Kentmere Horseshoe | 13 Miles
The Kentmere Horseshoe is a true Lake District classic and is one of the remotest hikes in the Lake District. There are a few variations of the Kentmere Horseshoe, but this version visits 8 Wainwrights (Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick, Thornthwaite Crag, Mardale Ill Bell, Harter Fell, Kentmere Pike and Shipman Knotts) over almost 13 miles.
If only our views had been like the photo above! We stayed in Grasmere for a mini break while Hols was on a school trip and during our trip we had planned this day hike for our only full day there. The weather was horrific for this walk but lovely for the Helm Crag, Gibson Knott, Calf Crag and Steel Fell | 7 Miles and Rannerdale Knotts [and the Bluebells] | 4 Miles walks we did either side of this one!
Kentmere Horseshoe Wainwrights
The walk visits the summits of 8 Wainwrights in total:
- Yoke (707 m)
- Ill Bell (757 m)
- Froswick (720 m)
- Thornthwaite Crag (784 m)
- Mardale Ill Bell (760 m)
- Harter Fell (Mardale) (779 m)
- Kentmere Pike (731 m)
- Shipman Knotts (587 m)
You can also add on High Street and Gray Crag as a short detour for an extended Kentmere Horseshoe walk.
The Kentmere Horseshoe Route
Our walk starts from the tiny car park owned by the Kentmere Institute, just across from St Cuthbert’s Church. Kentmere itself is a tiny village with no pubs or shops and very narrow (often single track) roads, so parking is very difficult to come by. The Kentmere Institute has an honesty box with a suggested donation of £3, which is more than fair. If this is full there is a farmer who opens his field just down the hill – check there for availability.
We set off from the church up the hill on Garburn Road, passing the Badger Rock and heading to the Garburn Pass. Our route followed the Pass for about 0.8 miles before forking off right and following a faint path straight up the hillside. You can follow the Pass up the hill and join a footpath leading to Yoke, and in hindsight this would have been a better (dryer!) route. Once we hit the level ground at the top of the climb, we made for a dry stone wall and picked up the well made path leading to the summit of our first Wainwright of the day, Yoke, topped by a small cairn.
From Yoke it’s less than a mile to hike to Ill Bell, with its twin cairns. We visited both just to make sure we’d been to the summit! It was so misty we could only see one of them at any one time. We followed the ridge, marvelling at the lack of views, and then we soon reached Froswick, marked by a small cairn.
The next Wainwright summit on the route is Thornthwaite Crag, whose summit is topped by the Beacon (what looks like a huge trig point). This fell is at the head of a few adjoining valleys so the views from here will be especially amazing on a clear day.
From Thornthwaite Crag we set off east then north to pick up the route of the old Roman road, High Street. The path leads off to the summit of the fell High Street with its trig point and it does have some fabulous views. We didn’t visit on this walk as we’d already been as part of the Mardale Horseshoe and by this point our waterproofs were drenched, our feet were wet and we’d had to break out the emergency ponchos – we did most of the rest of the walk looking like we were heading for the log flume at a theme park!
We followed a faint path over the grassy hilltop to join the path to Mardale Ill Bell and then dropped down the steps to the shelter at the top of the Nan Bield Pass. We don’t have much luck with this shelter – on our Mardale Horseshoe hike someone else was in it, and it was the same with this hike!
The path leads past the shelter and climbs up to the summit of Harter Fell, marked by a stone cairn which has old fence posts in and amongst it. We followed the path running south along the stone wall to Kentmere Pike and it’s stone trig point. The trig point is over the wall, so don’t miss it! Crossing back over the stile, we continued down the hillside, over a super tall ladder stile and headed towards Shipman Knotts.
There isn’t much of a summit marker at Shipman Knotts, but we continued on to Wray Crags. The footpath tends to stay more towards the wall and there is a short scramble down. The path heads down to join a bridleway and we followed this down the hillside, passing some beautiful fell ponies, and joining High Lane, from where you’ll be able to see St Cuthbert’s Church in the distance. Follow the road back to the car.
Kentmere Horseshoe Walk Details:
Walk Map (Opens in OS Maps): Kentmere Horseshoe Map
Parking: A very small parking area at the Kentmere Institute, Kentmere, Cumbria, LA8 9JL opposite St Cuthbert’s Church – Honesty Box donation of £3 | W3W:///passions.mixer.torso.
Alternatively there is a farmer who sometimes opens his field for parking just down the hill from the church near to W3W:/// zeal.breakfast.drum
Facilities: None
Walk Time: 6-8 hours
Difficulty: ▲▲▲
Distance: 12.9 miles (20.5km)
Trig Points Bagged: Kentmere Pike
Wainwrights Bagged: Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick, Thornthwaite Crag, Mardale Ill Bell, Harter Fell, Kentmere Pike, Shipman Knotts
For more Wainwright walks you might like:
Fairfield Horseshoe Hiking Route | 11 Miles
Langdale Pikes Circular via Jack’s Rake
Coledale Horseshoe – A Lake District Classic Walk | 9 Miles
and check out the list of the Wainwrights by book for a specific fell and walk to bag it.
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