Walk Summary
A classic high level Lakeland horseshoe walk from Ambleside up to Fairfield. Woodland walk up to High Sweden Bridge. Impressive views of surrounding crags. Eyrie like view of Rydal Water from Nab Scar. Relaxing return through the grounds of Rydal Hall.
Date: 17/02/2022
Length: 11.9 miles
Height Gain: 934 m
Terrain: Woodland track, boggy paths, grass paths, stony paths, high pathless rocky fells, pavement beside busy A road.
Navigation: High, rocky featureless fells. Requires map and compass. Stone wall can be used as a handrail from Low Pike to Dove Crag.
Start: Rydal Road Car Park.
Route: Rydal Road Car Park, High Sweden Bridge, Low Pike, High Pike, Dove Crag, Hart Crag, Fairfield, Great Rigg, Heron Pike, Nab Scar, Rydal Hall
Map: OL7 The English Lakes South Eastern Area
Weather: Sun, wintry skies, cold, very windy
Walkers: Nun, Calse and Mo
Gallery
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Cattle Near High Sweden Bridge
Captain's Log
Storms Dudley And Eunice
Storm Dudley hit us yesterday and Storm Eunice is due tomorrow and so we decided to make the most of the window in between by doing the Fairfield Horseshoe.
On the lane to High Sweden Bridge we were accompanied by a light coloured English Foxhound. She didn't have a collar. The map showed some kennels nearby, and I wondered if she'd escaped from there. After a while she got bored with us and disappeared across a nearby field.
At High Sweden Bridge a group of Highland Cattle grazed on the hillside. The path took us near to them, but they weren't interested in our presence.
Windy Ascent
As we ascended up to the ridge line the wind got stronger. The remnants of Storm Dudley. There is a stone wall that runs along the ridge line and we walked on the leeward side to shelter us from the wind. Given the amount of rain that came down yesterday, I was quite surprised at the dryness of the path.
On Low Pike and High Pike we found painted stones with a Royal Marines badge on it. We had brunch just before the stone wall was too low to provide any shelter.
On Dove Crag I chatted to a fellow who had come up from Brothers Water. He said he had a long drive back to Portsmouth after the walk.
Royal Marines Badge on Low Pike and Dove Crag
St Sunday Crag From Fairfield
Hart Crag To Fairfield
I normally take the path that bypasses the actual summit of Hart Crag, but we wanted to tick it off as a Wainwright and so we went up the short distance to the summit cairn. The sun was out now and this made the light dusting of snow glisten.
The wind got stronger as we approached the summit of Fairfield. It was hard to keep upright and it was definitely not a day for getting close to the cliffs on the northeast edge. It was also not a day for hanging about and so we soon set off towards Great Rigg.
Approaching Fairfield Summit
Late Lunch
A light hail shower battered us as we approached Great Rigg. Better hail than rain, in my view. We motored up and over Great Rigg in the hope of finding shelter out of the cross wind. We considered having lunch on the downward slope of Great Rigg, where a path branches off to Grasmere, but the persistent icy blast convinced us to find somewhere better. It was almost 14:00 before we found a sheltered spot near Heron Pike. It was quite a sun spot, and out of the icy wind it was quite warm. Across the valley we could see Low Pike and High Pike that we bagged this morning.
Great Rigg Cairn
Nab Scar View To Ambleside
Nab Scar
There isn't a summit as such for Nab Scar and I wasn't sure of the grid reference used for Wainwright bagging and so we ended up taking 'summit' photos in several candidate spots. Later research pointed to the cairn around grid reference NY356073. Fortunately we'd taken a photo at that point.
As we descended down the Nab Scar steps, the wind disappeared and with the sunshine it almost felt like a summer's day. A few people were even using the picnic tables at the Rydal cafe.
Walking back to Ambleside along the A591, we past three geese in a field. One of them took exception to me taking their picture and it started hissing at me.
It had turned out to be a perfect day for walking. We were lucky to get this weather window between Storms Dudley and Eunice. There are 50+ mph winds scheduled tomorrow and so I doubt we'll be walking.