Sour Howes, Sallows, Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick, Thornthwaite Crag & Troutbeck Tongue - Tuesday 14 October 2025
Route
Troutbeck - The Howe - Applethwaite Common - Sour Howes - Moor Head - Sallows - Garburn Pass - Yoke - Ill Bell - Froswick - Thornthwaite Crag - Park Fell - Troutbeck Park - Troutbeck Tongue - Hagg Bridge - Ing Bridge - Ing Lane - Town Head - Troutbeck
Parking
Small Car Park on the road linking the A592 & Troutbeck Village (Free) - Grid Ref NY 412027. The nearest postcode is LA23 1PB. There is also parking on the A592 near Church Bridge but please park responsibly and carefully along this busy road.
Mileage
13.5 miles
Terrain
Good mountain paths throughout with some road walking on quiet lanes
Weather
Low cloud in the valley below 1600ft with a full temperature inversion above with sunshine & fresh breezes
Time Taken
8hrs 20mins
Total Ascent
3956ft (1206m)
Wainwrights
7
Map
OL7 - The English Lakes - South Eastern Area
Walkers
Dave with members of Lakeland Meet Ups
Troutbeck - The Howe - Applethwaite Common - Sour Howes - Moor Head - Sallows - Garburn Pass - Yoke - Ill Bell - Froswick - Thornthwaite Crag - Park Fell - Troutbeck Park - Troutbeck Tongue - Hagg Bridge - Ing Bridge - Ing Lane - Town Head - Troutbeck
Parking
Small Car Park on the road linking the A592 & Troutbeck Village (Free) - Grid Ref NY 412027. The nearest postcode is LA23 1PB. There is also parking on the A592 near Church Bridge but please park responsibly and carefully along this busy road.
Mileage
13.5 miles
Terrain
Good mountain paths throughout with some road walking on quiet lanes
Weather
Low cloud in the valley below 1600ft with a full temperature inversion above with sunshine & fresh breezes
Time Taken
8hrs 20mins
Total Ascent
3956ft (1206m)
Wainwrights
7
Map
OL7 - The English Lakes - South Eastern Area
Walkers
Dave with members of Lakeland Meet Ups
GPX Files
From 1 March 2025 GPX files will not be available directly from the walk page as there is difficulty in using a downloadable version from the website. To that end, if you require a GPX File please get in touch via the Contact Form below and we will gladly forward it to you - thank you.
From 1 March 2025 GPX files will not be available directly from the walk page as there is difficulty in using a downloadable version from the website. To that end, if you require a GPX File please get in touch via the Contact Form below and we will gladly forward it to you - thank you.
Route Map
After an inauspicious start from Troutbeck via the summits of Sour Howes & Sallows I was hopeful of a temperature inversion today. These are never guaranteed and it was absolutely fantastic to pop up out of the cloud near the summit of Yoke into sunshine and clarity. It was also great to share the conditions with a group of walkers, some of whom had never witnessed an inversion before.
A temperature inversion is where temperature increases with height. The lowest part of our atmosphere is the troposphere, which can extend to heights of 16 km and is where most of the weather happens. It is also a section of the atmosphere where the temperature typically gets lower the higher up you go, for example, when you climb a mountain it is often colder at the top. However, sometimes a small layer can form where the temperature increases with height. This layer is called an inversion. This often happens in areas of high pressure, where the air high up sinks towards the ground. As it falls, it dries out and warms up. This warm layer of air can act as a lid and trap cooler air near the surface (this is because warm air is more buoyant than cold air, and so it will tend to 'float' above the colder air, trapping it). This gives us the inversion, because if you were now to climb the mountain it would get warmer as you got to the top. This is inverted compared to what you would normally expect, hence the term 'inversion'. Inversions are most common in winter when mist and fog become trapped in the cooler air low down, but inversions can happen all year round. (Source - Met Office)
A temperature inversion is where temperature increases with height. The lowest part of our atmosphere is the troposphere, which can extend to heights of 16 km and is where most of the weather happens. It is also a section of the atmosphere where the temperature typically gets lower the higher up you go, for example, when you climb a mountain it is often colder at the top. However, sometimes a small layer can form where the temperature increases with height. This layer is called an inversion. This often happens in areas of high pressure, where the air high up sinks towards the ground. As it falls, it dries out and warms up. This warm layer of air can act as a lid and trap cooler air near the surface (this is because warm air is more buoyant than cold air, and so it will tend to 'float' above the colder air, trapping it). This gives us the inversion, because if you were now to climb the mountain it would get warmer as you got to the top. This is inverted compared to what you would normally expect, hence the term 'inversion'. Inversions are most common in winter when mist and fog become trapped in the cooler air low down, but inversions can happen all year round. (Source - Met Office)
Near the summit of Yoke with Great Gable & Pillar a distant left. In the centre left is Red Screes with the Helvellyn range beyond
My oh my what a treat we had today - Caudale Moor over to the left, our next summit of Ill Bell straight ahead with High Street & Mardale Ill Bell beyond
Harter Fell & Kentmere Pike
Their smiling faces say it all - my walking companions on the summit of Yoke with a fantastic backdrop
Nicky & Floki on the summit of Yoke
It was also good to share this day with my good friend Paul, like me ex Royal Navy and a former shipmate of mine
Ill Bell over Rainsborrow Cove with High Street, Mardale Ill Bell & Harter Fell beyond. The Nan Bield Pass which links Mardale Ill Bell & Harter Fell is in cloud to the right of centre.
The group approaching Ill Bell
Approaching Ill Bell looking back to Yoke
Same view but from a little nearer to the summit
There are two large cairns on the summit of Ill Bell - this one is the southern cairn
The northern cairn lies just a 100 yards away and is considered to be the highest point although there is no real height difference between the ground housing both cairns
Looking into the abyss with Caudale Moor to the left, Froswick centre with Thornthwaite Crag & High Street beyond
What a view over to the west - it just doesn’t get much better than this
I was hoping for a Brocken Spectre and all of a sudden several opportunities came along as we progressed along the ridge
Named after the German mountain on which it was first noted, a Brocken Spectre is a large shadow of an observer cast onto cloud or mist. When an observer stands on a hill which is partially enveloped in mist and in such a position that their shadow is thrown on to the mist, they may get the illusion that the shadow is a person seen dimly through the mist. The illusion is that this person or 'spectre' is gigantic and at a considerable distance away from them. The sun shining behind the observer projects their shadow through the mist, while the magnification of the shadow is an optical illusion which makes the shadow on nearby clouds seem at the same distance at faraway landmarks seen through the cloud. Similarly, the shadow falls upon water droplets of varying distance which distorts perception and can make the shadow appear to move as the clouds vary and shift. This all combines to make the rather disorienting effect of a giant shadow moving in the distance. The term 'Brocken Spectre' was coined in 1780 by Johann Silberschlag, a German pastor and natural scientist who frequented the Harz mountains. The term has been popularly used throughout literature, mentioned in works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Dickens and Lewis Carroll amongst others. (Source - Met Office)
Named after the German mountain on which it was first noted, a Brocken Spectre is a large shadow of an observer cast onto cloud or mist. When an observer stands on a hill which is partially enveloped in mist and in such a position that their shadow is thrown on to the mist, they may get the illusion that the shadow is a person seen dimly through the mist. The illusion is that this person or 'spectre' is gigantic and at a considerable distance away from them. The sun shining behind the observer projects their shadow through the mist, while the magnification of the shadow is an optical illusion which makes the shadow on nearby clouds seem at the same distance at faraway landmarks seen through the cloud. Similarly, the shadow falls upon water droplets of varying distance which distorts perception and can make the shadow appear to move as the clouds vary and shift. This all combines to make the rather disorienting effect of a giant shadow moving in the distance. The term 'Brocken Spectre' was coined in 1780 by Johann Silberschlag, a German pastor and natural scientist who frequented the Harz mountains. The term has been popularly used throughout literature, mentioned in works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Dickens and Lewis Carroll amongst others. (Source - Met Office)
Ghosts in the mist?? No, just group members in their very own Brocken Spectre.
Brocken Spectre (Click Play to view)
Looking across Kentmere Common to Lingmell End in the mist & Harter Fell beyond
Ill Bell from the approach to Froswick
The summit of Froswick looking to Ill Bell
The view from Froswick (Click Play to view)
A solo Brocken Spectre, this time from Froswick
Leaving Froswick for Thornthwaite Crag
Froswick from the approach to Thornthwaite Crag
Approaching Thornthwaite Crag, Kentmere Reservoir comes into view below Froswick
The group on the summit of Thornthwaite Crag with Caudale Moor, Fairfield & the Helvellyn Range beyond
Ill Bell peeping out of the mist
A Thornthwaite Crag panorama
High Street from Thornthwaite Crag
Whilst we were having lunch Dot received a visit from a Red Admiral Butterfly
From Thornthwaite Crag we headed back towards Froswick in order to pick up the path to the right heading over Park Fell towards Troutbeck Tongue. The path splits at Grid Reference NY 43319 09442 and is vague at this point making it an easy one to miss therefore you need to keep looking out for it. A few yards further on it becomes more easier to follow as it drops down into Troutbeck Park.
Heading down Park Fell - our next summit of Troutbeck Tongue is left of centre
Looking back to Threshthwaite Mouth which is enveloped in low cloud - Caudale Moor is to the left & Thornthwaite Crag to the right
Floki is top dog as we reach the summit of Troutbeck Tongue looking to a distant Windermere
Heading along Ing Lane we had a brief chat with some of the locals
Arriving back in Troutbeck there was only one thing for it - a debrief
The group relaxing in the Beer Garden of The Mortal Man after a fantastic day in the Far Eastern Fells