Longsleddale Horseshoe - Picture Gallery

It is dry and bright again today as I visit a corner of the Lake District that I have not been to for quite a while. Just north of Kendal the A591 dual carriageway becomes a single carriageway at a large roundabout, almost immediately is the turning on the right for Burneside. From the centre of the village you take the small road signposted to Longsleddale, there is a five mile drive along a delightful single track road until the tarmac ends at Sadgill.

Wainwright's hand drawn map is stunningly accurate, after 47 years nothing has changed. Go through the gate opposite the bridge and climb steeply up the fell until a wall containing what he describes as a hurdle has to be stepped over. You then climb steeply upwards, following a path through the dying bracken until reaching the “easy gully”. The sun was shining and and although the air was cold I felt warm and glad to be here, Kentmere Pike across the valley doesn't bear any resemblance to the dull flat ridge that I associate with it.

So far so good, I then got to the second wall and should have looked at Wainwright's map again which shows the path following the wall to the right and then heading up to the survey post on Great Howe. The path looked to be going downwards so I climbed the wall and a made a more direct climb up to Great Howe and I didn't see the survey post. It wasn't that steep but the long rough grass always adds a few degrees to the gradient. There either isn't a footpath or I have missed it so I made beeline for the highest point that I could see, at least the mist has cleared from the tops now. Walking over grass, stepping over a fence and then more grass until I reached the obvious summit of Grey Crag.

The summit gave me a feeling of splendid isolation, the only sign of life being the smoke plumes from the cement factory in Shap. I walked over grass, some of it wet and spongy as I sank almost upto my ankles, and through peat hags until I reached the impressive cairn on Harrop Pike. Many cairns bear no resemblance to the ones that Wainwright drew but this one doesn't seem to have changed at all, probably because very few people visit it.

I crossed the fence here and retraced my steps for a way, although I wished I had stayed on the other side of the fence, the sponge effect was even greater on this side. When the fence turned right towards Tarn Crag I crossed it and followed it downwards past Greycrag Tarn. The ground here was even wetter, I was hopping along boulders bearing the stump of an old iron fence and hanging onto the new wire fence.

I can't say that I saw anything I could describe as Greycrag Tarn but I don't think I would like to wade this way after wet weather. Still following the fence the ground became dryer as I climbed easily upwards to Tarn Crag, there is an obvious enough path that takes you to the summit where the cairn is dwarfed by a survey post. Head north in the direction of Branstree and you rejoin the path at the side of the fence.

It is easy walking or a tedious plod depending on your point of view down to the wet area of Brownhowe Bottom. I had to leap from one grassy bank to another to avoid the deep peaty hollows, there isn't any real diversion you can take to avoid the wetness. Remembering how wet it was climbing by the fence up towards Branstree I followed a path to the right for a while before starting to climb. I did avoid wet ground although I'm not sure it was worth the effort and eventually rejoined the path by the side of the wall that takes you all of the way to Branstree summit.

This could be described as a tedious plod but there isn't much else you can do with Branstree which is just a big green mound. Eventually the wall meets a fence, another one that has to be stepped over, it's a good job I wore my long legs today. A few yards after the fence is a small cairn and what looks like the foundations of some sort of marker post, maybe an old ordnance survey column. It is worth the effort to follow the faint path for an easy walk to visit the to impressive cairn on Artlecrag Pike with its views. Except that it started raining, well sleet really, wet enough to put the camera away for the time being.

Walked back to the summit of Branstree and another easy walk alongside the fence to Gatescarth Pass. Then followed the new style reconstructed path up to Harter Fell. What looks like a gravel path might be quicker to make with a mechanical digger but isn't as aesthetically pleasing as the manually constructed pitched paths. The saving grace of this path was that it stopped raining and there was a colourful view of Haweswater in its autumn clothing.

The summit cairn with it's decoration of old iron fence posts is curious and the only point of interest on Harter Fell. Not only that but the mist came down as well so it was cold and damp as well as boring. By the time I reached the cairn at the top of the Nan Bield Pass footpath the mist had cleared to show the Ill Bell ridge and the way ahead to Kentmere Pike.

Just follow the fence and avoid the worst of the wet ground to the summit of Kentmere Pike where the exciting thing to do is to cross the wall to be by the side of the Ordnance Survey column. Cross over the wall again and continue to follow the fence, ignore the more obvious path and you get to Goat Scar. There is yet another fence to step over to get to the cairn for the view all along green Longsleddale and up to a dark grey Gatescarth Pass.

Back to the fence and follow it until you join the main path at a wall stile where you continue to the summit of Shipman Knotts where the wall is higher than the cairn. At least the walking is a bit more varied, following the wall steeply over grass and a surprising rock outcrop that needs a bit of concentration.

Finally down a track you turn left for Longsleddale, last time I was able to follow the track all the way to Sadgill but a waymarked route now takes a roundabout route to the road and you have a half mile walk along tarmac back to the car.

Andy Wallace 1st November 2003