The church in Grasmere village

Sunday 6 May 2007
A gentle circuit of Grasmere Lake - 6km
Map: OS Explorer OL7
The English Lakes South-eastern area
Route Map on 'Landranger' base map
from OS Open Space service
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This morning was dull and showery with just a few bright breaks in the cloud. We walked about 200m from our cottage to the church in Grasmere at map ref. NY 337073. We walked down the lane opposite the church entrance passing a garden centre on our left. We followed the lane around Grasmere Lake for about a kilometer. There is no access to the lakeside on this part of the lake except to hire a rowing boat. At map ref. NY 335062 we turned off the lane to follow the path on the left down the edge of a field to the lakeside. There were other people about but not the hoards I had expected at this bank holiday weekend.

We saw a family of mallard ducks and lots of lovely spring flowers by the path.

We walked along the lakeside to the shore at the end of the lake below Loughrigg Terrace.

Woodland path near Grasmere Lake

We crossed this busy main road to take the minor road opposite and climb up the slope for a few hundred metres. The road then began to drop down to Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Centre on the edge of Grasmere village.

There were patches of bluebells everywhere. We made our way over the footbridge and followed the path to the car park by the A591 at map ref. NY 348064.

Bluebells below Loughrigg Terrace

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Some of the moorings at Bowness

Tuesday 8 May 2007
Windermere lakeside stroll
from Bowness/Hawkshead ferry northwards -5km
Map: OS Explorer OL4
The English Lake District Southeastern area
Route Map on 'Landranger' base map
from OS Open Space service
Open this route in Google Earth

This morning the weather was more of the same! We drove to Bowness and parked in the car park at map ref. SD 398966 near the lake side. The piers where all the lake cruises depart is close to the car park and a little further on there are moorings for scores of private boats.

Start of the path to the Hawkshead car ferry

This took us through some National Trust land to follow the lake edge path round to the Hawkshead car ferry at map ref. SD 395958.

We sheltered in a coffee shop with a children's play area for a long time until the rain eased off. Then we set off along the lake side path from map ref. SD 397964.

A lovely old oak tree on National trust land

A family of geese on the lake

This cut off a little bit of road walking and brought us to the lane the runs northwards along the western shore of the lake. We followed this lane along the lakeside for about 2.5km.

We crossed the lake on the car ferry (50p each way per person). At the ferry ramp on the western side of the lake we followed the road for about 150m and then took the path by the lake edge.

Small wader at the water's edge

A pushy swan demanding to share our lunch

We returned the way we had come and crossed back to Bowness on the car ferry. Another family walk with a decrepit grandad (me), a very pregnant young lady (my daughter-in-law) and my wife, son and grandson of 18 months who rarely walks in the direction we need to go. As you can imagine progress was slow and distance strictly limited but it was fun.

It was very pleasant strolling along the lake shore looking at the birds and the craggy hills with alternating black skies and patches of sunlight. At about map ref. SD 387980 we turned back This part of the lakeside is owned by the National Trust and it is possible to continue along the lane and then make your way back up the hillside and along the ridge back to the ferry ramp.

Wednesday 9 May 2007
Grange to Castle Crag circuit - 5km
Borrowdale, Keswick
Lake District

Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer OL4
The English Lake District North-western area
Route Map on 'Landranger' base map
from OS Open Space service
Open this route in Google Earth

I think we are going to have rain all week - more showers and a few sunny breaks again today. My daughter-in-law stayed at the cottage today to put her feet up and read a good book - she consumes books on holiday!

We drove to Keswick and out to Grange in Borrowdale at the end of Derwent Water. It's a very popular place and it was difficult to find anywhere to park. We should have parked in Keswick and caught a bus to Grange. Anyway we found a corner to squeeze into. We then set off walking from Grange at map ref. NY 252174 along a lane that followed the river Derwent upstream.

Our first good view of Castle Crag

Young foal and its mum in a field by the lane

After about 400m at map ref. NY 249170 the lane forked and we took the left hand fork to keep close to the river. After another 400m where the lane had become a rough track there was an almost empty rough car park on some National Trust land at map ref. NY 249167. Along the way I had not noticed any signs prohibiting cars so I assume we could have parked there.

Start of the climb away from the river Derwent

The left hand fork follows the river and is part of the Cumbrian Way. The right hand fork is part of the Allerdale Ramble and starts to climb up the hillside following a side valley away from the river.

At map ref. NY 250166 there is a side stream flowing down the hillside to join the river derwent and a footbridge took us across the stream. Just beyond the footbridge the path forks.

The path to Castle Crag follows a stream up a side valley

The path climbs up through the woods . . . . .

We climbed slowly up through the woods and came out into a steep rocky valley. After about 200m the path to Castle Crag turned off to the left and the broad stony track of the Allerdale Ramble continued up the valley.

We took the right hand fork and stated to climb. It was a very slow process for me but the scenery is wonderful and just drew me on.

. . . . . . the path emerges from the woods into a steep rocky valley

Spiral path up the cone of quarry waste

The views just kept on getting better. On the top plateau there were not as many people as I had expected from the numbers climbing up. I think it's just big enough to absorb lots of people. We found a nice spot for our lunch with a good view over Derwent Water.

We climbed up the steep path built into the side of a huge cone of quarry waste from a slate quarry near the top of the crag. It was hard work and groups of much younger people kept streaming past us. I was very encouraged by a gentleman of 82 coming down from the top who told us it had been over 40 years since he last climbed Castle Crag.

Our lunch break on top of Castle Crag

Looking across Borrowdale to Rosthwaite

A looper caterpillar - we spotted it descending to the ground from a tree on a silken thread just like a spider.

On the way down we reached a ladder stile over a wall at map ref. NY 250157. We climbed the ladder stile and made our way down the hillside to join the Cumbrian Way beside the river Derwent at map ref. NY 252154.

Descending from Castle Crag into Borrowdale

We followed the Cumbrian Way for about 2.5km back into the village of Grange. On the way there were two men with a JCB repairing a footbridge. We has to stop and watch for a while because my grandson's favourite toy of the moment is a yellow JCB type tractor/excavator. The lane back into Grange meets the village street just where there is a good coffee shop where we had our usual finish to the walk.

Two men and a JCB repairing a footbridge

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Thursday 10 May 2007

The weather got even worse today so we drove to Keswick for a look around and a new choice of coffee shops. We found an interesting Thai restaurant called "The Grove" that has a good Internet wireless hot spot so that I could use my lap top to get an up-date on my email. I spent a very pleasant morning responding to the backlog of route requests from this web site, whilst my wife read the paper. It was still raining when we left the cafe.

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