn. Despite its prominence, this is not the true summit: the 708m high
point, complete with new views of Morecambe Bay, the Lakes and the Howgills, is across the plateau. From The Nab, take the worn line 700m roughly south-west to the summit shelter and trig point. An optional 50m out-and-back takes in views of Sand Tarn below the north-western plateau edge.
4 SD757988 Take
the southeasterly line this time for 500m to rejoin the eastern plateau edge at a fence. Cross the stile to explore the High White Scar cairns; their origin remains a mystery but popular theory says they were built to scare off the invading Scots. Return and cross the stile, then follow the path initially north-west then north-east as it curves around the cliff edge, to complete the plateau triangle back at The Nab. Retrace your earlier steps back down to point 2 at High Dolphinsty. This time, take the Pennine Bridleway (PB) downhill to the right. After about 400m, follow the PB waymarker to continue downhill, veering left away from a patch of limestone pavement, to join a good-quality track. This descends to ford a stream by a barn and continues to the railway underpass. 5 SD778996 Carry on past Hazelgill Farm to the second of two public footpaths heading north: it’s the one opposite a barn, as the lane leaves the farm. At this fingerpost, take the pedestrian gate after the wall (not the smaller one before it), following the top of two fields, then crossing more to meet a lane by a wall corner. Turn right to the packhorse bridge, noting lime kilns on far banks. Don’t cross; turn left beside the Eden. At the farm, take the track between buildings, emerging at a track junction, left. Take the right branch, then follow the fence as it turns left away from the lane, to astile, a wooded riverside path, and then another bridge. Again, stay this side, on to the hamlet of Shoregill. 6 NY780014
Follow a lane through Shoregill; a waymark at the top sends you right through a gate, down a short section of lane. At the next pair of gates, take the left (top), following a wall along the bottom of a large field. After leaving the second field, look immediately left for another stile. Cross this, and the ditch. A faint line takes you diagonally up through a plantation. At the top corner, follow waymarks across fields, and at the path junction, take a right down to the road. Go right over the bridge, back to the start.