LONG Scar Pike is the highest point of the purple heather covered Crosby Ravensworth Fell, writes JOHN EDMONDSON. This walk starts from Shap Wells Hotel and visits parts of 2016 extensions to both the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks. The novel experience of walking between motorway carriageways contrasts sharply with peaceful open fells, where you might spot wild ponies and woods, where red squirrels abound.

Start from outside Shap Wells Hotel. Park on the grassy area just before the cattle grid in front of the hotel (not on the private roadway). Map reference NY 577 095, postcode CA10 3QU.

INFORMATION

Distance: 11.5 miles with 1,600 feet of ascent

Time: 5 hours

Terrain: stony tracks, grassy paths and rough heather.

Maps: OS Explorer OL5, OL7 and OL19.

ROUTE

1 Walk onto the waymarked footpath from the bridge alongside Wasdale Beck. Go around the right of a fenced area then across a footbridge over the beck. Ascend the slope veering right and join a track leading to a gate near Wasdale Old Bridge. Turn left and continue uphill to a gate. After 100 yards turn left through another gate. At the end of the stony track continue on a grassy path to the summit of Crag Hill marked by a small cairn. Continue in a south-easterly direction (avoid following the clearer track going further south). Descend gently along the ridge along a faint grassy track heading towards a metal barn at the edge of the valley on the right. Above the barn (Nan Hill), the track becomes stony and follows a wall on the right. Fork left at the junction near the barn and turn left at the next junction descending to Ewelock Bank farm. Turn left down the road and sharp left at the road junction.

2 Descend to Birk Beck and turn right across a wooden bridge leading to Steps Farm. Turn left through the farm gate, keeping to the gill on the left, and across a stile. Continue beside the gill, across a footbridge next to High Scales, past a lone tree and along a (very wet) cutting under the railway. Follow the track bending left, then right to go under the northbound carriageway of the M6. Turn left, continuing northwards, and at the minor road turn right to go under the southbound carriageway. Turn left before a cattle grid onto the bridleway signed Crosby Ravensworth. Follow the gently rising track (the course of a Roman road) keeping close to the wall on the right to the B6261. Cross the road and continue along the track opposite, keeping straight on where it bends right. Turn left by a green hut then ascend the rough heather fell to the 1,316-feet summit of Long Scar Pike. It was probably in this cairn that a group of Stone Age coffins and the skeleton of a tall man were found in 1885.

3 Descend towards the M6 then turn right and walk along a ridge-top path descending to a track going under the M6 near J39 exit sign. Pass Hause Farm and at the road turn right then left after 350 yards along the line of overhead power cables. Cross the railway via a footbridge then turn left on a path over mounds. Enter conifer woodland on the left below a pylon. Cross a rough clearing and follow a forest path, crossing a track, to a stile. Continue down the path underneath rhododendrons, past the water pump, feeding stations for red squirrels and the Old Bath House to Shap Wells Hotel.

Next week: Sedbergh rivers

NB: restrictions on space mean that this article provides a general summary of the route. It is advisable for anyone who plans to follow the walk to take a copy of the relevant Ordnance Survey map