Kentmere Horseshoe - Picture Gallery
It was already warm by the time I got to Staveley, what a pleasant drive it was along the green and pleasant valley road to Kentmere. The few parking spaces near the church were already occupied so I used the parking field a little way back down the lane.
I set off back up to the church and continued along the tarmac road past the church and ignoring the track signposted to Kentmere Hall. The road becomes a good track and begins to rise up towards Garburn Pass. I passed a gate that bore a BMC* notice that I didn't read and soon afterwards passed the large boulder on the other side of the wall bearing the signs of being used for climbing practise. I later read my Pictorial Guide to the Far Eastern Fells and Wainwright has written a paragraph about Badger Rock, it may well be the biggest boulder in Lakeland.
It became very warm on the long trudge up the track to Garburn Pass, stopping to look down the valley and to admire Kentmere Hall was a good excuse for a rest. At the top of the pass, just before you start to descend, is an untidy cairn that marks the start of the path on the right to take you up to Yoke. The first section of the path is usually extremely wet but today it is surprisingly dry (but still wet!) considering that it only stopped raining last weekend after several wet weeks.
There are actually a couple of paths and after a bit of wandering around, my usual navigational technique, I found one of them. The path was then obvious enough to follow up to a wall that has to be crossed by the stile that has been provided. The path on the other side of the wall is steeper and leads to a large cairn that marks the best viewpoint for Windermere. Unfortunately it is so humid and hazy that Windermere is barely distinguishable, the haze spoils the view almost as effectively as mist.
The even larger summit cairn is a short walk away, the view from the summit shows a clear path to Ill Bell, with two of it its cairns already visible. The climb up to Ill Bell was quite arduous, a relentless consistent gradient in warm, humid conditions with very little breeze. Wansfell and Red Screes were identifiable by their shape and location to the west, with it being so hazy it was difficult to identify the shapeless lumps of Harter Fell and Kentmere Pike to the east.
The summit of Ill Bell is a real mountain top, a large rocky top with three substantial cairns of different design, a tall slim one, a tall circular one and a large square shaped one with a pointed “roof”. Looking northwards from the summit you can see the clear path to Froswick and Threshthwaite Mouth in the distance with its supporters Caudale Moor and Thornthwaite Crag with its large beacon. Ill Bell has a symmetrical shape and it is a surprise that the descent feels so steep, it isn't difficult, just surprising.
As you start to climb Froswick and you look back at Ill Bell you see that it is indeed an impressive mountain and the steep descent you have just made suddenly makes sense. Froswick is almost a twin of Ill Bell, the shape, the feel and the consistent gradient up to the summit make you feel as though you have already climbed it. At the summit the similarity ends where a single cairn sits on a grassy top, the view now is the obvious path leading up towards Thornthwaite Crag.
Yet another consistent gradient takes you to the massive cairn at the summit of Thornthwaite Crag, I don't know if beacon as a name gives the right impression but it is between fifteen and twenty feet tall and five feet in diameter. The next objective is Mardale Ill Bell and for the first time today the path is not obvious at all. Walk along the popular path towards High Street and you come to a wall at right angles to the path. Turn right and follow the wall for twenty yards until it forms a corner with another wall coming down from High Street and continue to follow the line of the wall on a faint path that becomes increasingly obvious.
The biggest surprise of the day was the presence of a group of six wild ponies fifty yards away either side of the High Street wall.
Leaving the ponies behind the path continues easily to the start of the path down to Nan Bield Pass and at that point you have to be honest and turn left up the path to reach the summit of Mardale Ill Bell. The best views of the day and the largest numbers of walkers were here on this summit, it's a pity that the haze prevented me from getting any good photographs.
From Mardale Ill Bell the descent to Nan Bield Pass and the ascent of Harter Fell on the other side are unusually rugged for this part of the Lake District with Small Water being the centre of some excellent views. When you arrive at the summit plateau of Harter Fell the ruggedness of the ascent suddenly seems a long way away, all you can see is grass, broad and flat and green for a long way.
There is an easy descent from Harter Fell and ascent of Kentmere Pike, the ground was unusually dry but wide diversions to avoid some very wet places are still required. There is an unusual arrangement at Kentmere Pike summit, cairn on one side of the substantial wall and Ordnance Survey column on the other. The final bit of hard work is now required, having descended from Kentmere Pike the small summit of Shipman Knotts is there to prevent the walk from being too short.
All of the easy descents so far mean that there is still a long way downwards to get to the Kentmere to Longsleddale track, the descent from Shipman Knotts is surprisingly steep with exposed rock in places. Having got down to the track it is an easy walk back towards Kentmere although without looking at the map I managed to turn the wrong way once I reached the road. It felt as though I should turn right up Kentmere valley but I soon realised I didn't recognise the road. A quick look at the map told me I should have turned left along High Lane and part way down I took a signposted footpath over a field down to the delightful Low Lane still full of bluebells.
Finally back to the road leading directly to the car parking field.
Andy Wallace 31st May 2003
* British Mountaineering Council