Garburn Pass to Kirkstone Road - Photo Gallery

It was going to be a misty, drizzly day and by the time I got to Troutbeck there was no sign of any break in the damp conditions. I left the car in the little parking area near Church Bridge, I manoeuvred between the debris of broken and sawn branches left over from the storms of last month. I walked to the main road and turned right and within 100 metres I crossed the road and walked up a stony track, the start of the Garburn Road.

There was evidence of fallen and broken trees all around and one tree had snapped near its base and still lay bridging the broad track. The Garburn Road is still used by tractors and is supposed to be able to take other off road vehicles and motor bikes but it is becoming so eroded now that you would need very big wheels to get over some of the holes and gaps. After the initial climb the track follows the contours and runs parallel to the road running through Troutbeck village on the other side of the valley.

As you reach a mature conifer plantation there is a ladder stile that gets you over the wall and into a field, walk upwards across the muddy field and you come to another wall. Climb the stile over the wall to get onto Dubbs Road, cross the road and go over yet another ladder stile to get to the start of the path to Sour Howes. Follow a faint path of flattened grass up the hill, there are a couple of slight variations but they all bring you to the start of a green ridge.

You can follow the path but it is better to walk along the crest of the ridge, a much more interesting ascent than most of the big green lumps that make up the lower fells. I was still below the cloud base and it was still possible to see Troutbeck and even Windermere. This little green ridge has some interesting rock outcrops but suddenly you reach the summit of Sour Howes with its delicate little cairn. From that point onwards the landscape is just plain green and brown, a lumpy anonymous plateau, with the mist coming in the extensive old stone walls were a welcome navigational aid.

I carried on across the summit in the same direction until I came to a wall and followed a faint path for a while. I felt that I was going in the wrong direction and a quick look at map and compass confirmed that I was exactly wrong, I should have been following the wall northwards. A brief break in the mist showed that the wall curved round all of the way round to Sallows. To be fair the mist did clear a little bit and I found the stile that let me cross the wall and make my way over wet ground to the summit mound of Sallows.

The summit mound must be a natural formation but it really looks like a barrow, very reminiscent of a boat shaped burial mound but I think the ancients would have found this place to be too uninteresting. The direct route to Garburn Pass is blocked by a barbed wire fence running across a swamp (as I recall) so I retraced my steps back to the wall to try and find a less risky route. I decided to get to the other side of the wall not go down the hill to rejoin the Garburn Road but to follow a faint path following the contours so as not to lose any height.

Eventually I got to a fence topped with barbed wire so I had to lose the height anyway, as I got to the track the way was blocked by a fence with a double topping of barbed wire. I climbed through a hole under the barbed wire in an adjacent fence into a conifer plantation and tried to find a weakness in the fence. The fence was sound and I almost had to find another way round but the fence maker had obviously omitted one of the barbed wire strands in a small section of fence so I was able to carefully stretch my long legs over it.

It was easy to step over a gap in the wall to get back on to the Garburn Road, almost immediately you go through a gate and almost immediately afterwards there is a stile in the wall. If I had stayed on the inside of the wall after leaving the summit of Sallows I wouldn't have had to struggle with the fence. Shortly after that you reach Garburn Pass, the track goes on its way towards Kentmere and a cairn marks the start of the ascent to Yoke.

There is a path of sorts leading to Yoke but the ground is so wet and it has been eroded down to mud in several places. After the initial wetness you will see a marker post that takes you around the side of an outcrop and the ground for a while is fairly dry. Soon though you get to a very flat area, the ground is saturated and you just have to make your way as best you can across it until your reach another wall. Follow the wall uphill, the path as such is very wet and muddy but as you gain height the ground is drier.

Eventually you will have to cross the wall by a ladder stile, once over the wall there is a much better path, recently reconstructed, that takes you to the viewpoint cairn on the southern end of Yoke's summit plateau. There would be a view of Windermere if the mist hadn't completely closed in, some of the rain seems to contain flecks of snow too. It is an easy walk to the summit, a cairn sits on a rock outcrop with no doubts about the highest point of this hill.

The walking now is on the flat along the length of Yoke, the steep drop on the right towards Kentmere in contrast to the easy gradient of the path. I can't say I noticed much of a descent from Yoke before starting the climb upwards towards Ill Bell. As the first of its substantial cairns came into view the ground had a covering of snow and the drizzle had turned to snow. The descent from Ill Bell is steeper than you would expect given the ease of the ascent, you do seem to lose a lot of height before starting to climb again to Froswick.

Froswick isn't much lower than Ill Bell but it has a much less impressive summit, although the descent is very similar, the snow at this stage had become quite heavy. It then looks a long trudge upwards, I was beginning to think about Threshthwaite Mouth and the last time I descended it in snow, an experience that was a bit more exhilarating than usual. By the the time I reached the enormous cairn at the summit of Thornthwaite Crag there was a good half inch deep covering of snow on the ground.

The descent to Threshthwaite Mouth is steep and close to the edge but fresh snow isn't usually too slippery and it was much less traumatic that the foot deep snow I encountered here once. There was no snow on the ground by the time I got to the bottom so I decided it would probably be safe to make the climb to Stony Cove Pike. The climb is through and occasionally over boulders, if you lose the path there is a wall going straight upwards to guide you.

The wall goes upwards in a straight line and where it is built on boulders it makes a good target to aim for, very reassuring in the mist when you lose the path. Eventually I got to the top of Stony Cove Pike, the visibility was worse than ever and the snow had covered over the path towards Caudale Moor. Fortunately two other walkers passed me coming in the opposite direction and I was able to follow their footsteps although I could have followed the wall to get to the summit.

I was glad I was familiar with the summit of Caudale Moor, heading west towards the wall you go through a gap in it and follow the adjacent wall still going westwards. The wall changes direction a couple of times and the ground close to it is very wet and muddy but keep following it. It seems to take a long time to get what looks a fairly short distance on the map and if it wasn't for the partially visible Red Screes I would be worrying that I was going in the wrong direction.

Eventually the snow stopped but the ground was as wet and muddy as ever, you have a short climb to reach a six feet wide cairn where the path starts to descend to Kirkstone Pass. At least I was sure of where I was but time was moving on and I was not going to finished my route as planned. By the time I got down to the Kirkstone Inn the sun was shining, the clouds of snow showers were still visible on the tops of the hills and also towards Brotherswater.

I had intended to try and find a way to climb Wansfell from the Kirkstone Road but it would have meant a descent in the dark so I decided to walk back along the road to Troutbeck. A seventy minute march along the road isn't my favourite way to end a walk but at least it was all downhill and I could keep up a good pace. From the road I could see the sun setting over Threshthwaite Mouth, it was clear there with both of the slopes covered by a wispy layer of mist.

It was just getting dark as I got back to the car, Wansfell would have been too far.

Andy Wallace 5th February 2005