The Calf & Cautley Spout

Yesterday (Friday 22nd) was my last day of school. While I was at school I thought that it would be good to make the most of spare time I had. When I got home I started thinking about doing a walk. My first thought was High Cup Nick in the Pennines, but I've been up there quite a few times recently so decided to go somewhere new. The Howgills are a big gathering of fells sitting between the Yorkshire Dales and The Lake District. There are many appealing things about the Howgills. For me it is the peaceful nature of them often complimented by the lack of visitors.

I set of from Teasdale at 3:40pm. The first part of the walk I had done twice before, over Hooksey to Randy Gill Top. My Mum had printed off a load of different routes to do in the Howgills from the internet and a few months ago I managed to persuade her to do that one with me. She was very glad she came in the end and for the past 3 months has been saying she'll go on another walk with me sometime.

When I got to Randy Gill Top I headed down west to the river that had a path alongside it leading up to the Calf, the highest of the Howgills. In the distance I could see the silhouette of another evening rambler making his way up to the summit.  I got to the Calf at 5:40 and couldn't resist the childish temptation to stand on the Trig Point. I could look one direction and see the mighty bulk of the the Lake District Mountains and then the other way to see what looked like Pennygent in the Yorkshire Dales. The motorway that I had admired the Howgills from when I was little, I was now looking at from the Howgills some years later. I had a certain feeling of magic when I thought back to just a few hours ago, being stuck in school with the frustration of the classroom, the teachers and the kids. Now I was up here with a free, clear head looking down at civilisation with little to envy.  There was no place I could have picked better to celebrate the end of a school year and the begging of the fantastic summer holiday which lies ahead of me. I descended along Cautley Spout England's largest waterfall, it was fantastic to finally meet it! When getting to the bottom I realised the time and ran the last kilometre, when I got back home we all went out for a meal to celebrate Mum's birthday.