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The Fellwalker by Peter John Farnworth
WALK 15 SATURDAY AUGUST 11th 1979Before today’s walk, we would first drive to Staveley, which is off the main Windermere road (A591) and follow this narrow road to Kentmere. The walk would begin by following Garburn Pass (green-way) to our first summit, Yoke, and then over the other seven summits which make up the Kentmere Horseshoe. But unfortunately the elements were against us once more as we only managed to walk five summits, to our disappointment. I will explain to you.
First of all, when leaving the summit of Thornthwaite Crag, the mist which was with us early on when crossing over from Froswick towards this summit, came down like a blanket over a bed. At this point we were stuck in the middle of the walk at 2,700ft. After checking the map and our position, I see could that we where standing near to a stone wall which leads onto High Street. From this point, we would have to walk in an easterly direction to locate the summit of Mardale Ill Bell. We got there somehow, and on our way we came across many lightly worn paths. These were not true paths as such, but sheep trails, which can be very misleading in these conditions. As you may know, if followed these can lead you over crags, so beware! To continue…With the mist still well down we left Mardale Ill Bell and the path started to lead us down towards Small Water. At this point, I was doubting the way we where going, and if followed this would lead us onto the other side of the mountain, which would not be right for a lot of reasons. As you can imagine, the compass was saying it was right but my mind did not believe it (this all reminds me of Walk 6). So no more to do, we retraced our way back to the summit to reassess our position. While at the summit and checking the map, the mist lifted for about two minutes and we could see were we where going wrong. The path, which was leading us down to Small Water, veered to our right at a bend at this point, but with the mist down we missed it. This was the way to go, which would then lead us down to the top of Nan Bield Pass, and by following this route we would reach the valley floor. We returned to our previous position just as the mist came back again, but more dense this time (not before we had a chance to see Kentmere Reservoir below). The question now was do we continue to the Pass or head straight down the side of the fell with the mist lifting slighty. I knew we were well away from the crags and therefore it would be safe to descend here? As it happened, we did pick the right spot to come down. It was a scree-slope (shingle or small stones) If you ever come to use one, care should be taken and dig your heels in (boots) on the way down. This way, it gets you down very quickly to the valley floor. I would think the more experienced fell-walker would use this method, which we did ourselves when coming down from Dore Head between Red Pike and Yewbarrow on the Mosedale Horseshoe at Wastwater. But back to the tale. Finally we arrived back at our starting point at 6.15pm, with time running out (we had brought our tent with us and had not booked in anywhere before we came). We tried the first campsite, Limefitt Park, near to the Kirkstone Pass. It was fully booked. Went to the other campsite down at Brothers Water at the other end of the Pass. That too was booked up. By this time the evening was closing in on us so I returned to see the site manager with cap in hand. Thankfully he listened to my plea and said we could camp at the bottom of the field, which we did. I was very grateful for this at the time, but there was only one problem. As you know, when it rains water runs down hill and yes, it rained. But the good news is we had a sewn-in ground sheet on the tent so the water passed under. It felt like we were lying on a waterbed! But we survived to tell the tale. And when I look back on this day, with all the bad luck we had, I wonder if it was not Friday 13th! Mountains walked that day: Yoke 85 Ill Bell 62 Froswick 76 Thornthwaite Crag 44 Mardale Ill Bell 59 [[]] Diagram & Stats
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