Explore with Amie

Arguably one of the most popular horseshoes in the Lake District is the Fairfield one. With multiple options for shorter routes and various starting points, this route is popular with tourists and walkers alike. The route I am going to share with you today begins and ends in Ambleside and includes nine different wainwrights so its a great one if you’re attempting to bag them all.

To avoid walking on the main road to begin, we started the walk by heading up to Ambleside’s Rock Shop and along North Road. When you reach the end, turn left and then right, past Cumbria University and you’ll soon be on a gravel track that takes you off and into the fells. This portion of the walk talks about 1.5km so there is a little bit of road walking to begin with but I still believe that this is the best route to take. The route is fairly hilly from the offset but requires no technical skills at all beyond stepping up a few rockier areas.

In terms of the Wainwrights, the first that you bag on this route is Low Pike, followed by High Pike. These two are 508 metres and 656 metres respectively. You reach your first peak just over 4km into the walk. However, the real crowning jewel of these wainwrights is not the peak itself but the views looking back over Lake Windermere. In fact, both the ascent and the descent look over the entirety of Lake Windermere and you really get a sense of how big the lake actually is. The Fairfield Horseshoe is famous for these incredible views and I can completely see why. In fact, even people uninterested in hiking the full route should head up to Low Pike to have a look at this incredible view. It is well worth it, trust me.

The next wainwright is Dove Crag which is 792m tall. It’s worth noting that you can walk either side of the stone wall on the path between Low Pike and Dove Crag – they both go the same way. Then, it is onto Hart Crag at 823m and the second highest of the wainwrights on this route. Myself and Alex have actually bagged both Dove and Hart Crag before as part of a route from near Kirkstone pass, up High Hartstop Dodd and back down to bag Hartstop Above How. You can read more about that route here. I thought it was just Hart Crag at the time but we actually went up both of them. That doesn’t matter though, there is no harm hitting them twice.

The biggest of all the peaks on this walk is Fairfield which is actually the tallest of all the Eastern Fells at 873m. We were lucky that the building clouds waited until we passed the summit to head across and we had a relatively clear day. Fairfield is plateau, not to them extra as Ingelborough or High Street but, it nevertheless is worth being cautious in poor visibility. As I said, that wasn’t the case of us though, albeit it was windy. There is a dry stone wall sheltered area on the top which would be a great lunch spot on this walk. Unfortunately, someone was already there when we reached the top so we ploughed straight on.

The weather on the way down was changeable to say the least. To say that I was in a sun hat and very thankful for the sun cream that I had applied at the start of the walk, it was soon time to get out the rain coats. As we reached the sixth wainwright, Great Rigg, we were hit with pelting rain from one side. It was crazy! Half of my body was wet and half of each leg. I’ve never been so half-wet! That wasn’t ideal but the shower only lasted a couple of minutes, though the damage was done. It soon brightened up again and we could enjoy the rest of the walk in the sun.

On the descent, it is also worth looking down to the right as you have views of Rydal Water as well as Lake Windermere up ahead. As you can see from the pictures, and as I keep reiterating, these are views not to be missed. Great Rigg (766m), Rydal Fell (621m), Heron Pike (612m) and Nab Scar (455m) are you peaks on the descent though non of these particularly stand out as peaks. They are rocky outcrops rather than having trig points or any other identifiable feature. In fact, Alex’s brother joined us on this walk and were were chatting away and not hugely following the map (not recommended, though it was so clear we knew where we were going). This mean’t we didn’t actually know when we reached each one; I was just hopping up any seeming peaks on the way down to make sure we were getting them all. I’ll always be annoyed that we so obviously skirted The Knott on our three day, two night walk from Windermere to Glenridding. I’m not making that mistake again.

The final portion of the walk takes you past Rydal Hall which has some lovely gardens for you to have a look at on your way through. Rydal was, of course, the home of William Wordsworth. On past the hall and down a gravel track, soon you reach the main road that links Rydal to Ambleside. It’s just a case of heading back along the road and to your car park. Parking at Rydal Road car park does avoid walking through Ambleside town centre on the way out and in but that was no bother.

If you would like to have a look at the route in more detail, visit Map Pedometer here and, as always, I’ve included the step by step below. Would GPX files also be helpful? Let me know.

Start Point: Ambleside Church of England Primary School

1. Head back up the road towards the town centre.
2. Turn right up Rydal Road and then left at the traffic lights at the top of the hill.
3. Take the next road on the left towards Ambleside Rock Shop.
4. At the end of the road, turn left and then right down Nook Lane.
5. Continue down this lane and eventually you will reach a farm. Here, the road becomes a gravel track.
6. Follow in the path straight and through the gate, before bending around to the right.
7. Continue to follow the boundary wall and through the gates.
8. When you reach a fork, the path on the right heads down into the valley towards the river. Keep left and continue to follow the boundary wall.
9. Follow the path to Low Pike and then onto High Pike. Be sure to look back for views over Lake Windermere.
10. Continue straight to Dove Crag, ignoring any offshoots from the path.
11. After Dove Crag, follow the path as it bends to the left, towards the rocky peak of Hart Crag. You should see Brothers Water down the valley to the right.
12. Continue onto Fairfield.
13. At the Peak of Fairfield, head to the left towards Great Rigg. You should be facing towards Lake Windermere now.
14. Continue to follow the path all the way back down into the valley – there are a few short ascents up and down but these are minor.
15. Soon, you come to the zig, zagging path down to Rydal Hall.
16. Follow the signposts for the public footpath to Ambleside, passing the campsite along a lane.
17. When you reach the main road, turn left and head back towards Ambleside. Be careful crossing to the pavement here as the road is busy and the corners are a little blind.
18. Head back to the car park.

End Point: Ambleside Church of England Primary School

This is a phenomenal route with great view and lots of wainwright. What more could you ask for?

Amie x