We really love Lake District walks and one of our holiday was a long weekend in North Lake District. What better way to enjoy the holiday than doing what we love to do, ‘Hike and Travel‘. So I booked a cottage in Troutbeck, a small village between Keswick and Penrith and only few minutes from Blencathra.

On our way to our accommodation Troutbeck Inn Cottage, we have visited Cathedral Cave, a spectacular cave full of history and magnificent views, definitely worth visiting.

From Cathedral Cave we have driven through the Lake District and I was so amazed by the beautiful areas and added so many places on my list to visit next.

Besides walking and travelling, we really enjoy discovering new places and tasting local food.

Keswick is a market town filled with mountaineering shops and local pubs, cafes and restaurants. It is difficult not to enter in all of them and try the local delicious fudge or traditional fish and chips.

After eating a bit too much fudge, exercise is a good idea and Blencathra was the closest walking route to our accommodation.

I have seen few pictures from Blencathra but not a lot from Sharp Edge so we have decided to do the Blencathra over the Sharp Edge.

The route starts from the car park near White Horse Inn in Scales. The parking is free but limited spaces.

Blencathra, also known as Saddleback, is one of the most northerly hills in the Lake District. It has six separate fell tops, of which the highest is the Hallsfell Top at 2,848 feet (868 metres).

The climb is not very difficult on the longer path but there are other alternative paths to go up straight but very steep. After just 1 mile you can see the Sharp Edge and Blencathra summit and I was trying to control my thoughts on my fear of heights.

Once we reached to Scales Tarn, a calm, beautiful tarn at the bottom of Blencathra we have seen quite few wild campers getting ready to leave and I was thinking if I should take the route on the left or the one of the right which is over the Sharp Edge. I am a very curious person and determined to achieve my goal and that day my goal was to climb the Sharp Edge and overcome my fear of heights.

The climb over the Sharp Edge didn’t seem to be very long, compare with Striding Edge and it is challenging and it helped me with my fear of heights. I am slowly overcoming my fear by embracing it.

Once reached at the top the views are more and more spectacular.

Few more minutes of walking and we got to the Blencathra trig. From there you can see the Derwentwater, towards Kentmere Horseshoe and on clear day you can see towards Dumfries and the mountains.

The next leg of the route is to Knowe Crags at 805m height. This part of the route was really beautiful as we were walking with the sun warming our face and the views were very picturesque.

From Knower Crags we started to descend and walking on rocky terrain put some pressure on my knees but once we got near the main road the rest of the route was more ground path. Walking near the A66 road we had to cross few rivers and valleys but the rest of the path was flat.

At the end of the route you can stop for a pint and a meal at the White Horse Inn, a great way to end a lovely day outdoor.

The route is around 7.4 miles and it took around 4 hours to complete it but we didn’t take any break for lunch.

I am looking forward to ‘hike and travel’ to North Lake District soon to see other amazing places.