Hart Side

Hart Side

Eastern Lake District

Route: Hart Side

Area: Eastern Lake District

Date of walk: 5th July 2014

Walkers: Andrew

Distance: 6.8 miles

Weather: sunny intervals

Hart Side translates as the hill side frequented by harts, and is a subsidiary top on one of the east ridges of Stybarrow Dodd. Alfred Wainwright classifies it as a separate fell, one of the 214 in the Lake District

The fell is located in a remote position in the east of the district but is worth visiting, if only for the ascent from Dockray along the side of Brown Hills. From here there are wonderful views over Ullswater along the gentle climb up

After admiring the views as I went along, I finally left the path to climb up to the summit of Hart Side – one of those climbs which seems never ending and which was in truth rather dull

The views from the summit of the fell are rather disappointing despite its altitude of 2,481 feet – maybe the reason why this place isn’t visited often. I saw no-one else up there today

I descended via Birkett Fell to Dowthwaitehead, from where there was a lovely walk along the valley back to the start

Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)

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