Sunday August 28th

David: Chinley, Mount Famine, South Head, Brown Knoll... and lots of Hot Sheep

With my trip to The Dolomites and Alta Via 2 only a few days away, it made sense me to have a walk to loosen up a bit. As it was a Bank Holiday weekend, popular places would probably be crowded, so Chinley was a good choice- we've always managed to park there. There are lots of options for the walk, as well. We've already done the walk a few times this year and it was impressive how much cotton grass there was, and how high it had grown where earlier in the year there'd just been rough grass.

Cotton grass beside the path
In preparation for my trip I took the steepest way up to the top of Cracken Edge and walked along the top edge of the quarries. I'd never seen climbers there before and watched one top out and inspect a somewhat loose stake to belay to.
Topping out- Cracken Edge Quarries
Speaking to the climber, the route was HS and she had also placed a runner on the right-hand rope, so the runout wasn't as long as would appear from the above picture!

It was quite hot and muggy but the views were great and I could see my route options clearly.

Mount Famine, South Head and Brown Knoll (on the far horizon)
The sheep were finding the heat difficult, even those who had been lucky enough to be shorn, and most were hiding from the sun in the shadows of walls.
Hiding from the sun
I wanted to be sure to pass by Whiterakes (such a brilliant position, but probably not very practical) and, again, the sheep were taking advantage of the wall for shade.
In the shade near Whiterakes
As it was such a lovely day and I seemed to be going well, I took the Mount Famine variant. As there was someone at the top, I wasn't able to take a picture of the prow that Jacinta stands on, but there were still good views of South Head and Brown Knoll in the distance.
South Head, with Brown Knoll on the skyline
I had planned to have lunch at the top of South Head, but there were masses of midges and flies so I continued on to Brown Knoll. The trig point was adorned with a sheep's skull and quite a few people passing through, but still a nice place for lunch.
The Brown Knoll trig, complete with sheep's skull. Lose Hill and Rushup Edge in the distance
On the way back to South Head there's a good view of Mount Famine- it looks an impressive edge, even though it relatively modest.
The ridge of Mount Famine
On the basis that I needed to get a few metres of ascent done, I went back over the top of South Head where the flies had been multiplying considerably- I had to plough through a black cloud of them and was brushing them off myself for quite a while afterwards.

On the way down and just before Andrews Farm, there's a huge dungheap that had been in use when we first passed that way (probably over ten years ago); a young man was transferring loads of it to a muckspreader. I commented to him that it really had been a long-term investment as it had been there for many years, and he replied that it had been there all of his life!

I passed even more sheep, this time the more bovine/porcine variety and they were clearly too lazy to find any shade.

Flat out
Finally, a donkey made his presence known- I fed him a little grass from the lane I was in.
On the lookout for passers by

A total of 9.4 miles/15.2km, 720m ascent- good training for AV2.


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