Start point - Layby on A684 just
west of M6 junction 37 (SD 593932)
Summits Achieved
Name
Height (ft)
Height (m)
Grid Ref
Roan Edge
1096
334
SD 5826 9321
Docker Fell
1040
317
SD 5778 9387
Lambrigg Fell
1109
338
SD 5857 9439
Preface
"Will it ever stop raining
this week" complained Tetley, staring miserably our of the
window.
"Well we can only hope"
replied Allen brightly trying to cheer his pal up. Continuing he
said, "especially as I overheard Dad saying to Uncle Brian
that he had arranged to walk with Uncle Eric on Thursday."
"We'll just have to keep our
paws crossed", said Shaun.
The Walk
In the event the day was dry, but
extremely windy, and by the end of the walk, we were all glad to
get into the car. A convenient layby just on the Kendal side of M6
junction 37 was our start point. Walked up the hill towards
Kendal to take the road left to Roan Edge Quarry, which is
absolutely massive - awesome! Where the road ends the ongoing
track is a bridleway. As we walked along the view opened out to
the left of Killington Lake beyond the M6 motorway, with its
service area hidden in the trees.
Eventually we reached a gate on the
right, which we went through to climb to the trig point marking
the summit of Roan Edge, seen here with the Lambrigg Wind Farm
behind.
You may notice that Dad's hat is
secured round his stick that is firmly planted in the ground.
This is an indication of the strength of the wind up here, and we
had to stay in the rucksack for our picture. It is very rare for
us not to hop out, but Dad said we would have been blown away if
we had.
Descended down to the gate and
continued along the edge. The path then gradually descended to
the minor Fairthorns Road, where we took a footpath right over a
stile to Hall Bank Farm. Here a vet was in the process of
removing the horns from a cow - not a nice sight and we were glad
to get through the farmyard. Crossed a stile and went down the
field under the power lines. A little while before we had seen a
helicopter flying low over these - presumably surveying them. A
fascinating sight. At the bottom we crossed a small stream and
walked on to Millrigg Farm. Walking the narrow road, we came to
and crossed the A684, then over the stile opposite to contour
left of Bundrigg Moss - a very boggy morass, and then through a
gate and onwards to a house called Birks.
Just before this Grizzly cried out
"just look at that fantastic bluebell wood! You must take a
picture Dad, to include in the story."
We were all getting hungry and
ready for lunch, so it was fortunate that by a small building
there was enough shelter to get out of the wind. The path was
then followed on to Myers, where we crossed the road, and
continued to Low Croft. Here through a gate on the right we were
now in a narrow hedged track. Uncle Eric, who had done this part
of the walk before, said "this is not recommended in the
summer as it gets totally overgrown". Today is was lined
with bluebells, celandine and other wild flowers-enchanting.
After a while we crossed a double
stile. Dad snapped Uncle Eric as he checked our route on the map.
This was across the field to the
house called Haygarth, and once past the buildings we immediately
took the bridleway, climbing left to reach open fell. We were
amused by this sign at the start of the bridleway.
Soon after the wall swung sharp
right, a cairn marked a grassy track that led to the summit of
Docker Fell marked by a post. Behind to the right was our final
objective of the day Lambrigg Fell.
We retraced our route to the
bridleway and then further along at a waymark went left, to make
the rough crossing over heather and bog to another track. Shortly
we went left of this to soon reach the rocky top of Lambrigg Fell
marked by a cairn, where we immediately jumped out for our
picture.
Now regained the track going left
to a junction, where we went left again. Climbing up we crossed a
wall by a stile, then the path passed near the wind farm. It was
then just a short walk to the car, but not before Dad snapped
this ewe with her lambs. Ah!
It had been another super walk,
despite the windy conditions and we and Dad had never walked any
of this before. Uncle Eric had done most of it, but had never
visited the summits of Docker Fell & Lambrigg Fell. We are
very proud to say that Uncle Eric has now done all the Howgill
Fells and the associated outlying summits to the east, and all
those to the west of the M6!!