Tarn Crag [Longsleddale]

A pillar of stone and concrete stands near the top of Tarn Crag, split at the top to give a sight line. It is one of four built in the 1930s to survey the line of the Haweswater aqueduct, which runs in a tunnel about 400 metres below the summit. Building it took 250 tons of gelignite, and the spoil still lies below Great Howe in Longsleddale.

Sadgill, at the end of the Longsleddale road, is the usual start. There is room for about six cars on the east side of the bridge. From there you can climb steeply up the crags by Great Howe, where there is another survey pillar, and on to Grey Crag, then cross the boggy col by Greycrag Tarn to Tarn Crag. Come back down to the Mosedale path and follow the old Gatesgarth Pass track down Longsleddale to Sadgill. The whole round is about 11 km. There are longer ways in from Swindale or Shap, over Brunt Tongue.

Above the crags it is moorland of coarse grass and heather. Paths across it are faint and easy to lose, and the ground is very boggy after rain. A fence crosses just east of the summit, linking Selside Pike, Grey Crag and Harrop Pike, and makes a useful handrail in mist. There is no scrambling on the usual routes.

The grassy summit doesn't show you many fells, but the view is wide, from Morecambe Bay to the Pennines, with a piece of Windermere to the south west. Greycrag Tarn, on the col to the south, is now little more than a few pools on the bed of an old tarn.