Name of walk	Three Fells from Mardale
Date of walk	2008-09-23
Distance walked (miles)	9
Duration of walk	4 hours 45 minutes
Weather	Sunshine and blue skies
Peaks on walk	Harter Fell, Kentmere Pike, Shipman Knotts
Walked with	On own
Parking	Mardale Head car park

Today was one of the best days for a while so I decided to do a solitary walk from Mardale over the Gatesgarth Pass to Harter Fell (2552ft), Kentmere Pike (2397ft) and Shipman Knotts (1926ft) and then all the way back again.  A walk over just over 9 miles.

I stopped at the dam first to get this picture.

and here for the view down to Mardale Head. Harter Fell is on the far left, and the Gatesgarth Pass is off left.

Excellent reflections today in Haweswater. Looking at The Rigg, to the left is Mardale Ill Bell and Riggendale leading to High Street.

Kidsty Pike on the right.

Haweswater.

The Gatesgarth Pass was very zigzaggy and the sun was in my eyes so I took no photos until almost at the top. A good view down Haweswater!

Looking over to Blea Water.

It took just over an hour to reach the summit. From the summit I could look straight down on the carpark. Clouds had started to build and it was rather windy.

Looking out to Mosedale.

Sunbathing sheep by the summit cairn

Down the other side of the Gatesgarth pass into Longsleddale.

I came across a group of four Fell Ponies.

To get to Kentmere Pike you just follow the fence line heading west for 10 minutes or so and then turn south for the grassy path and peat hags.

Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick which I walked in mist on Thursday, looking good today!

The cairn on Kentmere Pike is on the other side of the wall and there are steps to reach it. The route towards Shipman Knotts behind.

Shipman Knotts down hill on the right.

Kentmere.

The only problem with going downhill is that when I reach Shipman Knotts, I will have to reverse my route and go up! Looking back up to Kentmere Pike.

It took two and a half hours to get here. I made good time, and still had half an hour before my preset turnaround time. Mini summit cairn on Shipman Knotts with Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick and Thornthwaite Crag behind and the Kentmere Valley below.

I had to climb a 5 ft wall to get this view down Longsleddale..

On the way back, unfortunately it was uphill all the way to Harter Fell. I met a couple from Norwich on Kentmere Pike, the first people I had seen all day. We all marvelled about the weather and how lucky we were today. The Kentmere Reservoir below Ill Bell.

Looking across to Mardale Ill Bell

Back on Harter Fell looking across at Selside Pike and Branstree.

On the way down Harter Fell I met a guy with his greyhound. His dog would run about a lot on the tops and had a GPS receiver around his neck. He was trained to return to his owner when it beeped. If this failed his owner could then find him with his handset if he got lost. Ingenious? Well, that or train your dog not to run off in the first place! Looking down to the Gatesgarth Pass, I`ll go left to Mardale.

Heading back to Mardale.

I got back to the car at 2.45pm. The walk had taken 4 hours and 45 minutes. The weather was now quite dull, a bit of a contrast from this morning.