High Wether Howe

About High Wether Howe

Rising above the quiet solitude of Swindale, this broad moorland summit offers a rugged, pathless experience far from the Lake District crowds. It forms part of the peat-covered plateau between Mosedale and Wet Sleddale, providing a desolate beauty and expansive views toward the higher High Street range to the west.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is derived from the Old Norse 'veðr', meaning a castrated ram, and 'haugr', meaning a hill or mound, marking it historically as high-altitude grazing land for sheep.
• •Though a distinct summit, Alfred Wainwright included it as a subsidiary peak in his 'Seat Robert' chapter within The Outlying Fells of Lakeland, describing the surrounding terrain as a wilderness of peat hags and heather.
• •The ascent from Swindale often follows a section of the Old Corpse Road, a historic track once used by the residents of Mardale to transport their dead for burial at the church in Shap.
• •From the summit, the view west is dominated by the dark, massive bulk of Branstree and the High Street ridge, while looking east provides a clear perspective of the limestone landscapes of the Eden Valley and the distant North Pennines.
• •Despite being located near the aptly named Wet Sleddale, the ground here manages to be even more saturated than the name suggests; if your boots remain dry, you have likely lost your way.