Appleby Horse Fair, Appleby in Westmorland

Appleby-in-Westmorland

Eden Valley

Route: Appleby-in-Westmorland

Area: Eden Valley

Date of walk: 4th June 2016

Walkers: Andrew

Distance: 11.3 miles

Ascent: 900 feet

Weather: Cloudy at first, sunny later, very warm

The Appleby Horse Fair is an annual meeting which has been held for about 200 years and is the biggest gipsy fair in Europe, with around 30,000 visitors. It’s a get-together rather than an organised event, and a chance for the travellers to meet up with old friends – and make some new ones

I’d already planned a walk starting in Appleby and decided to combine this with a visit to the fair. For anyone following this route when the fair is not in town it’s best to start in the centre of Appleby and this would shave 2-3 miles off the route which I’ve described

I parked at Fair Hill and after visiting the market on Jimmy’s Field headed into the town to see the traditional horse washing. This was a wonderful diversion and I could have stayed much longer, but there was a walk to be done

The walk was through beautiful rolling countryside, typical of the Eden Valley, an area which would be much busier were it not for the attractions of the nearby Lake District. As it was, I only saw one other walker on the entire round

A lovely stroll along the bank of the River Eden took me back into Appleby and from there I made my way through the merry crowds (very merry in some cases) back to the start

Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)

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