Height: 553 metres / 1816 feet Grid reference: NY 50070 04912
The Bannisdale Horseshoe
Start point: Dryhowe Bridge (NY 531 017)
Dryhowe Bridge, Bannisdale – Whiteside Pike (292) (OF) – Todd Fell (293) (OF) – Capplebarrow (294) (OF) – Ancrow Brow (295) – Long Crag on Bannisdale Fell (296) (OF) – White How (Bannisdale) (297) (OF) – Borrowdale Head (298) –Lamb Pasture (299) (OF) – Dryhowe Bridge, Bannisdale
Weather: Fine with sunny spells.
Today’s walk is a round of Bannisdale, a remote and virtually uninhabited (and unvisited) valley to the north east of Kendal. The walk basically follows Wainwright’s The Bannisdale Horseshoe chapter in his book ‘The Outlying Fells of Lakeland’, page 260, this being the longest round in the book. Ancrow Brow and Borrowdale Head are tagged ‘un-named’ by Wainwright and confusingly Birkett’s Ancrow Brow is different to the one marked on the O.S map.This walk was harder than it appears on the map due to the nature of the grassy hills which are boggy and tussocky and make hard going.