Cumbria Wildlife Trust – Bentham Footpath Group

Hutton Roof Crags

3.9 miles | 6.3 km | 175 m Ascent | 4.8 Naismith miles | Valerie Eccles & Mary Pickstone
Bentham Footpath Group try to hold a few evening walks each year – typically during the summer months. Evening walks are accessible to those who have commitments during the day, and because they are typically shorter in length, they are suitable for those unable to join us for our more challenging offerings. Summer evenings can also provide great clear skies with pink sunsets, making for stunning views, although as our pictures show, that can be something of a lottery.
Even in the rain and mist though, this is a great walk – Hutton Roof is a favourite place to start a walk and is a location that we have used before. This time we start in the village centre and take a path up the edge of Hutton Roof Crags heading toward Newbiggin Crags, before heading back past Whin Yeats, and then taking quiet backroads to St John’s church, where we see the memorial stone for Bentham’s best known war hero.

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Rather Heath and Burneside

Moderate

8.8 miles | 14.1km | 212 m Ascent | 9.8 Naismith miles |David & Sheila Longton
The Bentham Footpath Group have completed a number of great walks in and around Kendal – search on the website for Staveley, Levens or the Lancaster Canal to see some of them. This walk adds to that library and because it intersects with earlier offerings, creates a great opportunity to build our mental map of the area.
We start from a layby on the “old road” – once the main route from Kendal to Windermere – and then walk through woodland on Rather Heath passing the edge of Ratherheath Tarn before striking out to Plumgarths where we visit the Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s gardens. We then head parallel to the A591 before crossing onto Kendal Fell at Helsfell Nab. Unusually for a BFG walk, we then go into the outskirts of a town (Kendal), for lunch in the park, before we head out to Burneside. We have a good look at the Church and the paper mills before heading upstream along the Kent to Bowston on a section of the Dales Way. A final section over the railway, then under the main road brings us back to our starting point.

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Blease Fell & Tebay Gill

Easy

6.2 miles | 10.0 km | 321 m Ascent | 7.8 Naismith miles | George Sheridan
The Howgills are a great place to walk – and a firm favourite of the Bentham Footpath Group. The hills here are formed from Ordovician and Silurian rocks, rather than the Carboniferous limestone elsewhere in the Yorkshire Dales, giving them a characteristic rounded appearance and a lovely velvety texture.
The Howgills are found in the triangle between Sedbergh, Kirkby Stephen and Tebay, and its to the latter that we go for this walk.
We start in Tebay village, and then head up onto the hills following the edge of Tebay Fell to the south with great views over the valley to Borrowdale until we get to the peak of Blease Fell where the vista down the Lune Valley as far as Morecambe Bay makes the climb seem well worthwhile. We then head round the fell, and back over a flattish top via Hare Shaw cairn, Weather Hill, and Waskew Head to cross Tebaygill Beck at a picturesque stone bridge, before returning to Tebay.

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Ravenstonedale and Smardale

Moderate

7.8miles | 12.6 km | 328 m Ascent | 9.5 Naismith miles | Jim Shuttleworth
Bentham Footpath Group has enjoyed many good walks in the Howgills. This time we go just a little bit further North and explore Ravenstonedale, Smardale and the fantastic Smardale Gill Viaduct.
The viaduct alone is worth the trip, but this walk offers much more: a thriving nature reserve, great views back to the Howgills and Wild Boar Fell or across to Brough Castle and Warcop Fell, industrial archaeology, and free parking within walking distance of two award winning pubs.
Much of the route is on accessible paths so although the walk is long enough to be classed as moderate, it’s not too challenging and there are some potential shortcuts.

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