You wait all year for a horseshoe and two come along in consecutive days!! After completing the Coledale Horseshoe the day before, we headed out again on another glorious day to complete the Newlands version. We were taking advantage of the stunning weather, despite some stiff legs and we figured we could take our time and have plenty of breaks. We made it round, but it did leave us struggling to move for the rest of the week and only able to complete a couple of lovely short fell walks over the last 3 days of our break. They will come in future posts, now lets get on with my favourite valley in the Lakes, Newlands. This walk would also mean I could see the views from Robinson, Hindscarth and Dale Head, which were obscured on my first round. We started off from the small car park at Little Town and headed for Newlands Church, we popped in for a quick look, and saw that the back of the church has a small area for teas and coffees. I think they are open on a Wednesday (but might be wrong on that), it would have been too early in the walk for us to stop, plus it was a Monday anyway. Not too much further had us turning at the wall and climbing steeply to High Snab Bank, this is where the Coledale Horseshoe walk from the day before hit home, as calf muscles started screaming. Thankfully the views along Littledale and back to Newlands were ever improving and before long we were climbing Blea Crags and heading to the summit of Robinson. We did stop on Blea Crags for a lengthy coffee break, enjoying some of the best views of the holiday. Robinson summit was quickly attained after the break, and again at the summit we stopped for a quick half a sandwich (call it a first lunch), enjoying the views to the Scafell group. Next was the down and up to Hindscarth, but we didn’t linger long on this summit, instead we again descended to Hindscarth Edge before the reascent to Dale Head and the views along the glacial valley holding the old mines of Castlenook and Goldscope.

At Dale Head we got talking to a guy who had walked from Grasmere that day (which is one heck of a trek), he had me taking lots of photos of him in various poses by the cairn, all whilst Linda was waiting to take one photo of me. Dale Head has some superb views and we again rested in the nearby wind shelter eating the second half of our sandwiches. We had a decision to make here, either descend from Dale Head back along the valley or carry on and climb to High Spy and the long flat walk to Maiden Moor, descending through the Yewthwaite Mines to Little Town. We took the second option, wishing to finish the horseshoe (or at least the one without Catbells), Linda saying that we could take our time. The descent from Dale Head took ages, and I remember it being a horrible climb when i ascended that way back in 2017, but we made Dale Head Tarn and quickly set off for High Spy. It clouded over a little at this point, but we made good time to High Spy and then on to Maiden Moor. The sun had dropped below the clouds above us, providing long shadows, but again we stopped for a break, before we headed down to Hause Gate and then Yewthwaite Comb. Descending through the mine scree and rocks was more than a little tricky on tired legs, but we emerged unscathed and quickly reached the car at the end of a magnificent day out. I’ve looked back at my top ten Lake District walks and both this one and Coledale would possibly make it in there, so good was the weather and walking conditions, a joy to be out there.

Start – Little Town

Route – Newlands Church – High Snab Bank – Robinson – Littledale Edge – Hindscarth – Hindscarth Edge – Dale Head – Dale Head Tarn – High Spy – Bull Crag – Maiden Moor – Yewthwaite Comb and Mines – Little Town

Distance – 10 miles   Start time – 9.30am  Time taken – 8hr 20mins  Highest Point – Dale Head 753 metres

Weather – Absolutely perfect