Littondale, Foxup, Foxup Moor, Horton Moor, Cosh Inside, Cosh House Farm, Yorkshire. Wed 26 Sep 2007

I am so impressed with the walking terrain around Littondale I have decided to spend another day investigating it. I drove the full length of Littondale to Halton Gill then continued straight on up the cul-de-sac road for a further half mile to Foxup. I walked through the small hamlet last week and thought it would be nice to visit again and start my walk from here. I parked my car just over the bridge in a lay-bye. Shortly afterwards the school bus arrived and the driver got out to wait for the children and have a smoke. We started chatting and it turned out the road and lay-bye is not adopted and is the farmer’s land. My car was parked well away from the road so I decided to leave it. I was surprised to hear that the bus collects about 18 children along the dale.

Ingleborough in the distance.

A land rover arrived from some houses a short way further up and dropped two small children off to catch the bus. I left them and headed up the field to follow a bridal-way that is marked on the ground but not shown on the map. The sun was on the fells earlier but had now vanished. It felt quite cold as I set off so I kept my waterproof jacket on for awhile. By the time I’d climbed to Bergh Moss I’d warmed up and was walking up the pleasant track I’d walked down last week. At Far Bergh I passed through the gate and continued straight on. The valley below looked much closer than last week and I soon realised I should have climbed diagonally up to the left to reach a higher track. I didn’t mind because the path ahead was good, but soon petered out. I was quite close to Foxup Beck so decided to descend to it and have a look. After that I returned up the hill and continued higher to join the track I should have been on.

I was now on Horton Moor and had an unusual view of Pen-y-Ghent which was up to my left. I arrived at a junction in the path and turned right towards Hull Pot Beck and Todber Moss. The path was surprisingly stony but soon I arrived at the beck where the map shows stepping stones, but there were none. Fortunately the level was low and I was able to hop over random stones and keep my feet dry.

Unusual view of Pen-y-Ghent.

Stone pillar.

The main path continued but I followed a minor and very indistinct track on the right which followed the river bank for while. I was heading for the distant pillar on Cosh Inside in the distance. It seems odd that a fairly obvious high spot doesn’t seem to have a name. There was no definite path to follow so I had to rely on the reliable sheep tracks. I reached the clear spring of Cosh Knott Well and walked up to the stone pillar that is a prominent feature that can been seen from all around. It’s easy to mistake it for the trig point, but that is on the opposite side of the wall and less visible. I don’t know why the pillar is here as there is no marker plate and it is not even marked on the map. It was quite windy on the top so I found some shelter behind the wall to have my sandwiches. I had a nice view of Pen-y-Ghent with Pendle Hill in the distance.

I then set of for the trig point started to descend SE towards Cosh Beck. I reached a gate by a small tree plantation and headed off to the head of the beck to investigate some intriguing cave names that were shown on the map. Windtunnel cave was one but it looked small and very uninspiring. There was an old track to follow and it took me down to the beck and on to Cosh Farm. The buildings were quite remote and in the process of being renovated. There was no-one about and it looked like it is only occupied at week ends. There is a 2 mile farm track back to Foxup but I wanted to follow the footpath, which descended steeply down to the beck and crossed to a steep path up on the other side. I had now reached Harrop and a nice path following the contour by Harrop Barns. One barn had been extensively renovated but both access doors wouldn’t open so I don’t know what was inside. I arrived at the hamlet of Foxup and as I walked past the first building noticed a chimney sweep on the roof. He was the first I had seen in years. A short way down the track I reached my car.

Cosh House Farm.