Gallery Home >On location > The Lake District >Far Eastern Fells>10/10/10

Andy Beck - On Location

Parking at Kentmere Church I took the road that leads past Raven Crag, my first target for the day and nicely lit in the early morning sun.

Sun on Calfhowe? farm. Behind is Kentmere Pike with a low cloud covering its top.

Past Hartrigg the track becomes a bit more rough. Ill Bell and Froswick ahead.

Upper Kentmere.

Cows block the way and the big boy tries to hide behind the tree. Not wishing to re-route I tied the dogs up on this side of the gate and went through the gate to "test the water". Luckily they were pretty docil and moved away with a bit of shooo-ing.

He was a good looking bit of beef.

After a wide berth me and the dogs by-passed the herd and continued on our way.

Rainsbarrow Crag and the restored quarry buildings.

At this point I had to cross the River Kent just below the reservoir outlet. Behind there was a fair anount of haze and low cloud over Rainsbarrow.

Upper Kentmere from the old quarry buildings.

On The Tongue I hunted around amonst the bracken and found the old Mardale marker stone. From here it was a direct "off-path" path route to the Ull Stone which lies in the shadows behind the marker.

The Ull Stone, a massive boulder that sits on an unusual grooved rock platform. Now my route was back over Smalthwaite Knott towards Kentmere common.

Fell pony and sheep in Kentmere with Froswick behind. (An unusual photo taken at 10.10am on 10.10.10.)

With wind in my hair!

Fell sheep.

Heading down towards the notrth end of the reservior the fell tops were still covered with a cap of cloud. This I didnt need so I took my time over the next stretch.

Falls in the River Kent. Behind is Gavel Crag, my route of ascent up onto the ridge. AW's route heads up the scree just to the left of the corner of the square boulder.

From the ascent, by now the cloud had fully gone which made photographing into the direct sun a touch awkward.

Looking back down the scree slope from about half-way up. No real path here, just a hard slog.

Topping out onto the ridge, at last!

"Love on a mountain ridge," Just one of those opportune moments, no idea who they were but they held hands for a fleeting moment before moving on. The couple passed me a few minutes later- they looked like they were in love, Ahhhh!

Ill Bell ridge from the approach to Thornthwaite Crag.

Brilliant blue skies over Thornthwaite Beacon.

Having passed the beacon I now headed towards Thresthwaite Mouth, the saddle between Caudale Moor and here. As I was now a bit behind time I decided not to proceed and to leave those references for another day.

Instead I returned and bypassed the beacon again to take the path south towards Froswick.

The well made path leads straight up to Froswick

Froswick summit looking back to Thornthwaite.

Now on towards Ill Bell.

The hounds on Ill Bell at the main summit cairn.

There are 3 decent sized cairns on this summit the one in the foreground having been recently re-built to a very similar size and shape as to how it was in AW's drawing.

Moving on from Ill Bell the afternoon shadows lengthen down in Kentmere.

Bailey with Ill Bell behind.

The rocky platform of rock that is Yoke summit. from here we continued along the ridge and met up with the path that crosses the Garburn Pass.

Warming colours on the slopes of Yoke as we head away from the pass to take the easy route to Sour Howes.

Even after a long day already, Zeta bounds over the stile like a young pup.

Looking back at the fells we had been on earlier.

Sometimes there is a small cairn on Souir Howes summit, sometimes there's not. Today Bailey acted as the summit cairn.

As the shadows became longer we headed towards Sallows, the ridge crossing the picture.

Autumn grasses as we retrace our steps to the wall.

Almost the last of the light as we stand on the mound that forms Sallows' summit. Great Gable on the horizon, 15 miles away.

From Sallows it was a ditect descent back to the Garburn Pass as Yoke glowed in the setting sun.

Once back on the good track of the pass it was a simple walk back to the car at Kentmere Church. Another great day on the fells with plenty of references ticked off. Most importantly I was able to get the shots I needed to complete the fell below, someone will be pleased!

To see the sketches click here.

Love the mountains? Check out the range of Andy's greeting cards. Click here

home  | Back to Wainwright Book 2 | Back | The Lake District