Beefstand Hill
Mon 8th July 2013
Once more Sundance had danced the old soft shoe shuffle, and the day had had dawned brightish although somewhat cooler compared to previous days. As we drove up the valley it became cloudier and cooler but still dry so by the time we met at Carlcroft it was definitely a windproof day.
Leaving Carcroft Farm a steep climb brings you to a gate that leads on to what Mike thought was open fell but as we approached Carlcroft Hill a fence loomed ahead. This was not a normal fence it was a 6ft high Keep Out Fence sort of fence. Decision time should we walk back down hill and see if the gate we could see in the distance was the way through or looking ahead a quad track could be seen appearing from a slight dip at 90 degrees to the fence. Of course Mike headed for the track in anticipating that a gate would be there but of course there was not, so we continued walking gently uphill following the line of the fence.
Eventually we came across a gate but it was padlocked shut. While we took a well-earned coffee break Mike went off over the gate to explore the extent of the fence line. It appeared that the western side stretched up from Blindburn towards Lamb Hill. We continued walking up alongside the fence over Beef Stand and some were between Beefstand and Beefstand Hill the fence turned westwards. We continued in a northerly direction until we came to the border fence and the Pennine Way about 200m east of Beefstand Hill so we followed the PW westwards until we reached the summit and stopped for lunch and admired the views.
After lunch we retraced our steps and then continued along the PW to Mozie Law and short descent brought us to where the PW crosses The Street. Here we turned south to follow The Street skirting the summits of Swineside Law (afternoon tea break), Brough Law and Hindside Knowe. Rather than descending down The Street to Slyme Foot we took a path that swung back and after a short steep descent a more gradual descent took us back to Carlcroft Farm and the cars.
To finish the day in a civilised manner we drove to the Barrowburn Tea Room for a coffee and piece of homemade cake.
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