Date & Time: Wednesday 6th August 2008. 4.15 pm start.

Location of Start : End of the road, Nannycatch Lane, Cleater Moor, Cumbria, Uk. ( NY 041 139 )

Places visited : Cleator(Wath Brow) Uldale and Dent Forest, Dent, Nannycatch Valley, Flat Fell & back.

Walk details : 4.2 mls, 1150 ft of ascent, 2 hrs 50 mins.

Walked with : Jo, John, Ann and the dogs, Jodie, Megan, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Changeable but gradually improving after a wet and windy start.

The forest gate at Nannycatch Lane above Cleater Moor

It was a wet day! Jo and John came over at midday, but we ate our sandwiches sitting round the kitchen table order to give the weather time to improve.

Dent and Flat Fell straddle the western edge of the Park and would be a suitable walk for this afternoon once we saw signs of the weather improving.

Ann and Jo, with John just head, walk through the forest in order to reach the open fell above.

" If you go down in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise "

Spooky !!.

A bit brighter as John emerges into this clearing.

Brighter still as Ann and Jo stride out onto the open fell above the forest.

It is a very good year for heather - must be all the rain !

The true, but uninspiring summit of Dent.

Black Combe is the large but misty fell in the distance.

The cairn and wind shelter at the top of Dent, looking towards distant Whitehaven and the Solway Firth.

Cleator Moor is the town just over the brow of the fell.

Looking the other way over High House Farm

to the Seascale Nuclear Reprocessing Plant and the Irish Sea.

The rain returns with a vengeance as we kit up and paddle over the sodden top of Dent.

This is part of Wainwrights Coast to Coast Walk, from St Bees on the western coast to Robin Hood's Bay on the eastern side.

Regular walkers have corrected the right hand sign which in fact points the wrong direction . . . oops !

A very large stile, but the climb can be easily avoided by ducking under the gap in the fence.

More of a struggle for John than it was for Ann !

Roger and John making their way down the steep slope into the delightful Nannycatch valley below.

The slopes behind form part of the Lowther Forest, criss-crossed with paths and forest tracks. We walked there a few weeks ago.

Sunshine in the Nannycatch Valley . . . but not today !

However the mist clinging to the top slopes above the valley makes interesting viewing as it swirls through the trees.

The valley is looking green and verdant. It is a very pretty, enclosed valley on a good day.

What a pity the sun was not shining as it was Jo and John's first visit here.

Ann and Jo have just descended from the path as John crosses the bridge.

Plenty of good sniffing potential here for the dogs !

The slopes of Flat Fell rise above the craggy rocks ahead as we make our way through the gate.

The Coast to Coast path turns right here, following the small C-C notice on the rock beyond the gate.

Looking back down at the gate and Nannycatch Valley.

Our route takes us up the rocky middle way as we start our ascent of Flat Fell

For such a 'Flat Fell', the approach is rather steep.

Jo looking back towards the forest on the slopes of Dent where we climbed at the start of the walk.

A hint of blue sky and some sun on Grasmoor, from the flat top of Flat Fell.

Perhaps we should have walked more local to the cottage !

Still, we are at the summit and looking happy to be here, at least the girls are. John is looking more sceptical !

No trig point for Harry and Bethan to jump on here, but they still reached the summit first and came bounding over to let us know.

A final short section brought us back to the bottom end of the woods where we had started earlier today.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with my Cannon G7 or Ann's Ixus 75 Digital cameras.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . better weather please !

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Previous walk - 5th August 2008 Fisher's Wife Rake from Fornside

A previous time up here - 6th Nov 2007 Cold, Flat and Dented