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Name:Loch Fell
Hill number:1869
Height:688.3m / 2258ft
Parent (Ma):1865  Ettrick Pen
RHB Section:28B: The River Tweed to the English Border
Donald area:Ettrick Hills
County/UA:Dumfries and Galloway
Catchment:Annan, Catchment Boundaries, Esk (Gretna)
Class:Hump, Simm, Donald, Graham Top, Yeaman
(Hu,Tu,Sim,D,GT,DN,Y)
Grid ref:NT 17037 04730
Summit feature:no feature: ground N of fence and 22m NE of trig point
Drop:126.3m
Col:562m  NT 1735 0589  
OS map sheet(s):(1:50k) 79
(1:25k) 330
Observations:summit 30-40cm higher than base of trig point
Survey:Abney level/Leica RX1250
Change log:show changes for this hill entry
GPS data:show GPS entries for this hill

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N.B. Some hill summits are on private property or on land where there is no public right of way.  Permission should be sought from the landowner where access to a hill summit is through private land(*).
*For information about access rights in Scotland see the ScotWays website.
Please report via the contact page any logs you see below which describe or encourage acts of trespass.  Please quote the hill number and hill name.

Logged Descriptions  (logged by 313 users, only the latest 50 shown - Show all)ByDate of Ascent
Croft Head, Loch Fell, Wind Fell, Hopetoun Craig, Ettrick Pen, Bodesbeck Law, White Shank, Smidhope Hill and Capel Fell from Selcothhummusg19/02/2024
returning to ettrick head after Scawd fell, clear felling to east of Scawd fell needs to be avoided.BLACKHILL07/11/2023
From Wind Fell on route to West Knowe. Startled a fox which took off across the hillside ahead of me. Never seen one that high up on the hills before. 4th in clockwise circuit of the Ettrick Hills.Jossker16/10/2023
Selcoth (parked with permission by water tank before road turns right to fishery) - Croft Head, West Knowe, Loch Fell, Lamblair Knowe, Wind Fell, Capel Fell, Sailfoot Law & Broken Back.sclater11/08/2023
Parked at the end of the long lane from Ettrick. Quick inspection of the bothy and then the climb up Ettrick Pen, the 2 easy hits of Hopetoun Craig and Wind Fell. Up to Loch Fell and West Knowe. A steep descent down to the sheep pen and then along the SUW to cross the stream and then Capel Fell, Smidhope Hill, White Shank and back down to the car.tsharp20/07/2023
Cycled along SUW to NW of West Knowe then up fence line to both hills. Last 'proper' Donald though still a few new ones to go.daviemore23/04/2023
Bus to Nether Cassock then out tracks to quarry at NT 203060 where an unmarked track leads to open hill and atv to Ettrick Pen. Along ridge over Hopetoun Craig and Wind Fell then on to West Knowe and Loch Fell. Return to Samye-Ling for bus via tracks passing Kiddamhill.SS19/04/2023
Sailfoot - Capel Fell - White Shank - Potburn - Ettrick Pen - Loch Fell - Croft Head - Sailfootdavidpettit8407/04/2023
With GN after West Knowe then onto Capel Felltrimarc227/02/2023
Losing the views again now after heading over from Ettrick Pen and the wind and rain started to come in, but it wasn't quite so uncomfortable as it might have been.Alex C29/10/2022
From Wind Fell to West Knowe.Minto29/10/2022
With L & RJanet M19/09/2022
A very long walk in along the Romans and Reivers route from the W.49pp05/09/2022
Parked at end of public road near Potburn for the Ettrick Horseshoe. Counter clockwise taking in White Shank, Smidhope Hill and Capel Fell. I wasn't looking forward to the outlier of Croft Head, but the ascent up West Knowe, was worse, as there is decent zig zag path up Cat Shoulder. From it was easy over Loch Fell, Wind Fell then Hopetoun Craig and one final pull up Ettrick Pen. Which had the first proper summit feature of the whole day, a large cairn. Dropped down to the NW to pick up the forestry track, then past Over Phawhope bothy and back to the car 8hrs after setting off.chillyman831/07/2022
Started from the turning circle at the end of the minor road leading to the head of the Ettrick valley and followed the SMC route taking in the summits of Ettrick Pen, Hopetoun Craig, Wind fell, Loch fell, West Knowe, Croft head, Capel fell, Smidhope hill and White shank. A tough and long walk taking seven and half hours for the Twelve and half mile with 4000ft of ascent. Route finding was generally easy following fencing but a brutal descent of West Knowe is needed to reach the valley floor.WAYNE ROWLETT01/05/2022
Set off from Selcoth following tracks initially then straight up to Capel Fell. Then followed tracks to Wind Fell, Loch Fell, West Knowe and Croft Head before heading back to Selcoth.jigglybones16/10/2021
Narrow layby 100m SW of track to Selcoth Farm. Tough country for old men – starts easy, gets mean. PF now starts up true R bank of Selcoth Burn (SRoWS sign) on a wide vehicle track. At a sheepfold before Bill Cleuch, SRoWS sign points to cross the burn (big cairn, no path, ford) to join the old path, which is rough and deteriorates – many a chance for a trip or slip. Joins SUW, which is not much better. After an arched wooden bridge an ATV track is intercepted, this eases the passage through tough tussock terrain to the top of Loch Fell. Fair FP on SW side of fence to West Knowe, followed by steep pathless tussocky descent NW to SUW and returnIsbjorn14/10/2021
From Selcoth along the track by the Steinstane Burn to Croft Head, then down the excellent high level SUW zigzags over Cat Shoulder. A superb view of waterfalls on the Selcoth Burn and heather in flower as compensation for the subsequent merciless ascent of West Knowe, which now sports a tiny cairn made from small pices of broken fence post. Easy walking to Loch Fell and Wind Fell, revisiting the old fence post summit out of nostalgia and the new summit 50 yards across the bog out of penance for walking past it unawares in 2019. Over the shoulder of Capel Fell and a tricky descending traverse by the fence above Bill Cleugh to Broken Back, descending the ridge to meet the Selcoth Burn track to Selcoth.Nick Down122/08/2021
Solo. from the end of the public road in Ettrick Dale. I walked along the Southern Upland Way past Over Phawhope Bothy to Ettrick Head. Where the path emerges from the forest I left SUW to go up the N ridge of Loch Fell to the summit. Found an ATV track going up the ridge and followed it a little way before leaving it to follow a fence going up the ridge. The latter was easier going than on the ATV track. Went NW alongside a fence to West Knowe. Went NE on rather tussocky land, dropped down to follow Little Black Grain and cross Black Grain to find something of a path that took me to SUW and so back to the car.pwbellarby23/07/2021
From turning circle at road before Potburn, walking on track past Potburn to Over Phawhope, then along tracks to E, becoming intermittent path, to summit of Ettrick Pen, continuing over summits Hopetoun Craig, Wind Fell, Loch Fell, West Knowe, then steep pathless descent to sheepfold on col to NW, climb up good zig-zag path to Croft Head, return to sheepfold, NE along Southern Upland Way to the col at Ettrick Head, then NW along fence line to Capel Fell, continuing by fence and wall to Smidhope Hill and White Shank, descending through rough grassland around edge of forestry to Potburn and back to turning circlekdbennett15/07/2021
Bagged while doing 19 mile day-three of Romans and Reivers long distance walk. Started the day at Eskdalemuir, finished at Moffat. Would highly recommend this walk. Tackled the summit from track south of trig. Easy stroll across to West Knowe after. Amazing views. Perfect weather. Wouldn’t fancy the steep climb up from Garrowgill - bad enough going down!Toby-and-Dion18/06/2021
From end of public road at Potburn (NT 1893 0928). Took the track running N of Potburn toward Fauldside Hill, bypassing it for White Shank, then Smidhope Hill -> Capel Fell -> Sailfoot Law -> Broken Back -> Croft Head -> West Knowe. Then across to here, last of 8 hills for the day. Dropped down to Windfell Nick then picked up SUW for return to Potburn; 17.4km 1090m ascentjonglew09/04/2021
 yorkielad19/09/2020
4th in a clockwise walk from Wind Fell. Short walk to West Knowe from this top. Solo.bolton20/08/2020
From Wamphray church up road and forest tracks to above Garrogill then to Ewelairs Hill in fairly tough going. Headed up Cowan Fell to Loch Fell then over to West Knowe. Back to col then cut across to Cowan Fell and back to forest track and the long walk back.SS11/07/2020
Parked at road end and set off at 06:15 by moonlight with a temperature of-4C. Ettrick Pen (beautiful sunrise), Hopetoun Craig, Wind Fell, West Knowe, Loch Fell, Scaw'd Fell, Gateshaw Rig, Croft Head (met a badger), Capel Fell, Smidhope Hill, White Shank. Returned at 14:45.PGCE19/11/2019
From Selcoth- signposted RoW, exciting path high up in super valley scenery. When we got to the SUW we went up it until it levels out then steeply up via West Knowe to Loch Fell. With Pete, fine day warm getting hazy.pwheeler20/09/2019
Deserted on sunny bank holiday Monday. Up from Selcoth, to pick upWest Knowe and Loch Fell. Back over Croft Head. With B and R.jenx26/08/2019
White Shank, Smidhope Hill, Capel Fell, Loch Fell (camped overnight by summit), West Knowe, Broken Back, circuit from Bodesbeck.RobertP29/06/2019
From Lamblair Knowe. Reached the summit in almost darkness, the full red moon turning to yellow as it rose above the haze. Headed for West Knowe and decided to call it a day and sleep under the stars at the col.Wycombe Wanderer19/04/2019
CK SheilaS30/12/2018
Parked at end of public road at 18909 & up Ettrick Pen, Hopetoun Craig & Wind Fell. From Wind Fell, path/ATV track down to Windfell Nick - Steep climb out of col & then faint ATV track over good terrain to the trig point. Continued to West Knowe, Capel Fell, Smidhope Hill & White Shank. (S)gerrybowes21/07/2018
Using track from SelcothAndrewFinnimore23/05/2018
Solo; P nr Potburn, walked past Over Phawhope along SUW to Ettrick Head then rising traverse to col between Wind and Loch Fells and S up ridge to trig pillar of Loch Fell. Continued to West Knowe. Rained from P, becoming heavier as height gained; blowing strongly from W. First visit was solo on 10/10/2015.jacobus14/10/2017
Second of the day. Had a wee rest after a very steep ascent. Great views.Play2End06/10/2017
Followed fence in thick cloud up long grassy ridge to trig. With Eire, Evan, Sail, Danu, Coel & Alfie.Dangerous Dave29/07/2017
Easy, from Wind Fell on round of four Marilyns.Owen B14/04/2017
Weather fair.MountainMac02/04/2017
Who can resist bagging 3 Grahams in a day? From the Ettrick valley road end, over Ettrick Pen, Croft Head and Capel Fell, with numerous intervening tops. Very easy and fast walking on good paths, except for the steep descent from West Knowe. Great views of the Moffat hills throughout.Gill02/12/2016
13 mile circular from end of Ettrick Valley road, past Bothy followed signs to Ettrick Pen, up long ascent to top of Ettrick Pen (One of the best views in the area), along ridge West to Hopetoun Craig and boggy topped Wind Fell, changed direction heading for Loch Fell then West Knowe, then very steep descent down to foot of Croft Head, up and down great zigzag path to Croft Head top, then up Southern Uplands way to col, up to Capel Fell, then followed ridge over Smidhope Hill and White Shank, decided to leave Bodesbeck Law for another time, followed tracks back to end of road in Valley, Perfect Weather, terrain very good makes for comfy walking, saw one person all day.DanTrig15/05/2016
Sandwich time at 9.00 a.m. Walked for 2 hours, very peaceful up here. Minor track to follow with fence for company. Good views from here. Company: Soloiandesbottes25/03/2016
Solo; continuation of walk over Wind Fell down to WF Nick and up N ridge of LF. Turned NW to go to West Knowe. Good weather continued.trienbrae10/10/2015
Moffat-Oakrigg-Yadburgh Hill-Scaw'd Fell-Ewelairs Hill-Loch Fell-West Knowe-Wind Fell-Hopetoun Craig-Ettrick Pen-Over Phawhopecampagvelocet11/08/2015
Revisit from Selcoth en route to a few 5Ds & minor tops.agentmancuso02/07/2015
Croft Head, West Knowe, Loch Fell, Wind Fell and Capel Fell from Selcoth fish farm car park. 10 miles, 3730ft ascent. Good walk - ground largely frozen 2-3 inches fresh snow on highest parts.Crib Goch21/02/2015
With Jon, EUHWC Burns' Weekend, Moffat.Grinner17/01/2015
A round of 5 Donalds from Selcoth. With Gavin.MorecambeMonkey15/11/2014
With Ettrick Pennickywood109/11/2014
selfdavidsbatty19/04/2014
Part of a round of 15 tops from Phawhope Bothy - Ettrick Pen to Herman Law with diversions. Miserable weatherdickscroop05/04/2014