An Ullscarf circular, from Dob Gill

By mentioning Ullscarf in a previous blog post, I realised it had probably been over twelve months since I last walked the Central Fell of Ullscarf. I decided to start from Dob Gill picking off a previously un-ascended Birkett top of Brown Rigg and since it had been even longer since I had last visited Harrop Tarn I planned to descend over Castle & Nab Crags with a small detour to include the tarn. With a predicted cloud-base of 200m, a 30% chance of clear summits & the fact everything was well & truly in cloud when I set off, to say I wasn't expecting much was an understatement.

A short distant down the road a gate takes you onto the open fell between the trees...

I can remember seeing this metal structure pictured many years ago in the Cumbria magazine, where a reader asked what it was. Its not unlike the metal guards that are placed around young saplings to protect them from livestock (& deer). AW notes there was once a rain gauge around here, maybe it was to protect that from grazing animals?