Birkbeck Fells Common
Walk date – 30th July 2025
Distance – 9.75 miles
Weather – very cloudy to begin with, brighter later, mild, slight breeze
With a forecast for low cloud and showers we decided against a walk on the Lakeland fells and took a walk around some local and much lower fells instead. What today’s walk lacked in height it more than made up for in terms of distance. It wasn’t a bad weather day overall and brightened up later, we even had about half an hour’s worth or so of blue sky and sunshine during the early afternoon before the skies clouded over again. A light breeze and high humidity resulted in the wind-proofs staying in our packs and our mid layers tied around our waists, just in case the light breeze decided to throw a wobbly later on.
Route
Lay-by near Shap Bothy – Old Shap Road – Packhorse Hill – Wasdale Old Bridge – Salterwath – Stonygill – Gibsonhill – Rampshowe – Gill Farm – Low Crag – Ewelock Bank – Nan Hill – Crag Hill – Clovenstone Hill – Old Shap Road – Shap Bothy lay-by
Walking down past the Shap Bothy from the lay-by just a short distance above it. More or less opposite the bothy is the beginning of the track we will be using until we reach the old Wasdale Bridge where we will turn to the right and begin the walk down to Salterwath.
After dealing with the latch on the dropped gate here we are on the old Shap road where a signpost indicates that it leads to the Old Wasdale Bridge. Shap Pink Quarry is in the distance as are the electricity pylons and connecting cables which bring power to our kettle for us to make cups of tea/coffee so I shouldn’t really complain about them being an eyesore.
We noticed the heavy cloud over the Howgills as we made our way down the old road although the cloud cover didn’t seem so bad ahead of us.
The seemingly endless track as we walk towards Packhorse Hill which …..
….. we diverted to for this view of the Shap Pink Quarry and the A6 below it. The distant North Pennines are hidden beneath the cloud layer.
The view back to Packhorse Hill with the A6 running beneath it. We didn’t bother going over to the very topmost point for the previous photo but made do with standing on the little pimple over on the left of the shot. The view from the high point is essentially the same although probably slightly more dramatic.
Dropping down the track now with the A6 winding along below us. The pylons were much in evidence and are this photographer’s pet hate.
Much coming and going of lorries at Shap Pink, this one raising clouds of dust as it makes its way down the quarry road back to the A6. As well as lorries constantly arriving and departing there were the usual sounds of a quarry in full working mode with much clanking, scraping and general clangour.
We arrive at the Old Wasdale Bridge. Crossing it would have simply led us back up to the A6 so we turned off to the right just about here and passed through an old double wooden gate where further on …..
….. I managed to take this view of the old bridge. The banking was too steep to allow a better view of it and it was also fenced off so there was no access from this side. The other side of the beck was also fenced off so no access from there either.
The track we turned right onto continued along beside Wasdale beck for some distance …..
….. but we lost sight of it as the track turned and led us around Dryside for a view of Hill 401 (not an official name its just how we refer to it) and the Shap Wells Hotel amongst the trees below it. The tiny white dots in the distance aren’t sheep, just the traffic on the M6.
Once we were off the old road the paths became very puddly and even stepping to one side or the other didn’t help matters since they were just as squelchy.
Hill 401, the M6, a Trans Pennine Express train and acres of plastic tubing protecting young trees, probably conifers of one kind or another as this area has lots of conifer plantations. You may have to zoom in to see the M6 and the train though as they aren’t as obvious as the tubus plasticus. The M6 at this point becomes two quite separate carriageways with grazing land in between them.
Still dropping down into the valley and from a distance we thought this might be a snow pole. On closer inspection we discovered that …..
….. it was marking the site of a gas pipeline. It was held in situ by a neat stone cairn like arrangement with notices attached to it about what to do if you could smell gas. This corner of Cumbria doesn’t attract many walkers so gas could be leaking for weeks before anyone noticed. We’re pleased to report that there was no gas leaking out as we passed by.
Making our way down to Salterwath farm in the bottom of the valley.
The moorland path tipped us out onto a good track leading across a flat metal bridge across Birk Beck, from which the Common gets its name, and round to the farmhouse and barns.
Birk Beck from the bridge looking back to the fencing where the moorland path came to an end.
Salterwath farmhouse with children’s playthings in the front garden We had intended to visit Docker Force waterfall but despite lots of searching around we could find no path which would lead us to it. Having searched unsuccessfully we had no option but to retrace our steps and return to the bridge and the farm access road.
As we approached the bridge again we found that a group of ponies had wandered in and were tucking in to the lush grass. J tried to give one or two some bunches of grass but they wouldn’t accept it and turned away. They all were rather wary of us, or so it seemed to me.
We re-crossed the bridge and made our way up the steep track at the top of which I took the above shot looking back. Cows and ponies grazing quietly, the beck making its way down the valley to eventually join the River Lune, and the quiet farmhouse tucked away in the bottom of the valley far removed from the hustle and bustle of the outside world.
The steep track eventually flattened out and in due course took us past Stonygill farm. We had already passed by Fell View Cottage and the barking of the dogs outside it had brought the lady of the house into the yard to see what they were barking about. We had a chat with her and when we mentioned that we hadn’t been able to find the path to Docker Force waterfall she even invited us to go through her house and go down to it that way. We didn’t take her up on her very kind offer though and after a few more minutes chat we continued on our way passing Stonygill farm, her father in law’s house by the way, but didn’t manage to take a shot of her house.
The ford crossing at Stonygill beck where, despite the map indicating otherwise, there was no footbridge to be seen either here or elsewhere. Having studied the map more closely when we returned home the path to the footbridge seems to emanate from the back of Stonygill farm which we didn’t have access to.
When the path led us around one side of Stonygill farm I noticed that the rear of Fell View Cottage, where we had our chat with the lady of the house, was visible so here’s a view looking back to it.
We’re now at Gibsonhill where there is a ladder stile in situ for walkers to cross the wall to the other side. This grassy patch was on a small hill but in order to get up to it we had to pass through a marshy patch below it. It was unavoidable so there was nothing for it but to squelch through it as quickly as we could and hope we didn’t get bogged down. We didn’t, but we both got wet feet, wet socks and of course wet boots. J got wet trouser bottoms too although as I was wearing my 3/4 length pants I was spared that part of the unpleasantness. My blue boots and J’s grey/black ones had turned green by the time we reached the other side of the stile. We found an old wooden pallet, dragged it to an area free of cow muck and sat ourselves down for a few minutes to get ourselves on an even keel once more. We also decided to have a bite to eat and a drink of coffee while we were at it. Restored by food and drink and a sit down for a few minutes we were soon on our way again.
The brooding clouds seemed to have lost some of their intensity as we made our way over to Rampshowe farm and we had a clear view of the Lune Gap, the v shaped gap on the skyline. Blease Fell is to the left of it and Jeffrey’s Mount is to the right and the Lune Gap has the M6, the railway line and the A685 road running through it, which is pretty good going for such a narrow space.
A hint of sunlight on some of the Howgill fells in the distance.
Beyond the constant traffic of the M6 is Mallerstang Edge (L) and Wild Boar Fell to its right. On the extreme right of the skyline is Harter Fell, one of the Howgill fells, not one of the Lake District ones
Approaching Rampshowe farm and passing through the metal gate on the left.
The front view of Rampshowe farm …..
….. and the field just below the front of the house which was full of sheared sheep. From Rampshowe we made our way up the hill from the farmhouse and made our way over to …..
….. Stakeley beck above which Gill Farm is situated. There was a track which only led to the farm so we made our way along the beckside and around the back of the house.
The rear view of Gill Farm …..
….. and the front view of it. It didn’t seem to be a working farm any more but it has been turned into a very des res it seems.
From Gill Farm we made our way over to Low Crag farm. Shortly after leaving Gill Farm behind the path disappeared but we noticed these two tall deer gates quite close together so we headed for those and were surprised when we found that we had discovered the missing path again. Between the two gates was a deep ditch …..
….. so it was steeply down one side and then steeply back up the other side.
After crossing a couple of grassy fields and dropping down beside a small beck we arrived at Low Crag farm which seems to be undergoing renovation with new double glazed windows having been installed, although no-one was working on the house when we arrived. There was a lot of building material in the yard so this also seems to be destined to become a non working farm.
The good track leading from Low Crag farm all the way to …..
….. Ewelock Bank where we left the tarmac lane, which the track had turned into, and climbed the hill to begin our return journey …..
….. and it was quite a steep climb back out of the valley which made for warm work, especially as we had some some sunshine now and again as we climbed. The moody clouds seem to be moving eastwards and we could see lighter cloud and blue skies ahead of us.
A look over towards Tebay and the Howgills as we approached the top of the climb …..
….. where we found another group of about ten fell ponies quietly grazing in the sunshine. This group also had a white pony which the group at Salterwath didn’t have.
J had more success with this group and while he was handing grass to this pony a bit of a ruckus kicked off when the biggest pony in the group kicked out at two smaller and younger ones causing them, the rest of the group and ourselves to move away sharpish. J reckoned she was jealous of the attention the smaller ones were getting.
Looking ahead as we made our way up Nan Hill, Blue sky and sunshine at last!
Passing a derelict barn on the way up Nan Hill.
After a long and sometimes squelchy trek across the open moorland Crag Hill came into view at last.
Looking towards the Howgills from the cairn on Crag Hill …..
….. and looking in the opposite direction what do we find, none other than Shap Pink Quarry putting in yet another appearance. We must be getting closer to the track we first started out on in that case.
A look back at Crag Hill as we follow one of the myriad of quad bike tracks going hither and thither all over the place.
The view back to Clovenstone Hill with the cairn on Crag Hill just behind it to the left. It might need a zoom in to see the cairn though. You’d think that with a name like Clovenstone Hill you might find a cloven stone somewhere on the top of it but despite a search I didn’t find a single stone never mind a cloven one. There was one right beside the path but it was only small and pink and with absolutely nothing like a split in any part of it.
We had almost reached the point at which we re-joined the Old Shap Road when we noticed this building so I went over to read the notices. Turns out that it belongs to Vodaphone and a notice informed me not to enter the building without protective clothing as there were radio transmitters inside. What intrigued me was the electric vehicle charging point, that white object with a red nozzle, affixed to the outside wall. Does that mean that all Vodaphone’s vans and trucks are battery driven or is it just that Vodaphone employees drive battery powered cars and can charge them up, as and when necessary, while they are working up here? I wondered too if the the charger would fit non-Vodaphone employees cars?
Shap Pink is in view again and there’s a gate to pass through so that must mean we’re almost back on the track we started out on earlier. I noticed that something on the quarry road was making a bit of a puther.
The Shap Bothy appears on the skyline again, together with the pylons, so we don’t have much further to go now. A final tussle with the latch and the dropped gate and we are back on …..
….. the A6 and walking up the hill towards the lay-by. A car is parked outside the bothy which wasn’t there when we left but whether its occupants are in the bothy there was no way of knowing. No lights were showing inside the bothy and its certainly gloomy enough to need them on now that the sky has clouded over again. Perhaps somebody just parked there because the lay-by was full. After the miles we’ve covered today its good to know that just beyond the top of the rise the car is waiting and we can flop down into its comfy seats, glug down some water and generally take a breather before the drive home. Apart from the lady at the cottage we had a chat with on the way round we haven’t seen another soul. There can’t be many places in the Lake District, especially now that the schools have broken up and everywhere is full of holidaymakers, that you can walk over nine miles and not see another human being. Our marsh stained clothing will go straight into the washing machine and our boots will need a good scrubbing when we get home so we’ll be spick and span for our next walk.