Start point: Moorahill Farm (NY 494 182)
Moorahill Farm – Low Kop (516) – High Kop – Red Crag (517) – Wether Hill – Loadpot Hill – Hart Hill – The Pen – Moorahill Farm
Distance: 8.5 miles Total Ascent: 513 metres Time Taken: 3 hours
Weather: Cloudy with drizzle. 7oC.
It was up into the clouds this morning with accompanying drizzle and a biting wind. There were no views of anything today (so not many photos) but the going was easy and I managed to complete this one in super quick time. I’m not sure there would be a lot going for this walk in good weather as the area is quite bleak, although the views from High Street Roman Road are usually pretty good.
![27.09.07-005 27.09.07-005](https://www.stridingedge.net/wp-content/gallery/2007-09-27-cawdale-circuit/cache/27.09.07-005.jpg-nggid0513033-ngg0dyn-0x0x85-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg)
Cawdale looking a bit dull in early morning light with Low Kop and High Kop up on the ridge. The clouds look ominously low on Wether Hill at the head of the valley.
![27.09.07-007 27.09.07-007](https://www.stridingedge.net/wp-content/gallery/2007-09-27-cawdale-circuit/cache/27.09.07-007.jpg-nggid0513032-ngg0dyn-0x0x85-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg)
Crossing Cawdale Beck on the old stone footbridge. Annoyingly, the bridge is not on the footpath so I had to follow the beck to find it. I was quickly into the murk and drizzle climbing The Hause up to Low Kop. Low Kop was totally unremarkable and I could not find any sort of marker although I wandered around in the mist for a while. I always took 'Kop' to be of South African derivation, being the word for a hill in Afrikaan (and used at many football stadiums as a name for the home terraces). Could Low Kop and High Kop be named by soldiers returning from The Boer War at the turn of the 20th century?
![27.09.07-014 27.09.07-014](https://www.stridingedge.net/wp-content/gallery/2007-09-27-cawdale-circuit/cache/27.09.07-014.jpg-nggid0513031-ngg0dyn-0x0x85-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg)
The summit of Red Crag was also unmarked so Casper will have to do instead. Oddly there is a large cairn to the north of the highest point.