This was a walk arranged by and for the Online Fellwalking Club, with about 11 of us and 7 dogs! We followed the usual Horseshoe path, but included Thornthwaite Crag, High Street and (for me, 'cos it was almost on the way, Gray Crag). Here are some pictures (click on any picture for a larger version).
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Preparing
for the fray. The weather was shirt-sleeves, but only to
start with; as we climbed, the clouds descended to meet us - but then
they
retreated, to give us a most peasant second half to our walk. The first
half wasn't bad, either, come to think of it... |
| Striding
forth past Kentmere Church. I'm not sure the arms were
swinging so purposefully as we returned 13 miles later... |
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Looking
back down the Garburn Road into Kentmere. |
| On
top of Yoke, the sun was disappearing and extra layeers were needed. |
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The
view of Ill Bell from Yoke. The ridge from Yoke to Thornthwaite
is a series of see-saws, as you will see. |
| The
top of Ill Bell, with its three cairns. They certainly had enough
stones left over... |
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Looking
over the north-eastern edge of Ill Bell towards the top of the Kentmere
valley, and Mardale Ill Bell and Harter Fell - on our route to come. |
| This
is the immediate route ahead, towards Froswick, Thornthwaite Crag
behind Froswick, and High Street in the distance on the right |
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Bethan (or is
it Harry?) on top of Froswick. |
| Samba getting
in on the act... |
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The cairn on
Thornthwaite Crag - visible for miles around. We had lunch just
behind it, by a convenient wall. |
| The
long flat top of
Gray Crag, north of Thornthwaite Crag. Down to the left is
Hartsop and Brothers Water. |
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Looking north
from Gray Crag. The Knott is on the right. |
| High Street
(both peak and Roman Road) from the path between Gray Crag and
Thornthwaite Crag. |
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Sophie and
Samba not impressed by the High Street trig point. |
| This
is the
way across from High Street to Mardale Ill Bell, the Nan Bield Pass and
Harter Fell. |
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Haweswater
from the cairn on top of Mardale Ill Bell |
| At the top of
the Nan Bield Pass, looking north to Haweswater, with Small Water in
the foreground. Is there a Big Water anywhere in the Lakes? Hope
not... |
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The path up to
Harter Fell from Nan Bield Pass. |
| Haweswater
from near the top of Harter Fell. |
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The "crown of
thorns" cairn on Harter Fell |
| The ridge
we've just done - Ill Bell and Froswick |
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Another of
those ladder stiles. This one was like Becher's Brook - it looked
OK from the take-off side, and it was only on reaching the top that you
saw the large and vertical drop on the other side. One of the
Hiley dogs, a sensible pooch, stopped on the top and Samba, right
behind him, was so keen that she actually burrowed under his belly to
get across and down! Talk about showing off... |
| Looking across
Kentmere towards Windermere, from Kentmere Pike. |
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Longsleddale,
the valley to the east of Kentmere, from near the top of Shipman Knotts. |
| Look, Mum, we
did all that! In fact, it's very satisfying to be able to see just about the whole of a walk from one point, as you can on many occasions on the Kentmere Horseshoe. |
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To greet us on
our return to Kentmere village... |
If
you would like to
sponsor me and the dogs in our quest to walk all the Wainwrights for
the Great North Air Ambulance Service, please click here
- and thank you for your
generosity!