Bowderdale, Howgills, Cumbria, Summer
Today required… flexibility.
My initial plan for the day was to get up early and head to Kentmere for a lovely walk around the valley and its fells. It’s usually a trial to access Kentmere; the road to it from Staveley is long and narrow with few passing places. Then, once you’re at Kentmere, the only place to park is outside the church, fit for maybe 4–5 cars.
Welp, after an interesting challenge driving the narrow road all the way to Kentmere—dodging and manoeuvring past cars and tractors—I arrived at the church to find it completely full of cars.
At 9 o’clock in the morning on a work day.
So that scuppered those plans. What to do instead? I contemplated trying for Longsleddale instead, but that’s an even longer valley with a narrow one-in-one-out road.
I realised that we’ve reached the time of year where the Lake District is always going to be busy, no matter where you go or when. So instead I navigated back to Kendal and took the A685 towards the Howgills. As I was approaching them, thinking of where to explore, I remembered the Bowderdale valley in the northern Howgills. It’s been a long time since I walked in that valley; time to revisit! In fact, it has been exactly four years to the day since I last explored Bowderdale.
Bowderdale is a long north-to-south valley in the northern part of the Howgills. It’s very quiet compared to the Howgills near Sedbergh. It’s also the source of the River Lune, which winds its way north out of the valley, turns sharply west, then gouges its way south where it has carved out the impressive Lune Gorge that now houses the M6 motorway.
I initially fancied a simple hike down the valley bottom. However, the closer to the valley I got, the more I was attacked by a variety of biting flies and insects. I quickly abandoned this idea and retraced my steps back to where the trail connects with the Dales High Way. This would take me up and over West Fell and I would see what I could see of Bowderdale from above.
Turned out to be a good idea! The weather was glorious.
All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Vivitar “Series 1” 29–105mm f2.8–f3.8 zoom lens. Images made 90% in-camera using the Velvia film simulation, finished off in Affinity Photo.
From my car outside Bowderdale village, the scenery was already looking bucolic.
The country lane to Bowderdale village and ultimately Bowderdale itself. The fell in the distance is West Fell (542 m/1,778 ft), which flanks the western side of the valley.
As I was passing through Bowderdale village I could hear some scuffling on the road behind me. I was being followed by a small flock of sheep! I wonder if they were mistaking me for a local farmer or shepherd?
It felt like I was playing a game of Grandma’s Footsteps/Red Light, Green Light/Statues with the sheep. I would turn to look at them, and they’d stop and suddenly find the grass very interesting.
Leaving Bowderdale village, the path climbs up and I catch my first glimpse of Yarlside (639 m/2,096 ft), all the way down Bowderdale.
This was as far as I got on the trail towards the valley bottom, before I was mobbed by biting insects. Time to retrace and look for a different route.
I instead elected for the Dales High Way, which take me up and over West Fell above Bowderdale. Here’s the scene looking back at my progress.
As I near the summit of West Fell, the views west towards Bush Howe above the Langdale valley open up.
On the West Fell ridge, Yarlside comes into view again and the temptation to get a better look proves strong.
Above Yarlside a solitary puffy cloud catches my eye.
Another cloud makes its presence known above Randygill Top.
I neared the eastern edge of West Fell to get a sense of the drop down to Bowderdale.
On the western side of West Fell, East Grain and West Grain join underneath Cobles (534 m/1,751 ft) to become Langdale Beck, which has carved out this beautiful valley.
Looking back north along the shoulder of West Fell to admire the view and track my progress.
It must be noted that this route is probably best tackled in the summer. The trail from the village to West Fell isn’t properly paved, and the fell top shows signs of bogs. This will be a wet and muddy experience in any other season.
Another look west towards Langdale before I crest the summit of West Fell and examine the scene.
The trail drops off West Fell and carries on towards Hazelgill Knott (578 m/1,896 ft) and beyond to the rest of the Howgills. That would be for another day. It was getting awfully hot.
Yarlside in full, which marks the head of Bowderdale. The path at the bottom of Bowderdale skirts around the western flank of Yarlside before dropping down Cautley Spout, one of England’s tallest waterfalls.
I returned to Bowderdale village, and ultimately my car, via the same route, snapping this beautiful bucolic scene.
Bowderdale, Howgills, Cumbria, Summer by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
