Yorkshire Dales Walks
Lovely Seat & Muker Common
Date: 15th January 2005
Distance: 4.6 miles
Ascent: 888 feet
Time: 2 hours 45 mins
With: Matt
Start Grid Ref: SD874961
Walk Summary:
A short there and back walk, starting from the Buttertubs, to the top of Lovely Seat and the lesser summit of Muker Common.
Route Summary: Buttertubs - Lovely Seat - Muker Common - Lovely Seat - Buttertubs
Pictures:
1. The view north from Buttertubs Pass
2. By the small stone marking the top of Muker Common
3. There was a lot of wet squelchy peat to cross
4. Matt crossing some more peat
5. Matt on the summit of Lovely Seat
6. The Buttertubs
7. Another picture of the Buttertubs
Walk Detail: This was a short walk whose only purpose was to bag the lesser top of Muker Common, a top that doesn't even qualify as a Nuttall due to the lack of re-ascent from Lovely Seat. The weather was overcast when we parked just next to the Buttertubs and we had barely set off when a hugh cloudbank blew in covering the fellside.
From the head of the Buttertubs pass it is a straightforward walk to the top of Lovely Seat. As we could not see anything from the summit of the lattter we decided to push on to Muker Common in the hope the cloud would blow over. Unfortunately it didn’t and in fact it got steadily worse, the quality of ground underfoot also deteriorated as we crossed Coghill Head Hags. Eventually we struggled to the southern of Muker Common’s two supposed tops and were surprised but pleased to find someone had actually marked the summit with possibly the smallest pile of stones we’d yet come across.
The northerly of the two tops was a little disappointing because we could not find another summit marker. Both tops should have provided good views to the north and east although with the low cloud we could have been anywhere.
We literally followed our footsteps back through the oozy peat towards Lovely Seat where we sat huddled behind the seat itself to eat our lunch. The walk back down was fairly easy but by this time the cloud had covered the road itself and we had to be very careful walking back toward the car.
Following an investigation of the impressive Buttertubs we were ready to go when we were halted by some bizarre noises coming from the fell across the valley. Sometimes it sounded like someone shouting for help and other times it sounded completely un-human, quite possibly some sort of bird. We were there a good ten minutes or so unsure what it was and what to do. We tried calling but whatever it was did not seem to respond, the whole thing was quite spooky.
Eventually we decided it could not be human but I was uneasy and asked if we could stop at the cattle grid a bit further up the road to see if we could here anything from there. We could not but luckily a ranger, who had passed us in his jeep a couple of times, was parked there and so we reported what we had heard. As we set off home we both still had that haunting sound echoing in our minds.
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