The Fairfield Horseshoe

I was spending a weekend in the Lake District and looking for an easy to access and relatively short morning run to squeeze in around seeing friends and family. The Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside is a classic hiking route its 10miles long but boasts roughly 1000m of elevation. It seemed a perfect training route to see how much the climbing legs had gone over the course of the pandemic.

View back to Ambleside from Nab Scar

I started early in the morning from the main car park in Ambleside and headed along the road in the direction of Rydal. The aim was to run the loop in the clockwise direction before it got too busy. The road and early flat section served as a perfect warm up. The steepest part of the climb was the early on climbing up to Nab Scar the first peak. From here the climbs to the other peaks along the top of the ridge line were all relatively steady and by no means technical. Upon reaching Fairfield peak you will have done almost all the climbing on the route and be blessed with fantastic views of the Helvellyn Range and back down to Ambleside (On a clear day).

Top of Fairfield Peak

View of the Horseshoe Pass

The decent down going in the clockwise direction starts with a relatively technical scramble across to Hart Crag. At this stage I found the path a little less clear although sticking close to the top of the ridge line was relatively straightforward. From here you begin the long decent back down to Ambleside, this is mostly easy downhill with a couple of boggy sections and one noticeable step cliff like decent close to the bottom.

Decent Back to Ambleside

Overall I found this route brilliant and can really see why it is a popular hiking route. The route is considered a 6/7hour hike and does traverse some exposed sections so I would suggest prior mountain running experience. Mountains even in the UK can be dangerous please check the forecasts and go prepared. I have linked my strava below for access to the route.
Location: Ambleside LA22, UK

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