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Are there any races over this little hill? From Gatesgarth to Littledale edge then to Dale Edge, cat bell and down to Keswick. Am racing this at end of the month and would appreciate advice? Is it relatively easy to navigate around, or is it as hard as most big hills?
Any advice please?
Cat bells is a nice little bump separating Borrowdale and Derwentwater on one side from the Newlands Valley on the other. It perhaps suffers from being very close to Keswick and therefore gets quite busy, esp. at this time of year.
But that's to take nothing away from the cracking views you get down into the two valleys on either side, over Keswick to Skiddaw / Blencathra, and back to Dalehead and Hindscarth.
You can do a fantastic horseshoe from Catbells - over Maiden Moor and High Spy to Dalehead, and across to Hindscarth and Robinson: the route of the Anniversary Waltz fell race and one of the loveliest walks in the Lakes, I reckon.
and on the navigation front, it's pretty easy, cos it's part of a long ridge with a path running pretty much along the whole back of it - ground dropping off to either side and very easy escape routes if necessary
Be wary that because it's such a popular route it's also very 'polished' as they say in rock-climbing circles, so the few rocky bits can be a very slippery in the wet!