Nab Scar

A great day today climbing The Fairfield Horseshoe.

We set off from The Lake District Walker Shop in Ambleside at 9am and followed the road to the start of the Coffin Route, taking us to Rydal Hall and the start of the climb up Nab Scar. The forecast weather of low cloud didn't materialise this morning and we were in sunshine all the way up the steep climb to Nab Scar and then along the ridge to Heron Pike. From Heron Pike we followed the ridge north to the summit of Great Rigg and then up the long drag to the summit of Fairfield.

There was quite a chilly breeze on the summit of Fairfield today, we stopped in the wind shelter to admire the views over Helvellyn and eat our sandwiches before pressing on, crossing to the summits of Hart Crag and Dove Crag before descending the long ridge over High Pike and Low Pike dropping down to High Sweden Bridge and following the track back to Ambleside, getting back just after 3pm.

Towards the Scafell and Great Gable range

Towards the Scafells from Dove Crag

The Coniston Fells, The Crinkles and Bowfell from the climb up Nab Scar

Looking over Rydal Water from Nab Scar

Windermere from Nab Scar

Red Screes

Over Windermere

Grasmere

Windermere from Hart Crag

Dove Crag

The view down Rydal

The view down Rydal

On Hart Crag

On Hart Crag

On Hart Crag

Back towards Heron Pike

A glorious day on the Fairfield Horseshoe today.

We set off from Ambleside at 9am and headed out of town on the Rydal Road, shortly turning off onto the track to Rydal Hall.

From Rydal Hall we climbed the steep path up Nab Scar, the views this morning were wonderful, there was a mist over Windermere and blue sky and snow capped mountains.

From Nab Scar We followed the ridge over Heron Pike and up onto Great Rig before reaching the summit of Fairfield.

After a short lunch top on the summit of Fairfield we were off again, crossing to the summit of Hart Crag and then Dove Crag, following the wonderful ridge down over High Pike and Low Pike and then down by High Sweden BRidge back to Ambleside, getting back to the village just before dark.

Another great day today on the Fairfield Horseshoe.

We left Ambleside a little after 9am today and headed out on the Fairfield Horseshoe, following the Coffin Route to Rydal before heading up the steep slopes of Nab Scar.

We were soon at the top of Nab Scar with some wonderful views down over Rydal Water and Grasmere and as far south as Blackpool Tower!

From Nab Scar we followed the ridge north over the summits of Heron Pike and Great Rigg before climbing to the summit of Fairfield. There was a slight dusting of snow on the high tops today and quite a chilly breeze on the summit of Fairfield as we sat and ate our lunches in the wind shelter.

After lunch we crossed the head of the horseshoe to the summits of Hart Crag and Dove Crag, two showers just missed us as we descended from Dove Crag towards High Pike and then down to Low Pike, dropping down to High Sweden Bridge.

As we followed the track back to Ambleside we got caught in our first shower of the day, but it didn't last too long and we were soon descending into Ambleside in the dry.

A great day on The Fairfield Horseshoe.

After meeting the group at our shop in Ambleside, we set off through Ambleside and towards Rydal Park. We made our way through Rydal Park and could see the little cloud that was around was clearing nicely. After passing Rydal Mount we were now on the steep climb up towards Nab Scar.  As we climbed the views became more and more impressive, and we had great views over Windermere, Coniston Water, Rydal Water and Grasmere. We summited Nab Scar and then the gradient eased as we climbed towards Heron Pike.  We continued to make great progress as we made our way to the summit of Great Rigg. Ready for lunch we pressed on and decided to stop in the shelter on the summit of Fairfield.

After lunch we headed along the back stretch to Hart Crag and then we  followed the wall up to Dove Crag which provided great views over Windermere again.  We descended by the wall down the gentle grass slope over High Pike and Low Pike in the warm sun before descending to High Sweden Bridge. From the bridge we followed the good track back into Ambleside.

A damp day on the Fairfield Horseshoe today.

We set off from Ambleside at 10am and folllowed the Coffin Route to Rydal, climbing the steep slope of Nab Scar in good time.

There were a few drops of light rain as we climbed the track to Nab Scar, but nothing too bad, and most of the high fells were out of cloud, although there was some low cloud approaching from the south. As we climbed to the summit of Heron Pike the cloud base descended and shortly after leaving Heron Pike we were in the cloud.

From now on we were in thick cloud but we made good progress, crossing Great Rigg and reaching the summit of Fairfield at 12.45.

After a short lunch stop in the summit shelter we headed off again, crossing Hart Crag to Dove Crag before descending the long ridge over High Pike and Low Pike, dropping back out of the cloud just below Low Pike and following the path back to Ambleside by High Sweden Bridge.