Pandemic Peregrinations: Scout Scar, Cumbria, Spring
The limestone cliff of Scout Scar, which suddenly drops 100 ft or so down into the Lyth Valley.
I’ve had a hankering for getting up Scout Scar for a little while now.
As I’ve mentioned on this site many times before, Scout Scar holds a special place in my heart. It was here that Lisabet and I spent our first morning together, and it was also where I truly, madly, and deeply fell in love with the Lake District.
After consulting our maps, we took a new (to us) route up to Scout Scar from our front door. And it was rather delightful! The weather was much cooler today, with a stiff breeze, and with little cloud cover, giving us lovely light to work with.
If you’re curious about the name “Scout Scar”, the aspect scar ultimately comes from the Old Norse sker, meaning “to cut”, and was often used in reference to cliffs or other rocky outcrops and islands that were “cut” from the land (it’s the same root as “skerry”).
The main roads are still eerily quiet.
I love the criss-crossing of drystone walls.
Looking back down the route we were taking to Scout Scar. In the distance lies Kendal, with Benson Knott to the left, and even further in the distance you can make out the gentle rolling hills of the Howgills.
This is where the track takes you, right out onto the edge of Scout Scar. In the distance, the Eastern Lakeland Fells.
Standing right on the edge of Scout Scar’s limestone cliff, looking down the sheer drop to the Lyth Valley below.
Following the line of the limestone escarpment all the way north.
The northwards limestone escarpment of Scout Scar. You can just about make out the sea of Morecambe Bay to the right.
A runner ahead of us, as we take the route back down to Kendal from Scout Scar.
Even in the “middle of nowhere”, somewhere around Scout Scar’s gently sloping eastern side, you can find a beautifully wrought iron gate.
Heading back down to Kendal town centre via Beast Banks, one of the steepest roads in Kendal. In the distance rises Benson Knott.