Today we headed to Cunswick Scar, in between Underbarrow and Kendal.  The weather was very cold with intermittent light rain showers, so we decided that staying local and low was the best idea.

We parked for free in the car park on the Underbarrow Road, at GR489924 on OS map OL7. And this is where the walk began.  This car park is popular for climbing Scout Scar, and can get busy in the summer months.  We’ll cover Scout Scar in a future blog.

Turn left out of the car park and head up the road for about 100 yards and take the footpath on the left.  You pass next to a mast, and veer right until you get to a footpath cross roads at GR  494928.  Notice the limestone pavement poking through the grass at every opportunity!  Be really careful when wet as it can get super slippery.

We headed left on Gamblesmire Lane, past the old lime kiln and then took the footpath right past Cunswick Hall and up to the Ash Springs woods.  The ground was very gently undulating and in places muddy, so boots or wellies essential!

Once you’ve turned right into and through the beautiful woods (at this time of year it was stunning with all the different coloured leaves and crunching under foot!) you emerge to cross an open field with Cunswick Tarn to your right.  Re-enter the woods to do the short easy climb up the scar.

At the top of the climb you emerge into the open on top of Cunswick Scar.  To the far left there are views over towards the Kentmere fells and in front/left are views over the town of Kendal.  You can also see the masts on top of Whinfell in the distance.

If you turn left and walk up a short way you will get more impressive views of Kentmere.  Today we were all a bit tired and hungry, so we skipped it and turned right to follow the scar all the way back to the car park to complete a clockwise loop of just under 3 gentle miles.  We played lots of games on the open land on top of the scar, enjoying running and hiding and playing sleeping tigers!

We headed off to the Eagle and Child pub in Staveley village.  The pub food was excellent, it was a relaxed atmosphere and there’s a brilliant playground for the kids right opposite (although at the time of writing you have to walk a short diversion to the playground as the bridge is still damaged from Storm Desmond in Dec 2015).

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