Cunswick Scar, Lake District, Summer
After a wet week, it was nice to get up on the fells above Kendal.
After a wet week, it was nice to get up on the fells above Kendal.
On the Sunday, Lisabet had a series of obligations to attend to, so I took the opportunity for a solo hike. As Kendal sits in a valley (Kent + Dale, that is, “the valley of the river Kent”), it is flanked east and west by small fells. On the western side of the valley the ground gently rises up before terminating in a series of limestone cliffs plunging down to the Lyth Valley. The main fell here is Scout Scar, a local favourite, but a smaller sibling can be found further north: Cunswick Scar.
On this occasion my route to the summit was a fairly standard one: head up through the winding paths and roads through Kendal to the Helsfell Nab path. Follow the path all the way up and around Helsfell Nab, cross the bridge over the A591, and continue on the gently rising trail all the way to the summit cairn of Cunswick Scar.
A beautiful summer’s day.
All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Vivitar “Series 1” 28–105mm f2.8–f3.8 lens. RAWs converted in Capture One for iPad, developed in RNI Films, finished in Affinity Photo for iPad.
Cunswick Scar, Lake District, Summer by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
A glorious day in Kendal, full of promise.
Up on Queen’s Road. The views over Kendal here are already beautiful.
On the Helsfell Nab path you round an allotment above Windermere Road. Gardening here must be lovely with views like this.
I can never resist these two compositions when walking the Helsfell Nab path.
It all just lines up in such a pleasing way.
Even the local sheep like to pause from grazing to enjoy the views every now and then.
At these disused barns the path rounds Helsfell Nab and climbs sharply up. You’re then above the A591, where you cross the bridge over the road to continue on towards Cunswick Scar.
The route is clear all the way up to the summit. Sheep peacefully graze and wander the fell.
The summit cairn and the crackin’ views all the way towards the Kentmere fells.
A zoomed in composition shows off the Kentmere fells with light and shadow dancing across their features.
Directly west from the summit, the rolling Lyth Valley is capped by the distance Lake District fells.
Time to navigate off Cunswick Scar’s shoulder. Like Scout Scar, the fell is primarily composed of limestone, so different flora flourishes on the fell compared to the Kendal valley.
The views heading back east ain’t too bad either. Nearest, to the right, is Benson Knott, and in the distance are the beautiful Howgills.
Oh! A winding drystone wall? Time for a photo then.
For the returning route, I chose the path over Kendal Fell Golf Course. Across the field is the back of Helsfell Nab.
A herd of cows rest in the afternoon sun.
Not a bad place for a golf course, eh?
Back down Beast Banks into town.
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Cunswick Fell, Lake District, Summer
Sometimes, as an Englishman, you just need to have a proper English Countryside experience.
Sometimes, as an Englishman, you just need to have a proper English Countryside experience.
For one reason or another, I’ve not been feeling 100% mentally and emotionally this week. Saturday arrived as a glorious summer’s day. We knew the Lake District would be absolutely heaving with people. Instead, we opted for a local 9km walk around the Cunswick Fell area.
It was just the tonic. The sun was warm, but a gentle cool breeze made things comfortable. The fields and meadows were bursting with tall grasses and wildflowers. The atmosphere was crisp and the distant fells were clear as a bell. One of the those hikes where you can’t take a bad photo and makes you feel truly grateful.
All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my three prime lenses: a Samyang 35mm f/1.2, a Laowa 9mm f/2.8, and an adapted Pentax SMC 55mm f/2.0. Images were 80% made in-camera using a customised Velvia film simulation, with minor edits afterwards in Lightroom and Affinity Photo.
After leaving the Cumbria Wildlife Trust HQ, where we parked, we took the trail off the road and through the fields. Immediately, scenes like this greeted us. Just pure bucolic perfection.
Buttercups everywhere, and the Kentmere fells so clear you could almost reach out and touch them.
Lisabet snapping as happily as I was.
Near Halhead Hall Farm, a trail through the woods underneath Cunswick Fell takes you 60 m up towards the fell.
Up on Cunswick Fell, the views soon start to open up. Here is the view looking east towards the Howgills.
The Lake District fells across the Lyth Valley from Cunswick Fell. It doesn’t get a lot better than this.
We scanned around the western shoulder of Cunswick Fell, looking for the trail down Scar Wood towards Cunswick Tarn.
This is the limestone woods of Scar Wood, underneath Cunswick Scar. It takes you down to the Lyth Valley.
The trail then leads through the edge of Ash Spring Wood, filled with wild garlic.
And then you pop out of Ash Spring Wood to be greeted with endless fields of tall grass and the Coniston Fells.
Over the wall near us, this gorgeous Holstein Friesian was inching closer, being as inquisitive as cows are.
The way to Cunswick Hall, which is where we join the ancient country road Gamblesmire Lane back towards Cunswick Fell.
Happy cows, basking in the sun.
Just ridiculous views, no matter which way you look.
Looking back down Gamblesmire Lane, the Lake District fells looking crisp as ever even with the extra cloud cover.
A Hawthorn-lined track that leads back to the summit of Cunswick Fell.
My lovely little Lisabet, leading the way back down the woods towards our car.
Just one of those perfect English countryside summer days.
Pandemic Peregrinations: Cunswick Tarn, Cumbria, Spring
One of the nice things about getting out for our Daily Government Permitted Outdoor Exercise is researching and exploring unfamiliar footpaths and tracks in and around Kendal.
Cunswick Hall. What you see has been standing since its modernisation in the 1800s, but there aspects of the property still remaining from the 1500s, including a window which is said to contain the oldest glass in Westmorland. Historically the manor belonged to the Leyburn family.
One of the nice things about getting out for our Daily Government Permitted Outdoor Exercise is researching and exploring unfamiliar footpaths and tracks in and around Kendal.
Today we explored a route Lisabet had mapped out earlier in the week. It involved taking the public footpath past Kendal Fell Quarry, up towards Cunswick Fell, and then taking the trail down its western flank into Scar Wood to find Cunswick Tarn.
From there, it was simple enough to follow the footpath past Cunswick Hall joining Gamblesmire Lane and following it back onto Underbarrow Road towards Kendal.
Another day of glorious spring weather and lovely light conditions for some prime exercise and photography.
In other news, as of 9am 18th April 2020, 114,217 people in the UK have tested positive for COVID-19 from the Coronavirus. As of 5pm on 17th April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 15,464 have died, a 13.54% death rate.
May all those suffering find peace.
Emerging north of Kendal Fell Quarry into an open field with glorious views towards the Kentmere fells.
Down we go into Scar Wood below Cunswick Fell.
Limestone woods always have very interesting flora.
Cunswick Tarn! There’s not actually a path around the tarn, so you have to come off the trail and navigate through the swampy undergrowth to get to the tarn’s shore. We immediately spotted the water lilies and mentally bookmarked a return trip in summer when these will have blossomed some beautiful flowers.
Looking back into Ash Spring Woods from its exit. We could already see one or two bluebells blooming in these woods, surrounded also by wild garlic. In a week or two’s time this wood will enjoy a carpet of blue and white.
Gamblesmire Lane, an ancient lane running west to east that connects the village of Underbarrow in the Lyth Valley to Kendal.
Looking east along Gamblesmire Lane, my Lisabet striding purposefully ahead.
Badger Faced ewes have an afternoon snooze under the tree.
Pandemic Peregrinations: Cunswick Fell, Cumbria, Spring
Today, we ventured up towards Serpentine Woods, up and over Kendal Fell, and onwards towards Cunswick Fell, with gorgoeus views along the way.
My Lisabet, navigating through a narrow stile in the wall. The yellow fell in the distance on the right is Cunswick Fell, with the jagged peaks in the distance being the Lake District fells.
It’s easy to lose track of time at the moment.
The UK is on a full lockdown. People are to stay in their homes and only venture out to shop for essentials, for medical purposes, to get to and from work, and once a day for exercise.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) at the time of writing has infected a confirmed 17,000+ people in the UK, killing over 1,000 people. May the dead find peace.
Lisabet and I are immensely fortunate in that for our allocated outdoor exercise time we can walk straight from our front into the open countryside around Kendal.
Today, we ventured up towards Serpentine Woods, up and over Kendal Fell, and onwards towards Cunswick Fell, with gorgoeus views along the way.
I hope you enjoy these photos. May they give you calm during these troubling times.
This gorgeous cottage sits just below Serpentine Woods. You should seeing it during Christmas…
Another cottage that sits at the entrance of Serpentine Woods. This one, unfortunately, hasn’t fared so well.
As the views started to open up you could really get to grips with how Kendal is situated in its valley.
I mostly took this because I enjoyed the way the dip in the field below mirrored the shape of Benson Knott in the distance. That’s all.
Working our way around the shoulder of Kendal Fell.
These are the sort of gorgeous views I’m talking about.
The summit of Cunswick Fell (175 m/574 ft), with the Kentmere fells in shadow in the distance.
A closer view of the Kentmere fells from the summit of Cunswick Fell.
A panoramic view looking back to Kendal Fell, which also houses a golf course.
My little Lisabet looking small in the limestone landscape of Cunswick Fell.
It was super windy on the fells today, meaning that the sun kept playing hide ‘n’ seek throughout our hike. Here the sun illuminated Cunswick Fell.
Two Swaledale ewes, Cunswick Fell, and the Lake District fells in the distance. Such a Cumbrian scene.
It’s still weird to see the roads being empty…
The way back home. Spring has arrived.
Nearly home.
Take care, you. Stay home and stay safe.
This, too, shall pass.