The Long Horizon
Kestrel Plain asks for patience and gives it back as sky. We cross it in eight days, partly on foot, partly by wagon when the track is long.
- Days
- 8
- Group
- Up to 8 people
- Pace
- Steady
- Best season
- Spring and autumn
- Example price
- EUR 3,180
Example price per person in EUR for a fictional trip. Not an offer; nothing can be booked.
Day 1: Drover's Rest · 6 km
Read the route as text
- Day 1, Drover's Rest, 6 km
- Day 2, Ochre Wells, 16 km
- Day 3, Dun Mesa, 15 km
- Day 4, Saddle Fold, 18 km
- Day 5, Cairn Flat, 14 km
- Day 6, Windle, 15 km
- Day 7, Stack Hollow, 16 km
- Day 8, Long Rail, 12 km
The route, day by day
Day 1Arrive at the drovers' halt
Drover's Rest, 6 km
The first evening is a short walk to a ridge to see how far the plain goes. It goes a long way.
Day 2Clay track
Ochre Wells, 16 km
A long walk on a red-clay track with grasshoppers and no shade. We stop for water at a well with a wooden lid.
Day 3Mesa day
Dun Mesa, 15 km
The land lifts into a flat-topped rise. Climbing it takes an hour and the view takes the rest of the afternoon.
Day 4Wagon day
Saddle Fold, 18 km
We ride a horse-drawn wagon for the longest stretch and walk beside it when the track is rough. The driver tells stories that are probably true.
Day 5Cairn day
Cairn Flat, 14 km
A day of cairns: small piles of stones that mark nothing in particular. We add one each.
Day 6Wind
Windle, 15 km
The wind finds us and does not leave. A café in a windbreak of tamarisk is the best-kept secret of the day.
Day 7Down into the hollow
Stack Hollow, 16 km
The plain breaks into folds and stacks of stone, and we walk down into the first shade in a week.
Day 8The long rail
Long Rail, 12 km
A last walk to a halt on the plateau railway, where a very slow train takes us onward. The platform has one bench and a lot of sky.
Included
- Seven nights in the places listed
- Breakfasts and seven dinners
- Wagon ride on day 4
- A local plateau guide
- Luggage transported
Not included
- Travel to Drover's Rest
- Lunches
- Travel insurance
- Sun protection
Other routes
- HarrowfellHigh pastures, long light.
- SaltreachDunes, tides and one long road.
- Corvane TerracesRows, stone and the harvest.
- OstermereWater you can row across.