Kentmere Round

cloudy day

Seven new Wainwrights today taking my tally up to 201.  It was a wet and windy day.  

I slept in which meant that my morning routine was a bit rushed and I eventually got to the meeting point in Cockermouth at about 8.30am.  Jonathan drove while Gerard described the route.  We were going to check out the Kentmere Horseshoe but also bag Sour Howes and Sallows, two minor fells which are a bit out of the way for us.

14.75 miles

Heading up the Garburn Pass

After a little bit of messing around finding a parking spot, we headed along the road and onto the Garburn Pass.  We carried on, checking maps and working out where to turn off to Sallows, the first of the two minor fells we were including in today's run.

We found Sallows fairly easily, not too exciting but a GPS check confirmed we were on the summit.  We headed back to the wall to follow it along to Sour Howes where, again we had to resort to the GPS to confirm the top of the fell.  It seems there are two humps of equal height on Sour Howes.  We stood on both of them to make sure.  From here we headed back the way we came to pick up the Garburn Pass at the bottom of the climb up to Yoke.  I'm glad I got Sour Howes and Sallows out of the way.  They are not very exciting fells and would be something of an anti-climax to finish my Wainwrights on. 

Climbing to Yoke was tough.  There were some good uphill pulls to practice hill running on.  The cloud was right down and it was windy but the route finding was fairly easy from here due to the wide track.

playing on Sallows

 

heading up to Sour Howes

 

Sour Howes

 

starting the climb to Yoke

 

Yoke

From Yoke we carried on along the ridge to Ill Bell and then down to Froswick.  We then skirted the rim of the horseshoe, missing out Mardale Ill Bell and crossing the Nan Bield Pass.  We then skirted Harter Fell and followed the wall along to Kentmere Pike which was my 200th Wainwright.

Ill Bell summit cairns

Gerard and Jonathan at the top

 

Gerard bags Froswick

us too

heading down from Froswick

From Froswick, there is a steep descent and then a pull up towards Thornthwaite Crag.  We managed to find a track around the rim which was more direct but meant missing out Thornthwaite Crag, High Street and Mardale Ill Bell.  I don't think we meant to go this way but it turned out better.

Both Gerard and I were struggling with our dodgy old knees at this stage.  Mine seemed to settle down after a bit but Gerard struggled for the rest of the run.

It wasn't until the cloud lifted and we saw Small Water and Haweswater that we realised that we had ran straight past Mardale Ill Bell.  I've already bagged it and, as the views were mostly obscured, I wasn't too bothered about going back.

Every now and then the cloud would lift and show how beautiful the area we were in was.  Usually, by the time I got the camera out, the cloud had come over again.

cloud lifting a bit - Troutbeck Tongue below - on my list!

 

Small Water and Haweswater beyond

Kentmere Pike - no. 200!

 

Kentmere Pike trig point

From Kentmere Pike, the track is mostly runnable.  Very boggy though.  We followed the wall down until we got to where we thought Shipman Knotts summit was.  There were two possibilities, on either side of the wall.  We stood on the little nub by the wall and then I crossed the wall and  then used my GPS to confirm that the rock fifty metres or so from the wall was the exact grid reference.

Shipman Knotts on the right (top of Goat Scar on the left)

GPS match for Shipman Knotts

 

From Shipman Knotts, Gerard wanted to pick up the race route again so we headed west to pick up the track down to Hallow Bank.  We followed the roads back to the church and along to where we parked.  As we ran along, we turned around to see Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick clear of cloud, looking splendid.

We consoled ourselves with a quick stop at Wilf's Cafe in Stavely.