The Kentmere Horseshoe

Saturday 18th September 2004

After a week in 2004 spent walking up the hills of the Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines, on the final day of my holiday I moved west to sneakily tag onto this holiday a walk in the Lake District. I had stayed in the market town of Kendal just outside the Lake District and not far from the Howgill Fells where I had been walking the previous day and now delayed the start of this walk to go around the shops in Kendal. As far as I can recall I was looking for a hands-free set for my phone, but I could not find one due to the obscurity of my phone. Giving up I drove into the Lake District and up the Kent Valley to the tiny village of Kentmere where there is a little amount of parking near the church beside a telephone box, assuming the box is still there. Since everybody uses mobile phones these days telephone boxes have become redundant, but it was still there in 2004. Setting off along the road I slowly climbed the old Garburn Road to the top of the pass where I turned right and followed the wall north towards Yoke. There is a good, dry path a little way over the pass, which I assume was there in 2004, but I’m sure I took the boggy path beside the wall that doesn’t improve until steeper ground is reached below Yoke.

Northwards from the top of Yoke the walking is excellent striding out along a fabulous ridge with great views in the west down to Windermere and on the eastern flank over the crags that defend Yoke above Kentmere Reservoir. I returned to this area in 2006 in glorious weather and I took some amazing pictures of this ridge as it passes over Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick in rapid succession. Ahead of me was the high fells of Thornthwaite Crag and High Street, but in 2004 I was not interested in them having my eyes only on the fells that fringe the Kentmere valley so keeping to the top of the crags that head that valley I made my way all the way round to Mardale Ill Bell. I don’t have any memories of this fell in 2004 and though I returned on Christmas Eve 2014 it still hasn’t left any lasting memories. Any other time I have visited this part of the Lake District it has also been at winter and so has not produced great pictures. I did not take a camera with me on this holiday so I have been having difficulty finding adequate pictures to illustrate it. 2006 has provided me with excellent pictures for this walk of the western half of the Kentmere Horseshoe, but the eastern side has proven to be lacking.

Descending from Mardale Ill Bell I reached Nan Bield Pass whose abiding memory is of mist, such is the walks that I have done in this area. I did not have mist on this occasion and I was able to enjoy the walk up the craggy ridge to the ominous cairn that adorns the summit of Harter Fell, complete with fence posts that stick out in all directions. The character of the walk changes dramatically at this point as the dramatic steep crags of Lakeland begin to soften into the typically English boggy upland. The ridge south from Harter Fell is significantly broader than the Ill Bell ridge with wide marshy areas to negotiate. A relatively dreary time later after the top of Kentmere Pike has been passed the ridge begins to narrow and craggier ground is reached once more, around the top of Shipman Knotts. This is the only time I have ever walked over this fell and so I have no pictures of it or much of a memory of its characteristics. I do remember clambering beside the wall that follows the top of the ridge around some rocks as I slowly made my way down the ridge to the pass that goes from Stile End to Sadgill.

Rather than following the byway to Stile End I took the footpath that cuts the corner crossing the north-western slopes of Hollow Moor to reach Green Quarter above Kentmere. I remember descending the path on this walk in good weather at the end of a great day on the fells. I had great views up the valley that I had just walked around and I knew that this had been a great day. I made no notes on this walk at the time so it has lain unrecorded and almost forgotten all this time until I drenched it up from my memory of this holiday in 2004. I have been putting off describing this holiday because I had no pictures or notes from it, but now that I have been reminded of this excellent holiday I am keen to return to the places I had visited and reacquaint myself with these great hills. It is tragic that there are no youth hostels in this far south-eastern corner of the Lake District so the only time I have been able to walk them is when I’ve had a car, and that has often only been at Christmas when the weather has been poor. These fells deserve much more.

The Howgill Fells from Cross Keys

Friday 17th September 2004

Having spent the night at the Langdon Beck Youth Hostel I now had an hour’s drive to get to the start of my walk up the Howgill Fells from the small town of Sedburgh. After driving all that way I parked up in the car park in Sedburgh only to discover that my boots weren’t there and eventually realised that I had left them at the hostel. Therefore I had to drive an hour all the way back only to find no sign of life in the hostel which was locked when I got there. After wandering around the nearby town of Middleton-in-Teesdale for a while I returned to the hostel where I found the warden and was able to retrieve my boots. After another hour’s drive, during which I had to fill up with petrol because I’d used it all up, what was left of the morning was gone. Rather than going all the way back to Sedburgh I changed my planned walk, cutting it short, by starting from the Cross Keys Temperance Inn. After all this running around I didn’t start walking until after lunch and I believe the time was about one o’clock in the afternoon, but despite the short time available I was in the prime spot to enjoy the best that this fabulous range of distinctive hills has to offer.

The Howgill Fells sit between the Lake District fells and the Yorkshire Dales, though they lie in the latter national park, but have little similarity to either area. I often imagine that they have taken a little from both areas and combined them to make an appealing and attractive range of hills unique in character. The Howgill Fells radiate from a central hub on smooth, grass-covered ridges that fall remarkably steeply into deeply cut valleys that delve far into the range. My target was all the tops that rise above two thousand feet and to begin this task I had to undertake an unrelenting climb up Ben End climbing from the River Rawthey all the way up to the southern top of Yarlside. Exhausted I eventually reached the top of the pathless slope and turned north to walk the relatively easy distance to the summit of Yarlside overlooking the northern half of the Howgill Fells.

There is a further top north of Yarlside, Randygill Top, that I technically should have bagged, but since it would have involved two descents and ascents passing over Kensgriff, just to get there, and repeated to return I gave it a miss and turned my attention towards the centre of the Howgill Fells. Descending steeply to Bowderdale Head I climbed the grassy slopes on the far side eventually reaching the flatter ground where I could finally breathe a sigh of relief with all the steep climbing completed. The sun was shining overhead as I walked across the broad top of the Calf to reach the highest point in the whole range and the trig point that sits at the summit. From there I headed west towards the distant Lakeland Fells on the horizon stopping off at White Fell Head and Bush Howe on the gently undulating ridge. The greatest hill walking is ridge walking and this was hill walking at its greatest on fabulous hills in fabulous weather and with an awesome view towards the Lake District before me.

A small descent across Windscarth Wyke and another short ascent took me up to Breaks Head where the ridge begins to narrow pleasingly until it finally ends on an airy perch overlooking the Lune Valley and the Lakeland mountains beyond. This was a fabulous moment and I wish that I had brought a camera with me on this walk to capture that tremendous scene, but in their absence I have had to be content with illustrating with post with pictures from my walk up the Howgill Fells in 2010. Back in 2004, I retraced my steps along the ridge back to the Calf where I turned south to traverse the broad tops to reach first Bram Rigg Top and then Calders where I turned left to head across the featureless plateau of Great Dummacks until I reached the cliff edge of Cautley Crag. This is the only extensive crag in the whole range and stretches for almost a mile. I was at the southern end so I turned north and walked along the edge of the escarpment gradually descending to reach a stream at the point where it falls over the edge to create one of the highest waterfalls in Britain: Cautley Spout.

Descending very steeply I carefully made my way down beside the waterfall until the terrain finally eased and I was able to walk down the valley and back to my car. Although this walk was shorter than I’d originally planned it was still very memorable and awoke a love in me for the Howgill Fells. These are supreme walking territory and I would love to be able to return to these fabulous hills again and devote myself to the time that they so rightly deserve. Many people pass these hills on the M6, or on the train, and if they have any soul they gaze in wonder at these highly distinctive hills that dominate the eastern view in the Lune Valley. I have passed these great fells far more times than I have stopped and enjoyed their wondrous delights, and my heart aches at the thought.