Loadpot Hill

Loadpot Hill (and a substantial herd of teenage hikers), from Wether Hill.

Height: 2201 feet above sea level.

Volume: Book 2 (The Far Eastern Fells)

Date climbed: First visit:18th August 2011 (walk 42). Second visit: 28th June 2014 (walk 84).

Bagged as number: First round: 131 of 330. [ << Bonscale Pike (130)  (132) Wether Hill >> ]

Loadpot Hill summit cairn (looking more like it resides on the American prairie than a Lake District mountain top).

Second round: 7 of 330. [ << Bonscale Pike (6)  (8) Arthur’s Pike >> ]

Route of ascent and descent:  First visit: Approached on the ridge from Bonscale Pike and left on the ridge south to Wether Hill.

Second visit: Same approach, but this time, left for Arthur’s Pike.

What Mr Wainwright says (on page 2 of his chapter): “By Lakeland standards, which demand at least a glimpse of rock in every scene, territory if this type is uninteresting, for all hereabouts is tough grass and heather… yet there is a haunting attractiveness about these far-flung rolling expanses. There is the appearance of desolation, but no place is desolate that harbours so much life: in addition to the inevitable sheep, hardy fell ponies roam and graze at will, summer and winter alike, and the Martindale deer often cross the watershed…”

Fell ponies on Moor Divock. Loadpot Hill rises gently behind.

What I say: It is true that Loadpot Hill (as its name suggests – not being Loadpot ‘Fell’) is rather uncharacteristic of the Lake District and those whose ideas of Lakeland have been formed by Scafell Pike and Great Gable are probably not going to get excited about it. But it has good views, both into the District and out of it, and there was nothing about it which annoyed me – no bogs, no hard-to-find paths, etc. A pleasant walk, is all. I was a bit disappointed that the chimney of Lowther House, to the south of the summit, has all but disappeared now, however.

My second visit only reinforced these first impressions. It’s a lonely place, it’s never going to be exciting, but it is worth a visit for all the reasons Wainwright says it is.

[ << Little Mell Fell      Loft Crag >> ]