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white_hart ([personal profile] white_hart) wrote2019-03-23 07:06 pm
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Walking: Five walks around Keswick

We hadn't been to the Lake District for a few years, and certainly not since we started walking seriously (I think the last time was June 2013, when we stayed near Cockermouth and I went to Woolfest; we did manage one walk, round St Bee's Head, though I suspect it would seem very short by our current standards), so we decided it was time for a return visit and booked a holiday flat in Keswick for our spring holiday this year on the grounds that it might be nice to be in walking distance of shops and restaurants, and Keswick had seemed like a pleasant place when we were there before and had a branch of Booths (the Waitrose of the north-west). This proved to be a very good decision, as Keswick is very pleasant and pretty much a walker's paradise (rather like Fort William, it must be a bit frustrating to live there if you ever want to buy anything other than outdoor gear, though as well as branches of every single outdoor chain and a couple of independents Keswick also has all of the outdoor-inspired fashion chains - Seasalt, White Stuff, Fat Face, Joules) and we managed to find a week's worth of walks starting from the town itself which meant that we didn't have to use the car at all while we were there.

After an unpleasant drive up the M6 in high winds and heavy rain, we woke up on Sunday to find that the storm had blown itself out, leaving a fresh dusting of snow on the high fells and the summit of Skiddaw hidden in the clouds. We decided to start out fairly small with a walk up Latrigg, the fell between Keswick and Skiddaw (in fact, it ended up being about six miles with a 300m ascent, which felt like plenty given how little we'd managed to get out over the winter, never mind the fact that Oxfordshire doesn't afford much opportunity to practice climbing hills).



We were rewarded with these fabulous views across Derwentwater and the surrounding fells, and reassured that we weren't completely out of condition, even if the amount of snow still lying on the fells made us decide that, given that we are not particularly experienced hillwalkers, our vague plan to attempt Skiddaw would be better put off until a visit at a more clement time of year.

On Monday, we headed out of Keswick in a different direction and walked to Ashness Bridge via Great Wood and back over Walla Crag.



It was spitting with rain on and off for the whole of this walk, so I ended up tying my waterproof bush hat to my rucksack by its elasticated cord so I could put it on and take it off easily (the disadvantage of a waterproof hat is that it is not at all breathable and my head gets far too hot, so I usually take it off as soon as it isn't actually raining). We also realised a couple of miles into the six and a half mile circuit that I had carefully filled up our water bottles and then left them behind in the flat instead of putting them in the side pockets of my backpack, so we had nothing to drink on the walk; this probably didn't matter that much, given that it was pretty chilly (and we'd hardly drunk any water on the previous day's walk), but obviously there's nothing to make you want a drink of water like knowing that you don't have any. Still, once again there were stunning views across the lake to the Derwent Fells (though not, as I'd misread the book, the Derwent Falls, which we had been puzzled not to be able to spot) and down to Bassenthwaite Lake.

On Tuesday, we decided to have a break from hills and did a 12-mile circuit of Derwentwater instead.



This was probably our least favourite walk, as despite some lovely bits (the first mile or so out of Keswick via Friar's Crag, the Lodore Falls and the Brandelhow woods in particular) much of it was really quite dull, and there was a lot of road-walking along fairly busy roads (some of that was because the lake levels were too high to walk along the shore) and it felt like a bit of a slog.

After a dull few days, it was nice to see some blue sky on Wednesday and it seemed like a good day to get the Keswick launch across the lake and climb Catbells. This was our shortest walk (only just over five miles) but definitely the most serious climb, with steep paths up and down and some proper scrambling as we approached the summit.



The views from the top were definitely worth the effort, and the walk back to the landing stage repeated the nicest bit of the Derwentwater walk, through the Brandelhow woods.

On Thursday we set out to walk to Castlerigg Stone Circle. The route in our book, via the Keswick to Threlkeld railway path, was a seven-mile circuit with only 120m of ascent, but some of the bridges on the railway path still haven't been replaced after they were destroyed by Storm Desmond in 2015 and the alternative route we took ended up being 12 miles of undulating terrain with a total of about 400m of ascent.



This was my favourite of the five walks; a good mix of ascent/descent and flatter walking, with a mix of woods, field paths and some road walking along very quiet roads, with wonderful views north to Lonscale Fell and Blencathra and south to High Rigg. Most walkers seem to go to the Lake District to climb the fells (we met someone who was trying to tick off all the Wainwrights), but while there is a great sense of achievement in getting to the top of a hill I think I prefer longer walks with more varied terrain. Which is probably just as well, really, given that I am never going to get enough practice to be much good at climbing hills, living in a gently undulating bit of the country and only managing a couple of weeks among real hills every year...
cmcmck: (Default)

[personal profile] cmcmck 2019-03-23 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Nice part of the world is that!

We're off the the Welsh border around Oswestry on Monday for a few days.
hilarita: stoat hiding under a log (Default)

[personal profile] hilarita 2019-03-24 09:42 am (UTC)(link)
Sounds like some quite nice walks in there!
Cambridge offers even fewer opportunities to get hill legs :(
cmcmck: (Default)

[personal profile] cmcmck 2019-03-24 10:46 am (UTC)(link)
No problem with hill legs here as we're right next to the Ercall and the Wrekin! :o)
sam_t: (Default)

[personal profile] sam_t 2019-03-25 02:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I also suffer from the lack of hill legs in a flat area, especially since getting rid of the car (cars can be obtained, but require advance planning, which is not my strong point).

I think I need to go back to the Lakes at some point soon, though, and your set of walks sound ideal. I do like being able to walk straight from wherever I'm staying. Would you recommend the particular place in Keswick?
sam_t: (Default)

[personal profile] sam_t 2019-03-26 09:07 am (UTC)(link)
I still have a set of towels bought in Windermere to avoid an unexpected (well, to be fair, I think I'd realised but forgotten) towel charge. And, for that matter, a set purchased in an oh-dear-my-waterproofs-aren't-up-to-this-rainstorm emergency in Wales and one bought in France when it turned out that 'linen provided' really did mean just sheets. In fact, given that I've been given three sets of towels as gifts, I'm not sure I've actually deliberately gone out and bought any since I went to university.
alithea: Artwork of Francine from Strangers in Paradise, top half only with hair and scarf blowing in the wind (Default)

[personal profile] alithea 2019-03-24 11:44 am (UTC)(link)
Lovely! I've stayed in Keswick several times but I've not done all of those. Skiddaw is the easiest of the munros I've done but still probably best not attempted in the snow if you're not experienced - the main issue I remember is the seemingly endless false summits! You probably got the best of the view from Latrigg anyway.

If you stay near Ullswater next time, there's a really lovely walk round the back of the Langdale Pikes that Kev & I did a few years back, that is probably just up your street - much quieter than going up the peaks, very scenic, and we saw a red kit when we did it 😀
sam_t: (Default)

[personal profile] sam_t 2019-03-25 02:39 pm (UTC)(link)
I've been up Skiddaw from the back, which I seem to remember is a bit more of a gentle ridge up, but since you can't see Derwentwater until you get to the top and by the time we got there the summit of Skiddaw had its own private rainstorm, we should have done what you did and climbed Latrigg.
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[personal profile] tree_and_leaf 2019-03-24 11:52 am (UTC)(link)
Lovely pictures! Glad you had such a good time.

I remember the Westmoreland Gazette running a cartoon with the caption "how can you spot someone from Grasmere? They're wearing six jumpers and a malnourished look."
lokifan: black Converse against a black background (Default)

[personal profile] lokifan 2019-03-24 01:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Lovely photos!
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[personal profile] maia 2019-03-24 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Beautiful!!!
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[personal profile] sfred 2019-03-24 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
That sounds lovely! I haven't been to the Lake District for more than a couple of days since I was a kid, and I would very much like to.