Seatallan

Seatallan, viewed from Haycock.

Height: 2266 feet above sea level.

Volume: Book 7 (The Western Fells)

Date climbed: 20th August 2012 (walk 62)

Bagged as number:  198 of 330. [ << Buckbarrow (197)  (199) Middle Fell >> ]

Tumulus and trig point on Seatallan’s summit.

Route of ascent and descent:  Came up from Buckbarrow, via the south-west ridge. Left on the ridge to Middle Fell (described as a ridge route only in the Middle Fell chapter, not Seatallan’s).

What Mr Wainwright says (from page 7 of his chapter): “Stones galore, all in a great heap on a felltop predominantly of soft turf, is an unnatural phenomenon that greets all visitors to Seatallan’s summit. Cairns are not a fashion introduced by walkers. Shepherds built cairns as landmarks for their own guidance in bad weather long before people climbed hills for pleasure. And long before the shepherds the first primitive dwellers in the district built cairns in and around their settlements and over their burial places. The big cairn on Seatallan is attributed to the early British inhabitants and may well be thousands of years old.”

Seatallan (left) and Middle Fell, from Whin Rigg

What I say: Why they chose the top of this hill for their constructions, no one now knows; I doubt it was because someone dropped dead of excitement after having climbed up there. OK, Seatallan – like the rest of the district – is not exactly looking at its best in 2012 but a scoot through the pages of Wainwright doesn’t promise much for the fell, even as a viewpoint, and after hauling myself up it I can say this lack of promise was definitely fulfilled. Maybe there’s more to it, but it’s not very clear where.

[ << Seat Sandal      Seathwaite Fell >> ]

Seatallan from Ponsonby Fell.

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