Route: leaving the car in a large layby (space for 10+ cars) north of the village and running back, south past Brigsteer on the lower road but branching left on a footpath signed St John’s Church just beyond the village. Uphill across a couple of fields to turn right on a track and then, rather than branching diagnonally left off it across the large field to Helsington Church, staying on the track to climb more slowly and overshoot the church and then backtrack to it. Then turning right and following the angle of a sign but with no trace on the ground: instead, plunging through long and irritating grass to reach the Brigsteer Road near the normal Scout Scar parking spot but climbing a gate to enter the Scar, climb the Escarpment and head left, west to the Gate-in-the-Corner, Dave’s Cairn and the descent to Barrowfield Farm. Right, then left, to take a footpath descending through trees and across pastures eventually to strike a very quiet minor road. Left along this to reach the main Brigsteer-Underbarrow road and back to the start.
Conditions: cloudy but muggy.
Pub: The Rifleman’s, Greenside, for Greene King Abbot Ale (hurrah!).
