Yockenthwaite Moor lies towards the eastern end of a wide peat hagged moor. The ‘Dales 30’ mountain can be approached from the north or the south. However the walking on the ridge is rarely pleasant although the climb from Raydale near Semer Water to the south improve the hike a considerably.
On my first climb of Yockenthwaite Moor was a cold frosty day, or so I thought. As a result I expected the land would be frozen and I would therefore not be troubled by the infamous peat hags of the area. Sadly I misjudged the weather (or the Met Office did), the cloud was down and moist enough to allow breaks on the largely frozen ground. The peat hags were so bad that at one stage I lost a boot in a bog (I thought it was frozen). I then spent ten minutes digging around the squelch until I was able to extract it from the peat. I do believe that these are the worst peat hags I have come across in England (with the exception of Mickle Fell) and as bad as some I have encountered on the Munros in Scotland.
Please do not tell me there are worse, there is no point and I will not visit them!
Enough moaning, on subsequent visits this is a thoroughly enjoyable walk. The route from the north (my chosen one and definitely the best) has the virtue of an excellent fence throughout. This removes most of the route finding difficulties. In addition it starts and finishing on good stretches of easy byways. Raydale with lovely Semer Water as a backdrop also succeeds in top and tailing the walk nicely.
The summit cairn does feel it is floating away on a sea of peat hags, whether it really is the highest point is anyone’s guess!
Yockenthwaite Moor is one of the Dales 30 Mountains
Definitely the Northern route is best for the reasons mentioned above. A direct assault from Yockenthwaite hamlet is quicker but lacking in any sort of pleasure.
Fences can be extremely useful for navigation. Even the broken rusted fence posts on the summit ridge of Yockenthwaite Moor are useful. Alternatively the walk would be a real compass challenge.
Finally ticked off this one today, following the suggested route which for 2/3s is good easy walking. The infamous peat hags I imagine would’ve been absolutely awful in winter but we managed to get away with it on the whole (despite it chucking it down on the way up), although it still definitely needs full boots. There’s a faint path if you hold the wall in the lead up to the trig.
It’s a seriously wild fell I have to say! But the cloud cleared and we got stunning 360 views at the top, and down over Semer water.
We went up today from Yockenthwaite as an out an outer. We were dreading this fell but a lot easier than we were expecting despite a very faint path……..pretty dry underfoot.The only downside was lots of sheep pretty much right up to the fencing around the tarns so couldn’t let the dog off with lambs around but fine after that.
Is Yockenthwaite Moor the same as Middle Tongue?
Yes it is, strictly speaking Middle Tongue is the broad ridge leading to the summit from the north
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