A Short Loop from Oxenholme.

Start. Oxenholme.

Route. Oxenholme - Helm Lane - Natland - Cracalt - Kendal/ Lancaster Canal - Sedgwick - Wellheads - River Kent - Nannypie Lane - Wilson Place Footbridge - Hawes Lane - Crowpark - Natland - Oxenholme Lane - Oxenholme.

Notes. After all the walking from home during various lock downs I promised myself I’d never walk from there again, a promise about to be broken. Things to do at home this morning, rather than waste a good day, after lunch we threw some gear in a bag, laced up our walking boots and headed out into the sunshine. This route followed a section of the Lancaster/Kendal Canal through sheep pastures and woodland, followed by a return along the banks of the restless River Kent.

Our route followed the main road south out of the village, on reaching Helm Lane we descended to the outskirts of Natland, just after High House Farm a stile allowed access to sheep pastures, field paths then guided us to a small scattering of farm buildings and a couple of houses, this was Cracalt. The narrow access lane splits, we veered left to join a bridleway leading to the river, but first it crossed the Kendal/Lancaster Canal. The upper reaches of the canal opened in 1819 instantly bringing prosperity to the market town of Kendal. Coal almost halved in price, allowing local merchants to take advantage, exports of limestone, slate and other manufactured goods went in the other direction.

We followed the canal in the other direction away from Kendal, through woodland and sheep pastures we walked, over the aqueduct at Sedgwick, soon reaching Sedgwick Hall Bridge. We left the canal here descending a green trod to access the banks of the River Kent at a spectacular gorge, Force Gorge is one of two on this stretch of the river. The Kent is a relatively short river around 20 miles, it rises in the hills above Kentmere spilling into the sea at Morecambe Bay. The waters have been tamed to power many mills since the 13th century, corn and bobbin mills, timber and paper, woolen mills, snuff and gunpowder.

We crossed the river at the road bridge spanning Force Gorge, this allowed us to follow tarmac along the west bank, we re-crossed it at the footbridge at Wilson Place, we then followed the east bank. Through coppice woodland we wandered, through fields above Hawes Gorge before the final stile ejected us onto Hawes Lane. We turned right letting the tarmac surface usher us between dry stone walls, over the canal at Crowpark Bridge then on to Natland. From Natland we ascended Oxenholme Lane before joining field paths that in turn guided us back to Oxenholme and journeys end.

view route map.

home.

Traversing field paths on the outskirts of Natland, looking back to The Helm.

Striding out between dry stone walls at Cracalt.

Spanning the dry canal Larkrigg Hall Bridge.

A little further on rising from green fields Horse Park Bridge.

From Well Heads Hill views over the Kent valley to Sizergh Fell.

Lit by the afternoon sun Sedgwick House built in 1868, home of the Wakefield family until the beginning of World War II.

Imagine a landscape very different from today, nearing the end of the last ice age, the Irish Sea still frozen lowering sea levels, thereby increasing river gradients and causing rivers to cut back along their original beds. This erosion cut the gorges and steps we see today.

The River Kent enters the confines of Force Gorge (Falls), one of two spectacular limestone gorges south of Kendal.

The footbridge at Wilson Place dates back to 1872, built to provide access for workers from Natland and Sedgwick to the New Sedgwick Gunpowder Works.

​Drumlins,  hills that lie on top of underlying Carboniferous limestone, formed when retreating ice sheets and their meltwater deposited their load of clay, silt, sand and gravel in the form of these distinctive oval whaleback undulations, when you scan the landscape south of Kendal there are hundreds of them.

The River Kent near New Sedgwick Gunpowder Works, no sign of the turmoil that lies a little further down stream.

Striding through sheep pastures above Natland looking to the sunlit ridge of The Helm.

A final look back, across the horizon, Sizergh Fell, Helsington Barrows and ever popular Scout Scar.

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