Wasdale Horseshoe

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Yarlside Crag on Great Yarlside Yarlside Crag, Great Yarlside - geograph.org.uk - 929867.jpg
Yarlside Crag on Great Yarlside

The Wasdale Horseshoe is a group of hills on the eastern fringe of the English Lake District, to the west of the A6, south of Shap, Cumbria. They surround the valley of Wasdale Beck, a tributary of Birk Beck and ultimately of the River Lune. The horseshoe is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland . [1] This Wasdale should not be confused with the better known Wasdale, containing Wast Water, on the west of the Lake District.

The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests and mountains, and its associations with William Wordsworth and other Lake Poets and also with Beatrix Potter and John Ruskin. The Lake District National Park was established in 1951 and covers an area of 2,362 square kilometres. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017.

A6 road (England) north-south road in England

The A6 is one of the main historic north–south roads in England. It currently runs from Luton in Bedfordshire to Carlisle in Cumbria, although it formerly started at a junction with the A1 at Barnet. It is the fourth longest numbered road in Britain, behind only the A1, A38 and A30.

Shap village in Cumbria, United Kingdom

Shap is a linear village and civil parish located among fells and isolated dales in Eden district, Cumbria, England. The village lies along the A6 road and the West Coast Main Line, and is near to the M6 motorway. It is situated 10 miles (16 km) from Penrith and about 15 miles (24 km) from Kendal, in the historic county of Westmorland.

Wainwright's clockwise walk starts from the highest point of the A6 at 1,400 feet (430 m). The summits reached are Whatshaw Common at 1,593 feet (486 m), Little Yarlside at 1,691 feet (515 m), Great Yarlside (the third highest of the Outlying Fells) at 1,986 feet (605 m) and Wasdale Pike at 1,852 feet (564 m).

Wasdale Pike is within the Shap Fells Site of Special Scientific Interest. [2]

Site of Special Scientific Interest Conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom

A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man. SSSI/ASSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in the United Kingdom are based upon them, including national nature reserves, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation. The acronym "SSSI" is often pronounced "triple-S I".

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The Crookdale Horseshoe is a group of hills on the eastern edge of the English Lake District, in Cumbria, west of the A6 road. They are the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. Wainwright describes an anticlockwise walk starting along the valley of Crookdale Beck to reach Lord's Seat at 1,719 feet (524 m), and returning over Robin Hood at 1,613 feet (492 m) and High House Bank at 1,627 feet (496 m). As he points out, the ridge forming the northern part of the "horseshoe" is described in his Wasdale Horseshoe chapter.

Seat Robert

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Ponsonby Fell

Ponsonby Fell is a hill in the west of the English Lake District, near Gosforth, Cumbria. It is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. It reaches 1,020 feet (310 m), and Wainwright's route is an anticlockwise horseshoe starting at Gosforth, following the River Bleng before striking north for the summit, then descending to Wellington from where he recommends taking a bus back to Gosforth rather than walk along the A595 road.

Howes (fell)

Howes is a subsidiary summit of Branstree in the English Lake District, south east of Selside Pike in Cumbria. It is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. Wainwright's route starts at Swindale Head and follows Swindale Beck, then passes over Nabs Moor at 1,613 feet (492 m) to reach the summit of Howes at 1,930 feet (590 m), dropping down to Mosedale Beck to complete an anticlockwise circuit. Wainwright states that Howes is "merely a subsidiary and undistinguished summit on the broad eastern flank of Barnstree. There is nothing exciting about it ..." but commends the sight of Mosedale quarry and the waterfalls of Swindale Head which he describes as "extremely fine, up to Lodore standard".

Wet Sleddale Horseshoe

The Wet Sleddale Horseshoe is an upland area in the English Lake District, around the Wet Sleddale Reservoir, Cumbria. It is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. His walk starts at the reservoir dam and follows a clockwise circuit over Sleddale Pike at 1,659 feet (506 m), Great Saddle Crag at 1,850 feet (560 m) and Ulthwaite Rigg at 1,648 feet (502 m).

Irton Pike

Irton Pike is a hill in the west of the English Lake District, near Santon Bridge, Cumbria. It is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. It reaches 751 feet (229 m) and Wainwright's walk is an anticlockwise circuit from Irton Road station on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, near Eskdale Green. He describes "this tiny top" as "a near-perfect solace for reminscences of past happy days on the higher fells", adding "Climb Irton Pike while ye may!"

Knipescar Common

Knipescar Common, or Knipe Scar, is an upland area in the east of the English Lake District, above the River Lowther, near Bampton, Cumbria. It is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. The summit is "indefinite" but reaches 1,118 feet (341 m) and there are limestone outcrops and an ancient enclosure. Wainwright commends the views which include Blencathra to the north and "a continuous skyline of the higher Pennines."

References

  1. Wainwright, A. (1974). "The Wasdale Horseshoe". The Outlying Fells of Lakeland . Kendal: Westmorland Gazette. pp. 248–253.
  2. "Shap Fells SSSI". Designated Sites View. Natural England . Retrieved 25 February 2019.

Coordinates: 54°27′56″N2°42′08″W / 54.46556°N 2.70222°W / 54.46556; -2.70222

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