Great Gable
Cumbria CA20
There might be higher mountains in the Lakes, but is there a more handsome one? All 2,949 feet of Great Gable shouts "look at me, I'm a real mountain!" and its iconic profile is one that figures in the Lake District National Park logo. Many walkers do the hike up and back from Seathwaite in Borrowdale – up to an eight-mile (six-hour) return walk if you approach via Green Gable and descend past lovely Styhead Tarn. But you can cut out a lot of the initial grunt-work by walking instead from the top of Honister Pass (there's a walkers' car park at Honister Slate Mine) on a six-mile, four-hour route via Grey Knotts and Brandreth. And once you're back you have the satisfaction of having climbed one of the Lake District's best-loved natural landmarks.
