Souther Fell

Start: The Mill Inn, Mungrisdale, nr Penrith, Cumbria (CA11 0XR)

(S/E) From the car park entrance of The Mill Inn, turn left and follow the lane past Smithy Cottages, with the River Glenderamackin to your left.

(1) When the road bends right and starts to climb, turn left down a walled green lane towards the river. Before the ford, turn right into a copse, ignoring the footbridge on your left. Once out of the trees, cross the field to a gate and continue across the slope beyond to pass below a small larch wood.

(2) Beyond this, continue in the same direction, keeping above and to the right of the steep bank down towards the river, until you come to a footpath sign by a bridge over a sidestream. Cross the stream and follow the wall ahead to a gate, keeping high above the river. Continue along the wall and then fence to a hand-gate and plank bridge. Bear slightly right to a stile by a hawthorn tree in the far fence; continue on a similar line to rejoin the road by a house (Hazelhurst).

(3) Turn left along the lane, passing a derelict barn on your descent to Far Southerfell. Continue to the hamlet of Southerfell, where there is a gate across the road.

(4) The lane climbs to a second gate, beyond which there are views down the valley to the central fells of Lakeland. After a further ¾ mile, and two more gates, you pass a parking area and cross the beck flowing out of the valley of Mousthwaite Comb.

(5) Turn right and follow the footpath (signposted ‘Blackhazel Beck 2¾ miles’) through a gate, then climb steeply to pass below the spoil of a former mine, before continuing obliquely to the top of the slope, where you are rewarded with views of Blencathra and the Glenderamackin valley.

(6) Turn right here, shortly joined by a path leading up from a footbridge over the Glenderamackin on your left. Take the left-hand path that leads fairly gently up the ridge of Souther Fell (A). Follow the broad ridge for about a mile.

(7) An obvious cairn on the left is worth the detour for photogenic views of Blencathra. Return to the main path; eventually the ridge narrows and descends, ever more steeply, with one or two rocky sections towards the bottom.

(8) Unfortunately when you reach the wall above the Mill Inn, there is no right-of-way or permissive path across the intervening field; law-abiding walkers should turn right and follow the wall along the bottom of the open-access moor.

(9) On reaching a road, turn left through a gate. Retrace your earlier steps past Smithy Cottages and back to The Mill Inn.(S/E)

Start: The Mill Inn, Mungrisdale, nr Penrith, Cumbria CA11 0XR

Email themillin@yahoo.co.uk
Web www.robinsonsbrewery.com/themillinn
Tel 01768 779632

Notes: One significant and intermittently rocky ascent and descent; Souther Fell may be boggy underfoot and suitable footwear and clothing appropriate to the conditions should be worn. The route involves some road-walking.

For for a gentler, off-road route to Souther Fell, follow the start of the Blencathra Route, turn left at the col above the footbridge and join this route at step 6

Find more information on Walks From the Door.

(A) Souther Fell provides fine views over the valley of the River Glenderamackin to the textbook glacial valley of Bannerdale, with the Blencathra massif as a backdrop.