Gunnerside Gill and the Blakethwaite Lead Mines

Five and a half miles with a thousand feet of climbing, about three and a half hours, up the shattered industrial landscape of Gunnerside Gill to Bunton Hush and the ruined Blakethwaite smelt mill, returning on a high green miners' track. Start in the centre of Gunnerside village where roadside parking is usually available; the little bridge over the beck is the obvious landmark. Good ground underfoot on the old mine tracks and no awkward stiles, but the hushes are steep loose scars with real drops, and the upper gill is open access moor where dogs must be on a short lead between 1 March and 31 July for ground-nesting birds; the beck runs alongside for most of the climb, so there is water all the way.