Kentmere Round

[johnkaysleftleg]

A walk from a while ago but I thought I'd do a short catch up report as much for my own records as anything else. Having dropped Nicola and Grace off at Durham Station me and my faithful mutt, Hughie, raced across the country in a vain attempt to get parked at Kentmere. Unsurprisingly 9:30 was too late but having done some research I tried High Lane, via some interesting encounters and reversing on the very narrow road, and managed to nab one of the four spaces available. At this point the weather looked set for the day and the walk up to Shipman Knotts and onto Goat Scar was blissful. The sight of cloud filling Mosedale filled me with hopes of inversions to come.

Kentmere Fells from High Lane by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Start of the Climb up Shipman Knotts by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Looking back by Anthony Young, on Flickr

The Ill Bell Ridge by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Goat Scar by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Looking back to Shipman Knotts by Anthony Young, on Flickr

There was indeed to be inversions on the Lake District on this day, problem was I was to be to low to take advantage as the mist had stared to pour over the fells from the North plunging me into a soup of clag by the time I reached Kentmere Pike. Harter Fell, the Nam Bield Pass, Mardale Ill Bell, the head of the Kentmere Valley and Froswick all came and went with me seeing bugger all, before I had a leisurely lunch to see if things might lift, drop, clear or do anything other than obscure the views.

Nan Bield Pass by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Clag on the Ill Bell Ridge by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Lunch over I wandered up to Ill Bell and as I was still way ahead of schedule I stopped again this time to have a coffee and a pastry, The sound of distant morons breaking the speed limit on two wheeled death machines far below was the only thing of note and eventually, having gave up on the chance of any views trudged off towards Yoke. On the way to Yoke I noticed sunlight in the top of Rainsborrow Crag, with little else to do I followed the edge of the crags down to the tarn and actually was rewarded with a very hazy view of the whole walk. This is a lovely spot and I whished I'd saved my last snack for here but after lingering I slogged my way back up to Yoke over open fell to at least complete the days fells.

More Clag on the Ill Bell Ridge by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Tarn on Rainsborrow Crag by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Kentmere Valley from Rainsborrow Crag by Anthony Young, on Flickr


Kentmere Reservoir by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Rainsborrow Crag by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Infinity Tarn by Anthony Young, on Flickr

I soon made the Garburn pass which is a truly horrible pedestrian route and made my way back to a surprisingly sunny Kentmere. As it turned out had I turned up later I could have parked in Kentmere as a farmer had opened one of his field for parking at £2 a go

Castle Crag from the Garburn Pass by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Kentmere Church by Anthony Young, on Flickr

No day in the fells, injury apart, is a bad one although I must admit to this day being just a touch disappointing.

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[dav2930]

One of my favourite rounds that. Kentmere is a very beautiful valley. The parking situation is pretty dire isn't it? But then a dirty great NT car park would surely be unthinkable !?

[trailmasher]

Damn decent report Anthony and despite the bad light conditions some good pics there A great round but you missed out Thornthwaite Crag mate

[johnkaysleftleg]

One of my favourite rounds that. Kentmere is a very beautiful valley. The parking situation is pretty dire isn't it? But then a dirty great NT car park would surely be unthinkable !?

It's a lovely place for sure, I think if the council stopped being huffy about the farmer opening his field things might well be a whole lot better.

Damn decent report Anthony and despite the bad light conditions some good pics there A great round but you missed out Thornthwaite Crag mate

Cheers TM, I also missed out on High Street if you're going to be picky I'd had enough of claggy cairns by then and with three more to go my motivation was sadly lacking, very glad I visited the top of Rainsbarrow Crag however, beautiful wee spot.

[ChrisW]

It might have been disappointing to you JK but it looks bloody lovely to me, you really did grab some great shots, I reckon you're disappointment comes from the fact that you could have had that 2 quid parking and missed it

[johnkaysleftleg]

It might have been disappointing to you JK but it looks bloody lovely to me, you really did grab some great shots, I reckon you're disappointment comes from the fact that you could have had that 2 quid parking and missed it

The start and end of the walk was indeed lovely, just the main bit in the middle that was a touch pants.
As it was I parked for free, but I would have gladly paid £2 to avoid reversing down a very narrow 1 in 5 slope and having to finish the day by going back up hill.

[37201xoIM]

I did very much the same walk last Sunday, albeit adding in Thornthwaite Crags and High Street (Racecourse Hill) and missing out a couple of the minor Wainwrights. As regards parking, I actually intentionally parked where you did, JohnKLL, though to my surprise for a July Sunday it was remarkably quiet traffic-wise. Quite a convenient location and while I'm always paranoid about getting in the way of locals going about their business, the only one I encountered was a farmer lady on a quad bike who gave me quite a nice smile actually!

I was slightly (but not much!) luckier in that Harter Fell, High Street and Thornthwaite were all somewhat claggy, but coming back along the ridge from Thornthwaite to Ill Bell and co. was really rather splendid - and remarkably quiet again. The views down towards the rather shapely Froswick and out towards the sea, emerging from the mists momentarily, were lovely.

Anyway, I thought I'd just post that once at the bottom of the pass back in Kentmere, you can cut off a little of the last tedious bit you referred to, JKLL, by bearing across the local paths and bridleways north of the village to reach a footbridge over the young River Kent and then by a couple of field paths to reach the road just a couple of hundred metres short of the parking-place. Probably only saves a little altitude but less tedious than road walking. For what it's worth my GPX track is attached.