Eskdale, West Lakes

 

To most going on holiday with your horse is a bit of a crazy idea, but in fact like all holidays it just needs a bit of planning. My friend Bridget had lots of experience of this and we had talked for some time about taking our horses away. After a little research we found out that Wha House Farm (http://www.whahousefarm.co.uk/ ) would rent us a field and we booked one the Byres camping pods at Stay at Eskdale (https://www.stayineskdale.co.uk ), which had everything we needed including the Woolpack Inn next door for an evening meal. 

Our camping pod

The weather the weekend before our trip had been solid rain after an unusual dry period for Cumbria. The forecast for the three days we were away was going to be just as inclement, and as I stood in the field layby with Ryan waiting to be picked up by Bridget I was starting to think we had to be a little bit mad. The rain was on and off and I was already in waterproofs! 

 The traffic to Eskdale was surprisingly quite and Ryan and Hope travelled well. We arrived just after midday and were fortunate to be able to be let into our accommodation early. While the horses enjoyed some hay we had a civilised lunch in the outside seating area of our Byre. Food and a cup of tea always I think tastes better outside!  We got our selfs a bit unpacked and then set too getting the horses ready. We planned to ride around the north end of Eskdale and on the way go and see Marie at Wha House to talk routes and pay our field rent.

Starting at the Woolpack Farm we headed North up the lane past the Youth Hostel and quickly found Marie on her rounds of her farm. We had a good chat and decided to carry on up the valley toward Brotherikeld Farm. The further you go up the valley the better the fell views become. On a clear day you can get a good view of Slight Side, Scarfell and Scarfell Pike.

According to my book on packhorse bridges (Walking on Bridges by Robin Bray), there is a lovely packhorse bridge call Lingcove Bridge. This bridge is located about 3km North up the River Esk valley from Brotherikeld Farm. According to my bridges book there were two packhorse routes over this bridge to get to Borrowdale. The first went up to Esk Hauses where there are options or the other route went up through Ore Gap down to Angle Tarn and Langstraph into Borrowdale.  Even though we were told that local horse riders have in the past ridden on these packhorse routes, today it very hard unless you are a walker to access this valley as now there are kissing gates preventing even 4x4 wheel chair users getting up to Lingcove Bridge. Linked to these packhorse routes the surrounding fells have been declared Section 15 access land, which means horse riders have open access rights too (more info on Section 15 land below *). Hopefully one day the National Trust will again open up this valley for all and there of course could be a claim brewing here to upgrade the footpath to a bridleway considering the historic evidence.

Going back to our riding route, apologies slightly digressed there as you say! We turn around at the old red telephone box at Brotherikeld Farm and went back down the road and took the bridleway by the river bridge. This bridleway runs a few fields in from the river Esk, but after all the rain the beck crossings were a little challenging on the day we completed this route. The first beck crossing was particularly interesting as there is a gate to open with a low catch and then about 2m from the gate the beck crossing begins. Here I dismounted to open the gate, we had a tight turn for Ryan, while we waited for Bridget and Hope to get through. Hope is a very brave horse and decided to tackle the beck by sliding down the bank into the beck with her first front hoofs and delicately walking through the whooshing water. Once the gate was closed, I managed to get back on in the tight spot we were stud and then it was our turn to tackle the ford crossing. Ryan is also brave, but he decided to go about the crossing a little differently to Hope, we stud on the edge and Ryan made the necessary assessments and then without warning he did the biggest cat leap I have ever experienced. From a stand still he must of leapt 1.5 to 2m! We still landed in the edge of the water, but all landed well. Once Bridget and Hope had stopped laughing, they did ask if we were ok! Drama over we carried on, but then we came across a fallen tree across the bridleway. Time to get off again and luckily both horses fitted under the fallen branches! One more beck crossing and then we passed through Penny Hill Farm and Low Birker. Another ford crossing and then you pass by a tarn and then you wind  down through the woodland to the bridge at Gill Force. This is a great bridleway bridge, but it does have gates at both ends so it may be easier to dismount and lead across the bridge. This is the type of situation where I ask why do you need two gates? What I call ‘Over Gated’ maybe! Here the route bends around back to the main valley lane at Boot and we turned right back along the road to the Woolpack.

A lovely ride that although on the OS map should be quite straight forward, when it been wet and stormy it can become a bit of an adventure!

The weather forecast was for more rain so the horses were turned out in their holiday field with rugs on. Ryan and Hope normally never wear a rug, but without shelter it was a must when we know how wet it was likely to be!

 

A GPX file of this ride can be downloaded from Ride Cumbria Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/367414084781168

*Section 15 access land -  

 Section 15 land is common land that was created via private or lesser known act of parliaments that came into force before the main common acts and Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Public access rights were granted to these areas and some include open access rights for horses. On the ground Section 15 land looks like any other open access land and in reality it means there is a invisible line on the ground where you can and can't ride. Section 15 land is also not inclusive as you cannot ride a bike where horses are allowed either. A much simpler  system would be for all open access land to be open access for all - walking, horse riding and cyclists. It is hoped that this will happen in Wales via the Trails for Wales campaign - https://www.cyclinguk.org/trailsforwales 

If you use government website called magic maps - https://magic.defra.gov.uk/ you can see the Section 15 land and by using the info button you can see what  act of parliament the Section 15 land comes under.

Section 193 of Law of Property Act 1925 - case law allows horse riding. These areas in Cumbria are around central Lakes and Tebay.

Manchester Corporation Waterworks Act 1879 – also granted horse access rights and these areas in Cumbria are around Haweswater, Eastern Lakes.