Half a Horseshoe

 It had been a long time since I was last on any high Lakeland fell and I used the excuse of ticking a couple of ex-Nuttall summits above Longsleddale to revisit the eastern half of the Kentmere Horseshoe.

Starting from a busy Sadgill we started up the byway and turned right at its highpoint towards Shipman Knotts and the main ridge.  A small scramble through Wray Crag led to more open ground before the final incline up to the summit, followed by an easy walk to my first objective of the day, Goat Scar.  The views from this high-level promenade towards the Kentmere trio of Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick were magnificent and reminded me of the days gone by of spending a lot of time in the Lake District ticking the Wainwrights.  Lakeland has such a different character to the Pennines which is where a lot of my more recent ticking exploits have been undertaken.

Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick

The summit of Kentmere Pike was a pleasant spot to eat lunch.  This was a leisurely half hour, sunning ourselves, enjoying the conversation and savouring the views towards England’s loftiest massif.

The mile to Harter Fell was as relaxing a high level walk as I’ve had in the Lake District.  We started to come across other fellwalkers as the ascent from Mardale was obviously the most popular route up.  Following the broad north-east ridge gave us the opportunity to savour the ever more expansive views down the valley towards the magnificent Haweswater.  Why is it that the best views in the national park are from high ground looking down valleys containing a lake?  It is a formula oft-repeated across the district.

Haweswater

Instead of following the path directly down to the Gatesgarth Pass, my companions indulged my ticking ambitions and accompanied me to the ex-Nuttall summit of Adam Seat.

As we descended into Longsleddale, the shelter from the breeze prompted us to shed some layers under the sun.  I would imagine that the track back to Sadgill would be a boring trudge in poor weather, but the company and blue skies made it a wonderful end to the walk.