Honister Via Ferrata

When I was last in Keswick for the Chris Walker Cycle Challenge,  I spotted the Via Ferrata at the top of Honister Pass,  so today we took a day trip back to Keswick,  from Edinburgh which is a 5/6 our round trip depending on traffic.

Via Ferrata’s are a series of metal cables, rungs, ladders and bridges used to ascend and descend.  They originate from The Alps and were used in World War One and Two to enable soldiers to carry munitions and supplies to their allies.  They were commercialised for public use in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Italy after the Wars.

We did the Via Ferrata at Honister Slate mine with Jason from Keswick Adventure Center.  It was great fun and in all, took us about 3 and a half hours.  The weather was not the best, it was warm, but it was raining and gusting winds of maybe 40mph, which made the bridge crossing quite interesting! The Via Ferrata took us through a couple of mining tunnel and finished with a cargo net, and a ten minute walk to the summit of Fleetwith Pike, and I’m told, that if we could have seen anything, it would have been beautiful views over the Lake District: Buttermere, Crummock and Loweswater.

The bad weather and lack of views (and no photos) just means another trip will have to be made to enjoy it in (hopefully) better weather!

We dried out and warmed up by heading to The George Hotel for a great lunch!