Whitbarrow, Lake District, Summer
It was time to continue exploring a “local” fell.
It was time to continue exploring a “local” fell.
The first time Lisabet and I checked out Whitbarrow was only a few months ago, March in fact. Considering it’s just a few miles west of Kendal, it’s incredible that we’d never hiked up the fell in all our time living round here.
Our spring hike gave us a nice little introduction to the potential of Whitbarrow. Now we’re in the summer, we ventured up once again with a slightly different—and longer—route.
In particular, after summiting Lord’s Seat we took the trail through the Nature Reserve part of Whitbarrow to find a landscape more akin to a tropical jungle!
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using two of my prime lenses: a Samyang 35mm f/1.2 and an adapted Pentax SMC 55mm f/2.0. Images made 75% in-camera using a customised Classic Chrome film simulation, with some finishing edits afterwards in Snapseed and Affinity Photo.
The area around Whitbarrow seems to be a veritable treasure trove for wild food foragers! Near where we parked, we found a hedge full of sloe or blackthorn, Prunus spinosa. Anyone fancy making some sloe gin?
The hike up and through the Township Plantation to get onto the fell gave us an indication of how fecund Whitbarrow was in comparison to March. Ferns everywhere.
Despite only being the first day of August, some of the abundant fern was already changing into its autumn colours.
A silver birch surrounded by multi-hued fern caught my eye as we approached the open limestone fellside of Whitbarrow.
The soft transition of light between the highlighted ferns and tree trunks compared to the gloom of the inner woodland.
Pretty purple heather is starting to blossom. A sure sign that late summer is coming.
We exited the Township Plantation and followed the trail east up onto the open fell.
Looking back at the woodland we navigated through to get onto the open fellside.
This is where you start to see some fantastic limestone formations and glacial erratics ahoy. My lovely Lisabet providing a sense of scale here. In the distance, a little to the right, you can just make out the unmistakeable shape of Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales.
Young cows up on the fell didn’t want to give me and my camera too much attention.
The wonderful contortions of the common juniper, Juniperus communis.
I followed Lisabet on a trail northwards, to see how the views opened up towards the Lake District fells. The clarity was rather lovely.
Lisabet checking out some of the more shapely trees around the northern edge of Whitbarrow. Additionally, a view of the Langdale Pikes could clearly be made out.
We retraced our steps and picked out a trail heading south towards the Flodder Allotment part of Whitbarrow. The path took us through a silver birch plantation near Horse Pasture Wood.
This is the way to the summit of Whitbarrow, known as Lord’s Seat. There were plenty of other hikers around the fell, though certainly not enough to make the area feel busy.
As we gain height the views of the surrounding fells open up. A young family play around the limestone escarpment that forms a natural boundary for the Nature Reserve. In the hazy distance lies the Howgills.
Approaching the wind-blasted summit and cairn of Lord’s Seat, which also serves as a signal to take a rest for water and a snack.
The view south from Lord’s Seat. Rather lovely isn’t it? To the right is the coastal village of Arnside with Arnside Knott above it, and in the far distance is the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.
We closed in on the limestone wall that serves as a natural perimeter of the Whitbarrow Nature Reserve. I couldn’t resist these curving shapes offered by a pair of juniper trees set against the escarpment.
There are plenty of trees that grow out of the limestone wall, which then get blasted by the wind, resulting in remarkable scenes like this.
We finally found the trail that heads into the Whitbarrow Nature Reserve and took it northwards to eventually rejoin our original path. I’ve never seen a place like it! Very much like a jungle.
As we neared the Township Plantation once again, the Nature Reserve opened up and we found this beautiful world of limestone columns, stunted trees, and the floor carpeted in flowers. Like a lost world.
Two pillars of limestone, putting me in mind of a bee hive or something. Incredible.
Pandemic Peregrinations: Whitbarrow, Cumbria, Spring
I’ve often gazed longingly at Whitbarrow Scar from afar.
I’ve often gazed longingly at Whitbarrow Scar from afar.
Finally we decided to clamber around it.
Whitbarrow (215m/705ft) is a limestone hill, much like its neighbour Scout Scar, with whom I’m much more familiar with. Whitbarrow is further west of Scout Scar across the Lyth Valley, but covers a much larger area. When viewed from the A590 south of the fell, Whitbarrow presents some sheer and imposing cliff faces that I instantly fell in love the first time I saw them. I resolved to one day wander around the contours of Whitbarrow. Today was that day.
Whitbarrow is definitely not as easy to access as Scout Scar. Whereas Scout Scar can be reached with ease from the tiny car park near its northern edge (or walked to directly from Kendal), Whitbarrow has no official car park nearby and is surrounded only by tiny villages and hamlets. We elected to park in one of the laybys off the A5074, then walk into the village of The Row to find the footpaths up onto Whitbarrow.
We spent a good 2-3 hours around Whitbarrow and quickly got the distinct impression that this was a fell that we could return to time and time again, and still not see all of that. The fell is quite vast and varied. Its western flank drops down steeply to the valley floor at Whitbarrow Scar, but does so more smoothly compared to Scout Scar’s vertical cliffs. The eastern part of Whitbarrow is a protected Nature Reserve, featuring limestone shelves, limestone pavements full of clints and grikes, and lots of woodland.
We managed to summit the fell at Lord’s Seat and made a small loop back towards The Row. There is still a lot to more explore of Whitbarrow, and I look forward to returning again.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my three prime lenses: a Samyang 35mm f/1.2, a Laowa 9mm f/2.8, and a converted Pentax SMC 55mm f/2.0. Developed using RNI’s Kodachrome film profiles.
As we started to ascend out of The Row, the views across the Lyth Valley towards the Far Eastern Lake District fells quickly opened up. We were blessed with another lovely day of weather.
There is considerably more woodland on and around Whitbarrow compared to Scout Scar.
From the woodland near The Row known as the Township Plantation, we branched off west towards the cliffs of Whitbarrow Scar. We wanted to see what the views towards the Lake District fells were like.
The way forward, with some runners up ahead. The sky was a lot more dramatic today, but still thankfully dry.
Now that’s a view. The Langdale Pikes towards the right, Wetherlam and the Coniston fells towards the left. Dappled light everywhere. Glorious scenes.
The cliffs north of Whitbarrow Scar with the Eastern Lake District fells in the distance.
Just amazing views of the Kentmere and Longsleddale fells.
Near Bell Rake the land drops away sharply, exposing these silver birch to the consistent westerly winds.
One of many glacial erratics around Whitbarrow, physical testament to the fell’s ice age history.
After summiting at Lord’s Seat we followed the “spine” south from the summit, taking in the views towards Morecambe Bay along the way.
Getting closer to the precipitous drop of Whitbarrow Scar.
A wall prevents you from getting near the edge, lest you tumble towards the valley floor. Wind-blasted trees give an indication of what the conditions can be like on the fell.
More wind-blasted silver birch with moody skies.
Just one example of the almost impossibly perfect wall-like structure of the limestone pavements found near the Whitbarrow Nature Reserve.
Whitbarrow Nature Reserve is a limestone woodland, featuring all manner of flora that survives in the acidic soil conditions and changeable weather.
My ultra-wide 9mm lens had some fun following various tree trunks and branches for more unusual compositions.
We found this weird tree that appeared to have a separate tentacle-like trunk growing out of it. I got close and low with my 9mm lens to follow the line of this trunk.
A rather unusual tree, to my experience; the trunk is almost tendon-like in its structure. Google thinks this is Hesperocyparis macrocarpa, a Monterey cypress tree.
The way back to The Row through the Township Plantation. We’ll be back, Whitbarrow…