Fairfield horseshoe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of the Fairfield horseshoe seen from Heron Pike with Great Rigg, Fairfield and Hart Crag in view.
Part of the Fairfield horseshoe seen from Heron Pike with Great Rigg, Fairfield and Hart Crag in view.

Fairfield Horseshoe is a classic circular ridge walk starting from Rydal or Ambleside in the English Lake District it takes in all the fells that surround the valley of the Rydal Beck. The walk is extremely popular and follows well defined paths throughout with no real difficulties, however care should be taken on the summit of Fairfield in poor visibility as the plateau of that mountain is very flat and can be quite confusing with the danger of steep drops to the north and west. The eastern side of the horseshoe from Low Sweden bridge near Ambleside to the slopes of Hart Crag follows a high dry stone wall for six kilometres, making navigation simple even in poor conditions.

There is a Fairfield Horseshoe Fell Race Which takes place annually in May, it was first organised by the Lake District Mountain Trial Association in 1966. The race is over 14 kilometres long with over 900 metres of ascent, the course record was set by Mark Roberts in 2000 with a time of 75 minutes 11 seconds.

The horseshoe walk is a 16 kilometre journey with 1100 metres of ascent and includes the peaks of:

[edit] References