LIMEFITT PARK - 8th November 2026

Photo: by Paul M

Forty-two members of SFWC made the journey to the Limefitt Park (holiday centre) in the Lake District this week, and everything went really well. Here the Club was very kindly allowed to park the coach for the day and were also all warmly welcomed into the cosy Haybarn licenced bar and restaurant attached to the site, for after-walk refreshments.

Three new potential members, Tarja, Joanne and Julia joined up with the Club for their first outing, and were welcomed by members.

Geoff’s group, starting in Limefitt Park, decided to reverse their route as a few groups were doing the same one.

Four of them set off in nice weather along the valley towards the Tongue.  All was well but after the descent the valley became very wet and boggy and paths weren't clear, which made it tough going.

They reached Thornthwaite Crag for lunch by which time the fog had come down reducing visibility to almost nil. They prodded on and met Gary's group on Froswick. They carried on along the ridge  and the fog cleared so they got a few glimpses of the views, arriving back at Limefitt Park for a couple of beers. A tough walk but was enjoyed by all.

Even before leaving the coach Keith had noticed the nice weather so decided to extend the walk. So starting at Limefitt Park they headed straight up Sour Howes. Just before the top they stopped at 11 for a two minutes silence, then on to Sallows, Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick and High Street before retracing their footsteps to Thornthwaite Crag and down the steep terrain to Threshthwaite Mouth. Following Trout Beck down was not fun as the ground was very boggy. Up to Troutbeck Tongue before the long walk back to Limefitt Park with just enough time for a quick pint.

14.5 miles and 4000 ft of ascent with 8 wainwrights. A great day.

Alan described it as a strange day of weather, but at least it stayed dry for he and Edwina. Murky at times, but some ethereal clouds swirling around the hills.

He planned a modest walk with Edwina, whose knees were troubling her, though it all got a bit changed. They started at Limefitt Park and walked up the East side of the Hagg Gill valley to the footbridge below Troutbeck Tongue. There Alan abandoned Edwina for a while as he nipped up to the top of the Tongue. Coming back down he met Ian and Gerry's group coming up. This was quite fortuitous as Mike Birkby, who was in their group, had decided he wanted to go back down, so Mike descended with Alan while Ian's group carried on. They got down to Edwina, then the 3 of them went round the Tongue towards the slate bridge, then descended via Troutbeck Park farm, Hagg Bridge and Ing Bridge to Town Head. Edwina and Alan went on to the excellent Old Post Office tea room at Longmire Yeat then back to Limefitt Park.  It ended up as around 8 miles and 1600' ascent.

Steph’s group set off on a gradual climb from Ings to Dubbs Reservoir. Here they observed two minutes silence for Remembrance Sunday. Then it was onto the Garburn Road and down to the Longmire Road path along the eastern side of Trout Beck valley. The weather was pleasant and quite warm for their lunch stop near Long Green Head. Afterwards they headed up towards Hagg Gill and crossed to the other side of the valley. The walk back to Troutbeck was along minor roads and good tracks. Here they enjoyed a hot drink before heading to Limefitt Park via a narrow track at High Fold.

John and Stuart set out from Limefitt Park to climb up the Garburn road track to Garburn Nook, where a decision was needed to either descend to Kentmere and complete a circular walk back to Limefitt, or continue, to climb to the four Wainwrights of Yoke, Ill bell, Froswick and Thornthwaite Crag.

As the weather was dry and almost windless, they decided that the plan 'B' bad weather option to Kentmere was not necessary, so it was onwards and upwards to the Wainwrights!

What a lovely climb it was too. Hazy sunshine and swirling mist at times, made for lovely views all round at times, however the final uphill section from Froswick to Thornthwaite Crag was done completely in thick mist.

Eventually, the tall drystone beacon emerged ahead, and they stopped here for lunch.

A few isolated small groups appeared and went, including Geoff's party of four, doing a clockwise traverse of the same Wainwrights!  

They began their descent by retracing the route down for a few hundred yards, then picking up a faint track leading to the right of the main route. This took them down into the Troutbeck Park valley, beside Troutbeck Tongue and along Hagg Gill and past Long Green Head back to Limefitt Park.

A change of footwear and into The Haybarn for welcome refreshments

A great day, with 11 miles and 3,000 feet of ascent, all done in the dry!

Ian’s group started from Limefitt and headed north up the Troutbeck valley with Hagg Gill on the left. They crossed the footbridge over the river to the foot of the path up The Tongue. The ascent was quite steep and slippery, so a lunch stop about two-thirds the way up was very welcome. Great views and weather at this point. Mike decided he’d had enough of climbing and opted to return down the slope and search for a favourite footbridge. Fortunately, Chairman Alan was coming down from the top and was able to ensure he got down safely.  The remaining eight reached the summit and enjoyed an easy way down to a good path alongside Hagg Gill again. They completed the walk back down the valley and through Troutbeck village to Limefitt. A lovely walk with good company.

Garry’s group found that with heavy fog encountered most of the way to Limefitt park, the prospect of views was looking slim. With a plan for 5 Wainwrights of mostly increasing height, they started the climb up to the first peak of Sour Howes. With most of them crossing it and then heading to what looked like the peak, on getting to the second peak and checking, they realised that the first one was the true peak, which meant Lorraine had to back track to get to it. They then proceeded to Sallows which had the last view from the peak for the day. On the journey from Sallows to Yoke they decided to go for the more direct route, which was a mistake, with some wide and deep bogs to cross. They then continued onto Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick where they met up with Geoff’s group on the top for a 2 group photo. They then descended down on High Street and back to Limefitt Park for some welcome refreshments. A 10.5 miles and 2800 ft route in the end.

Clare V thought Stu was just making up names on the coach but no, 10 people (including Julia and Targa on their first walks with the club), joined her for the walk from Windermere hoping for great views from Orrest Head, Sour Howes and Sallows. Rather disappointing to find Orrest Head covered in low cloud but things looked far more promising with some improving views over Windermere as they ascended Sour Howes only to have their hopes dashed by cloud rolling in from both sides as they reached the extremely unremarkable summit identifiable only by getting the phone out to check where they were. A couple of hundred metres on and the cloud had again dispersed. Taking a photo opportunity on one of the numerous little hillocks surrounding the summit it was onward towards lunch and the equally unremarkable summit of Sallows. At least this time there were extensive views which included the recently visited Sour Howes. Heading down for a relaxing and companiable walk along the Garburn Road and into Limefitt Park, enjoying some great views up the Kirkstone Pass of the hills to be enjoyed in 2 weeks time when the Club travels to Glenridding. Thanks go to Richard for back marking and confirming the summit at Sallows and the booby prize goes to Michelle who was practising some navigation and managed to leave her map on the stile about 2 miles into the walk! The group also included Nancy, Alison, Angie, Barry, Judy, and Anthony.

9 miles including the hiccup on the way up to Orrest Head, 2250ft ascent.

Thanks to Steph, Garry, Ian, Geoff, Keith, Clare, Stuart & Alan for leading the walks this week. And to the photographers - Steph, Garry, Ian, Mike B, Geoff, Paul M, Darren, Neil O, ClaireD, Howie, Clare, Michelle, Nancy, Stu & Alan.

Click HERE to open the album.

Click HERE to see Darren's Thornthwaite Crag video.

Next Walks:

Sunday 22^nd November 2026 – Glenridding via Kirkstone

5.00 p.m. departure

Northbound to Preston, M6 north to junction 36, A590/A591 to Windermere, A592 over the Kirkstone Pass to Glenridding. Park in Glenridding. Morning coffee stop at Burton services.

Sunday 6^th December 2026 - Settle – Christmas Meal

4.00 p.m. departure

Northbound to Preston, on to the M65, M65 eastbound to junction 7, via A6185/A678 to the A680, A671 to roundabout N of Whalley, A59 to Gisburn, A682/A65/B6480 to Settle. Park in Settle. Morning coffee stop at Darwen services, M65. The coach will leave Settle at 4 pm to drive to the Calf’s Head for the Christmas meal at 5 pm.

Sunday 20^th December 2026 - Hebden Bridge to Haworth

5.00 p.m. departure

Northbound to Preston, on to the M65, M65 to junction 9, A646 through Todmorden to Hebden Bridge, A6033 to Haworth. Park in Haworth. Morning coffee stop at Darwen services, M65.