Sadgill, Shipham Knotts, Kentmere Pike & Harter Fell from Haweswater

Wednesday 29th November 2023

Walking Diary (All Walks) Lakeland Wainwrights Far Eastern

Sadgill, Shipham Knotts, Kentmere Pike & Harter Fell from Haweswater.

Apologies for the delay in presenting another walk - I've been held up by a bad cold, pretty grotty weather, but more importantly the birth of my Grandson Sebastian. As my daughter lives 5 hours away in Essex and the Lakes are pretty much two hours in the opposite direction, I was under strict orders that when the time came, I would not be up mountain anywhere. So, basically we waited - and waited - and waited.

All happy now though, baby and mum are all well and good, even if 2 weeks late - I'll remind him of this inconvenience in the years to come. I can now resume normal walking days out.

It felt like I hadn't been to the lakes for years, not weeks, and I had such a job choosing where to go - but I decided on a favourite area of mine - Haweswater. It's always a great place to start with so many routes to choose from and it's one of the easiest parts of the lakes for me to get to. But the main reason is the amazing hot bacon and sausage buns you can get with your morning coffee at Tebay Farmshop services - the best breakfast by far for any trip to the lakes.

The information contained in the material on this Website is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice.
Distance: 10.5 miles
Duration: 6:30 hours
Ascent: 3750 ft
Difficulty: Hard
Accompanied By: On my Own
Weather: Cold & Sunny

Wainwrights Visited

Harter Fell (Mardale) Kentmere Pike Shipman Knotts

3D outline of route

Parking

Parked up at the Mardale Head Car park - still free, but a small donation is welcomed.

Heading out through the gate and I chose the Gatesgarth path route.

Gatesgarth Beck on it's way down to Haweswater.

The winding bridleway up to the Pass

Branstree across the way from the path - looks simple enough to nip up there and back, but it takes a bit more effort than you think and I have to keep an eye on the time when considering how many hours walking I have to do today, and it gets dark at 4pm now.

Over Gatesgarth Pass and heading down into Longsleddale.

Gradually losing height as I head down Longsleddale with the fells to my right where I will be walking back later on in the day.

Approaching the pretty little hamlet of Sadgill and it's lovely bridge.

Using the bridge to cross River Sprint and enjoying the views back up the valley in the lovely winter sun.

Having crossed the bridge, I start to walk in the direction of Kentmere following a well signposted bridleway. This is looking back down to Sadgill.

I did veer off the main path (cutting a corner) a bit further on after gaining a fair bit of height, but it would have been better to have stuck to the main path and just turn right onto the main Kentmere Horseshoe path.

This certainly looks like a trig point from distance - It's not, it's just a feature of the dry stone wall that accompanies you to the summit of Shipham Knotts and beyond.

Shipham Knotts

Leaving Shipham Knotts and following the wall to Kentmere Pike.

Kentmere Pike summit.

Hiding behind the wall is an OS Trig Point - almost the summit !

Ill Bell and Froswick on the other side of the Kentmere Horseshoe.

As the sun began to set and the warming sunshine faded on this very cold day, I reached the summit of Harter Fell.

Now my initial plan was to head back down to Gatesgarth Pass and head back to the car that way. But Nan Bield Pass and Small Water looked so inviting, I chose the shorter, but probably longer route down via Small Water.

Cracking view of the sun setting over the fells.

Heading down to Nan Bield Pass, enjoying the last part of the day and also the solitude - It felt like I was the only one left on the fells, there certainly wasn't anyone around here.

Looking back up to the shelter at Nan Bield Pass.

The tranquil Small Water. Getting darker though, I'd better make tracks.

Yep - I'm the last one back, still a bit of daylight too.