walkhighlands

This board helps you to share your walking route experiences in England and Wales... or overseas.
Warning Please note that hillwalking when there is snow lying requires an ice-axe, crampons and the knowledge, experience and skill to use them correctly. Summer routes may not be viable or appropriate in winter. See winter information on our skills and safety pages for more information.

Kentmere Round

Kentmere Round


Postby johnkaysleftleg » Mon Nov 23, 2015 2:08 pm

Wainwrights included on this walk: Froswick, Harter Fell (Far Eastern Fells), Ill Bell, Kentmere Pike, Mardale Ill Bell, Shipman Knotts, Yoke

Hewitts included on this walk: Froswick, Harter Fell (Far Eastern Fells), Ill Bell, Kentmere Pike, Yoke

Date walked: 03/10/2015

Time taken: 6

Distance: 21.5 km

Ascent: 1250m

3 people think this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).

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.

ImageKentmere Fells from High Lane by Anthony Young, on Flickr

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

ImageLooking back by Anthony Young, on Flickr

ImageThe Ill Bell Ridge by Anthony Young, on Flickr

ImageGoat Scar by Anthony Young, on Flickr

ImageLooking 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.

ImageNan Bield Pass by Anthony Young, on Flickr

ImageClag 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.

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

ImageTarn on Rainsborrow Crag by Anthony Young, on Flickr

ImageKentmere Valley from Rainsborrow Crag by Anthony Young, on Flickr

Image
Kentmere Reservoir by Anthony Young, on Flickr

ImageRainsborrow Crag by Anthony Young, on Flickr

ImageInfinity 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 :roll:

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

ImageKentmere 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.


our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

User avatar
johnkaysleftleg
Hill Bagger
 
Posts: 3340
Munros:25   Corbetts:11
Fionas:11   Donalds:3
Sub 2000:7   Hewitts:172
Wainwrights:214   Islands:8
Joined: Jan 28, 2009
Location: County Durham

Re: Kentmere Round

Postby dav2930 » Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:29 pm

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 !? :problem:
User avatar
dav2930
Ambler
 
Posts: 1615
Munros:244   Corbetts:14
Fionas:18   Donalds:56
Sub 2000:1   Hewitts:164
Wainwrights:214   Islands:2
Joined: Feb 13, 2015
Location: Cumbria

Re: Kentmere Round

Postby trailmasher » Tue Nov 24, 2015 8:32 pm

Damn decent report Anthony :clap: and despite the bad light conditions some good pics there :clap: A great round but you missed out Thornthwaite Crag mate :lol:
User avatar
trailmasher
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 1302
Munros:13   
Hewitts:179
Wainwrights:214   
Joined: Nov 26, 2014
Location: Near Appleby - Cumbria

Re: Kentmere Round

Postby johnkaysleftleg » Tue Nov 24, 2015 8:53 pm

dav2930 wrote: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 !? :problem:


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.

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


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.
User avatar
johnkaysleftleg
Hill Bagger
 
Posts: 3340
Munros:25   Corbetts:11
Fionas:11   Donalds:3
Sub 2000:7   Hewitts:172
Wainwrights:214   Islands:8
Joined: Jan 28, 2009
Location: County Durham

Re: Kentmere Round

Postby ChrisW » Wed Nov 25, 2015 12:44 am

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 :lol:
User avatar
ChrisW
Rambler
 
Posts: 4941
Munros:18   Corbetts:5
Fionas:3   
Sub 2000:6   
Joined: Jan 25, 2011
Location: Cochrane- Alberta - Canada

Re: Kentmere Round

Postby johnkaysleftleg » Thu Nov 26, 2015 10:47 am

ChrisW wrote: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 :lol:


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.
User avatar
johnkaysleftleg
Hill Bagger
 
Posts: 3340
Munros:25   Corbetts:11
Fionas:11   Donalds:3
Sub 2000:7   Hewitts:172
Wainwrights:214   Islands:8
Joined: Jan 28, 2009
Location: County Durham

Re: Kentmere Round

Postby 37201xoIM » Tue Jul 23, 2019 9:27 am

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.
Attachments

2019-07-21 1233 Kentmere Pikes__20190721_1233.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

User avatar
37201xoIM
 
Posts: 103
Munros:11   Corbetts:12
Fionas:3   Donalds:11
Sub 2000:4   Hewitts:120
Wainwrights:45   Islands:19
Joined: May 15, 2014

3 people think this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).




Can you help support Walkhighlands?


Our forum is free from adverts - your generosity keeps it running.
Can you help support Walkhighlands and this community by donating by direct debit?



Return to Walk reports - Outside Scotland

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests
cron