Kirkstone Pass Inn

While every inch of the Lake District is extremely scenic, and you could drive to and from any direction and be enchanted, Kirkstone Pass should be approached from the busy Lakeland town of Ambleside, up the infamous 'struggle'.

"Oh struggle, Oh struggle, so aptly named" according to the Lake District's own esteemed William Wordsworth. The road rises 1300 feet in some three and a half tortuous miles, a test even for today’s traffic. In 1908 President Woodrow Wilson told his wife that his favorite walk in all of England was the "three mile steady almost unbroken ascent" from Ambleside to the top of The Pass.

This is the highest pub in Cumbria. It stands right at the top of the pass, just before the road forks off for Windermere or Ambleside. The pub is not as old as it looks. It used to be a house and was re-built as an inn in the 1840s, when the road was even harder for the weary traveler than it is today. Indeed, there are many records of people dying in the attempt to traverse the Pass in adverse conditions. This area can enjoy some wonderful weather but it has its fair share of unpleasant conditions, and more importantly, it can change from one to the other with very little warning. Never underestimate the Lake District if you go walking up on the tops, dress right and plan ahead.

On a clear day (and there are some every now and again) you will see the land fall steeply away towards Ambleside, while the impressive crags tower above you in front.

The Lake District has always appealed to me, maybe because I was born so close by. I get a very contented feeling, mostly when I get away from the little villages and small towns in the valley bottoms. Up on the fells is where life is best. I remember one particular walk with Doris on Place Fell high above Ullswater, with the wind blowing and the views stretching out all around us. Magnificent, and surprisingly peaceful – we saw two people and their dog during the entire stretch on the tops.

For all its problems with masses of tourists, it is relatively easy to get away from the crowds. A very small percentage of visitors walk more than a hundred yards from their vehicle, so once on the tops, you could walk all day without seeing a soul (only to be brought swiftly down to earth when you wander into a place such as Grasmere).

One story of the Pass itself concerns one Ruth Ray who came up from Patterdale with her small child, on her way to see her sick father. As frequently happens, the weather turned suddenly for the worse, and snow began to fall. When she did not return, her husband went out looking for her along the same route she would have taken. It was a viciously cold night that was quickly deteriorating, and soon the husband was in some trouble as well. He would have died up there too, but he was rescued by a sheepdog, which led him back to the safety of a farmhouse, presumably because it was not even fit for a dog out there.

In the morning, when the weather had abated a little, the husband and the dog’s owner set off to look for Ruth Ray and the baby. When they found them, Ruth was dead, but she had wrapped the child in her shawl and by some miracle the baby had survived. To this day, Ruth Ray haunts the Kirkstone Pass Inn, presumably warning walkers to dress right and plan ahead.

A sign outside claims the Kirkstone Inn was originally built in 1496, but though that may be true it was a ruin for a long time before the rebuilding project. The Kirkstone Inn was put up for sale in September 1998, and it can be yours for £400,000 (about $700,000). Pattie Yates had run the pub for many years but was intending to return to her native Blackpool. She said that she had never intended to run a pub, but having fallen in love with the building when she first saw it and learned it was for sale in 1988. She has many stories of ghosts wandering about in the Kirkstone – a blind man who knew all about her, shortly after she had arrived, and strange noises, and just a sense that someone was there. She had been assured by one of the spirits that she should not worry because none of the ghosts wished her any harm.

Such is her affinity for the pub and its occupants, invited or otherwise, that she has never felt frightened, even with fierce storms knocking out the electricity, and candles blowing in unexplained drafts. Not so for everyone. Some customers have been known to take one step inside the pub, and wish to venture no further. Many, many people have reported feeling the presence of ghosts in the Kirkstone Inn. On one occasion a group of friends booked all three rooms for three nights. In the middle of the first night one woman took fright and went out to sleep in the car. She would not go back in and the whole party had to leave despite their plans and lost their deposit.

Can you take one more story of the Ghosts of Kirkstone? Still on the wall today hangs a copy of a picture of the church in the nearby village of Troutbeck. The original still hangs in Troutbeck Church. It is a picture of Reverend Sewell who helped rebuild the Inn in 1847. If you compare the two pictures, you will see that in the copy there is the figure of a man standing behind Reverend Sewell. In the original, this other man does not appear.

The inn certainly feels old and cozy. It is a long, low building with old black beams and a stone floor. The beer was perfect, though the food was not exactly what it had claimed to be. The fire was a welcome necessity.