This beautiful walk from Kendal follows one of our fastest flowing rivers, and a disused canal
This is a really lovely walk that takes in the River Kent with some dramatic rapids and a disused section of the Preston Kendal canal. The experience of walking in an empty canal seems strange to say the least.
1 Leave the car park and turn right down Watercrook Lane. Although there is no road sign indicating the name of the lane, on the OS Map it is shown leading to Watercrook Farm. Keep on the lane until a stile is reached on the left before the entrance to the farm, cross this and then head diagonally right to reach the River Kent and then turn left and follow the path with the river on the right.
Keep following the path and across the river you can see a weir on a stream entering the river, this is the mill race of what was once a snuff mill and is still named The Mill on the OS Map. The path follows the river passing through a series of stiles and then reaches a small wood, keep on through the wood to reach a metal gate leading into a road. At this point bear right and follow the road down to Hawes Bridge.
Note: The Clarks Warehouse is possibly all that remains of the K Shoe empire that had been making shoes in Kendal since 1842 when it was founded by Robert Miller Somerville. The last shoe made in Kendal by K Shoe was in 2004 when the factories closed. It was once the major employer in Kendal and a very high percentage of the town’s population worked there and many more of the population worked in ancillary industries supplying the shoemaker.
2 Reach the point where the road turns right over the bridge and to the left is a gate stile. Cross this and then turn sharp right and with the hedgerow and fence on the right keep straight on, following the path as it enters a wood with the river now entering a gorge on the right with some pretty dramatic rapids. The Kent is one of England’s fastest flowing rivers and descends more than 2000 feet in just 20 miles from its source in Kentmere, through Kendal to the sea near Levens Hall. Pass through a very ornate gate stile to the left of a memorial bench and carry on along the path through the wood.
Note: I met three ladies and a dog as I walked down to the river to try to get a photo of the river. We stopped for a chat and they told me they were looking for possible swimming spots. Wild water swimming is an increasingly popular sport and my youngest sister is very keen, though slightly mad I think after she recently sent me photos of her swimming in the Ribble with snow on the banks.
3 The path leaves the wood and enters a track. Turn sharp left and follow the track until it reaches a metal gate. Go through the gate and bear diagonally right uphill to a canal bridge.
4 Join the old towpath of the now disused Preston-Kendal Canal and turn left and follow the towpath under the bridge.
The towpath becomes a path over filled in sections of the canal but basically the paths follow the canal route. Follow the path, crossing numerous stiles one being under Crowpark Bridge and then another under Natland Hall Bridge then keep on the path as it goes between two wire fences then through more stiles to reach Natland Road. Turn left and follow the road to the car park.
Note: The canal was navigable from Preston to Kendal until the building of the M6 isolated sections of the canal. The section north from Stainton Aqueduct was drained and parts of it filled in. The towpath and drained canal can be followed into Kendal although it does seem weird to see canal bridges in the middle of fields with no water beneath them.
Compass points
Start and finish: Natland Road. Kendal. I started from the car park of Clarks International Warehouse after asking permission at warehouse. There is some limited parking just off Watercrook Lane.
Distance: 3.7 miles/5.95km
Time: Two hours
Terrain: Good walking on footpaths but it can get a bit muddy in places. Walking boots or shoes will be fine.
Map: OS Map OL7 The English Lakes South Eastern Area
Facilities: There are no public toilets on route, but there are in Kendal
