Longlands Fell and Brae Fell
Walk date – 14th February 2026
Distance – 5.3 miles
Weather – very sunny start but eventually clouding over, no wind,
An unbroken line of bright yellow suns adorned the Met Office web site yesterday, which we initially took with a very large grain of salt, as they had been forecasting sunny spells from Wednesday onwards none of which arrived, at least in our neck of the woods. However, the line of yellow circles was still there when we checked again later that evening so we reconsidered our original walking route that we had planned in readiness for those forecasted sunny spells from Wednesday onwards. From Wednesday to Friday we were ready to go but the weather was foul so we didn’t bother. Finally a good weather day turned up but we knew that a sunny forecast arriving on a Saturday would suggest that parking around any of the more popular routes would be difficult, especially as the weather has been mostly wet, often accompanied by strong winds, since Christmas, so a change of plan was called for. Parking for any of the ‘back o’Skidda’ fells is usually no problem and so we decided to go over to Longlands and take a walk in that area instead. We weren’t expecting the deep snow conditions which awaited us though.
Route
Off road parking below Holborn farm – Cumbria Way – Charleton Wath ford – Longlands Fell – Brae Fell – Cumbria Way – off road parking below Holborn Farm
The view from the Cumbria Way from our parking spot just below Holborn farm which is situated just up the hill from Green Head. In AW’s Book 5: The Northern Fells, and which he dedicated to ‘The solitary wanderers on the fells’, this area marks the beginning/end of the northern fells. On the distant skyline are the gently rising lower slopes of Brae Fell.
We began walking along the Cumbria Way towards the ford at Charleton Wath. During the drive over we could see that the snow predicted to fall overnight had been very substantial, the North Pennines had a good covering although the Eden Valley had no snow at all, and from the A66 we could see that all the Lake District fells were under a thick blanket of snow. When we turned off towards Mungrisedale and beyond it became apparent that the overnight snowfall had been very extensive with very low hills and even the fields receiving a covering of snow.
We could see the path we would be taking across Longlands Fell as we approached the ford at Charleton Wath. In the above shot its over on the right and appears as two deep grooves in the snow just below the patch of moorland grasses.
Looking down the slope as we approached the ford crossing …..
….. which created a bit of a problem as the water level was too high to simply splash through, unless we wanted to do the rest of the walk with wet socks and trouser bottoms. We tried to find a suitable place to stride across the beck over on the left but to no avail so we eventually used the gate leading to a path alongside Charleton Gill. From there we dropped down to the beck and found a place to cross over to the other side. We made our way up the slope, on the wrong side of the fence, until we came to the padlocked gate at the top which we climbed over and were able to continue on our merry way! Why didn’t we climb over the fence? Because it was topped with barbed wire and there wasn’t a firm footing which would have provided some leverage. Growing beside the fence were tall grasses covered in snow which gave way as soon as it was stepped on leaving us considerably lower than the barb topped fence line. Ah well, at least all the exercise warmed us up!
The view looking back towards the ford once we were on the path below Longlands Fell. The shot shows a walker in a red jacket on the descent path from Brae Fell summit back down to the Cumbria Way which we will also be using. That path joins the Cumbria Way above the ford so we won’t have the crossing of it to consider on our return journey.
Looking across to Knott on the centre skyline as we plough our way through the deep snow covered grasses.
The path across Longlands stretched in front of us although no-one had used it so far, earlier walkers have trodden the grass verges instead so we used their footprints. Its a beautiful morning with the sun blazing down on us and blue skies all around.
Brae Fell on the other side of Charleton Gill sparkled in the sunshine …..
….. and eventually the steep track up the western side of Brae Fell came into view. I think that’s Little Sca Fell in view over on the right.
Peeping down into Charleton Gill with Little Sca Fell appearing on the skyline.
We left the track we had been following somewhere around here and headed upwards to take the path leading back to the summit of …..
….. Longlands Fell. The paths still hadn’t been trodden but the edges had so once again we used footsteps which already existed rather than breaking new ground. We had already seen a group of five walkers making their way up Longlands when we were on the lower path and who were now just beginning to make their way up Lowthwaite Fell. Lowthwaite Fell is just beginning to rise up on the left of the shot as we continued on towards Longlands.
A view of a snow covered Binsey and Overwater reservoir from the top of Longlands Fell. I was just about to turn to the right for a shot of the summit cairn when a pair of walkers arrived, dumped their packs beside the cairn and proceeded to sit beside them to enjoy the view. Hence no shot of the summit cairn on Longlands Fell.
Instead I turned towards the snow covered Skiddaw group where an eerie light had cast a less than sparkling view of them. It was caused by a very thin layer of cloud which was slowly creeping over us although …..
….. it hadn’t reached the blue sky above Brae Fell although the wispy white stuff above it indicated that it wouldn’t be too long before it did.
Looking across to Little and Great Sca Fells from the top of Longlands Fell where the white patch in the sky over on the right indicates the approaching cloud layer. Between us and them are the lower slopes of Lowthwaite Fell. It was quite busy up here and I had to wait awhile to be able to take the preceding shots.
The view across to Lowthwaite Fell above which is the thin layer of white stuff responsible for blotting out the sunlight and giving the fells below such an odd light.
Back to the Skiddaw group but the view hasn’t improved thanks to that damned white stuff dimming the sunlight. They should have looked white and sparkling instead of this muted appearance.
We dropped down from Longlands Fell, crossed Charleton Gill and began the snowy slog up to the ridge line where we took to the path leading over to Brae Fell. This was a hard slog up the hill through deep snow even though there were many footprints to take advantage of.
Here we were just about to take to the path leading over to Brae Fell summit. The walk over takes ten minutes with no snow, with snow it took us fifteen.
A look back to the Skiddaw group as the light became weirder and duller as the cloud layer thickened …..
….. and a look over towards Little Sca Fell confirmed our suspicions that we had possibly seen the last of the sunshine for today. The dark smudge on the path up to the top of it is three of the group of five walkers we had seen climbing up to Longlands earlier. Looked as though they were doing the full round and probably going on to Knott.
The summit cairn on Brae Fell with the waters of the Solway Firth behind it.
The summit cairn again but now with a view of Binsey (L) and (possibly) Criffel (R) across the Solway. We had planned to have a lunch break up here but even with a flask of hot coffee it was a bit too nippy for a picnic so we decided to wait until we got back to the car.
The cloud layer was completely above us now when I took this look back to Little Sca Fell (L) and the Skiddaw group (R).
A zoom in will show that three of the walkers are still making their way up to the top of Little Sca Fell while two walkers are still at a path junction. Perhaps they weren’t all part of the same group after all. Knott is just showing on the left of the skyline.
We began the descent of Brae Fell and I took a few shots on the way down. Knott is over on the right skyline with Yard Steel occupying most of the left one.
Behind Yard Steel is Little Lingy Hill and over on the left is Great Lingy Hill although I’m not absolutely certain about that.
Most of the skyline now is taken up by Hare Stones and Great Lingy Hill …..
….. and to their left is High Pike, now on the centre skyline.
Much lower down now and beyond Cumbria’s green coastal plain we can see the Solway Firth and Criffel. Some type of rounded sledge has created the U shaped groove in the path but whether it was being pulled up or pulled down was difficult to establish as the footprints alongside it went in both directions. Neither of us would be surprised if the sledge’s passenger was a dog with very short legs. We see dogs being transported in many ways nowadays, we’ve seen several being trundled around in commercially made prams.
Almost back down to the Cumbria Way track now with the ford at Charleton Wath over towards the left. The path leads us down to the track and the ford crossing was now behind us, thank goodness. Neither of us is likely to forget the trouble we had crossing it when we started out earlier. Wonder if anyone has ever thought of putting in some sort of bridge crossing?
The buildings around Holborn farm appear as does our car which is parked a little way below the white lorry over on the right.
The final photo of today’s walk is this attractive little cottage which is unlikely to be the farmhouse since there is already a residence on farm property which is visible in the previous shot. It may be a holiday rental or it is privately owned. So we come to the end of our outing today, the sky looks blue but it wasn’t, the thin layer of cloud was now overhead and the sunlight was muted and nothing more than a glimmer. We had our lunch break in the car, managing to spill hot coffee everywhere in the process, and allow our legs get back to normal before the drive back to the Eden Valley. Despite the gloominess created by the layer of white cloud taking the shine off the snow covered fells it was good to be out on them again. We woke up to a covering of snow this morning (Sunday) but now it has all gone as its been raining since mid morning. Here we go again!