Howgill Fells, Yorkshire Dales National Park, England

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Info. Howgill Fells in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, England

The Howgill Fells are a group of hills between the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District in northern England. These ancient hills, formed more than 400 million years ago, have remained a largely settlement-free zone, uncrossed by roads and untouched by development. Trees are scarce on the high ground, where sheep and wild ponies graze and small streams tumble down dark, narrow ravines. Cautley Spout, said to be England's highest waterfall above ground with a height of nearly 200 metres, is located in the Howgill Fells. The hills’ appearance was perhaps best summed up by the famous British hillwalker and guide book author Alfred Wainwright as “sleek and smooth, looking from a distance like velvet curtains in sunlight, like silken drapes at sunset … a remarkable concentration of summits often likened to a huddle of squatting elephants”.