Pete's Walks - The Dales Way
Day 6 2/07/04 Burton Hill to Bowness-on-Windermere (12 miles)
I think this was our longest journey to the start of a walk, the minibus trip from Malhamdale taking over an hour.
We started walking from the A6, soon passing the village of Burneside, a couple of miles north of Kendal. As so often, the Dales Way followed a river, this time the Kent. After a couple of miles we left the river and passed another village, Stavely.
We carried on across country, through pastures often interspersed with rocky outcrops. We occasionally got glimpses of the mountainous Lake District ahead, and sometimes good views back the way we’d come.
Somewhere in the south-east of the Lake District!
Somewhere in the south-east of the Lake District!
Eventually we neared the small eminence of School Knott, and like most Dales Way walkers we took a short detour to its summit – here we got our first view of our destination, Bowness-on-Windermere, and the lake that gives it its name. Knowing our destination was so close put an extra spring in our step, especially as it was almost wholly downhill from here.
Looking towards the Langdale Pikes from near School Knott
Bowness and Windermere from School Knott
We stopped for photographs at the bench on the edge of the town that was specially erected for Dales Way walkers, then continued on down to end our walk at the waterfront.
We all ended up in a pub, for a well-earned drink to celebrate completing the Dales Way.