WALK NOTES
Strenuous: Jimmy Distance : 11 miles
We leave Keswick and make our way to the small village of Portinscale. From here we make our way to today’s objective – Catbells, a gradual climb of about 1241 ft 5 ins. We then descend from here and pass through Manesty Wood and cross the marshes to Lodore Falls. From here we head for Great Wood from which we descend back to the lake path and Keswick.
Moderate Leader : Peter Distance : 7 miles
We start our walk from the coach heading into Keswick where we pick up the Cumbria Way for a few hundred yards uphill to get over the A66. That’s the climbing out of the way! We turn left and can now enjoy a leisurely ramble, proceeding parallel with the river Derwent and under Skiddaw passing by the villages and hamlets of Ormathwaite, Applethwaite and Millbeck. We will see some wonderful views of the hills and mountains on the opposite side of the fells with great photo opportunities. We then start heading down to the river Derwent at High Stock Bridge and cross the river, finally walking through pastureland till we return to the Cumbria Way into Keswick for the refreshment of your choosing.
Happy Rambling!
Easy Leader : Pam Distance : 5 miles
As my first walk was going to mirror Peter’s quite closely a quick change of plan. We will head to the lakeside path towards Friar’s Crag and on to Calfclose Bay, we’ll take a stroll through Great Wood to Castlerigg and turn around to return to the coach via Springs Wood. Maybe we can find cake, beer or whatever your mood decides before we leave.
NOTES ON THE AREA
Many people will already be familiar with Keswick which is the largest town in the Lake District National Park and which developed largely from its importance as a mining centre during Elizabethan times, when German miners were brought in to exploit the lead and copper deposits in the surrounding fells. But, for most people, Keswick is a place superbly situated at the head of a splendid lake and beneath the gaze of one of Lakelands finest mountains, Skiddaw. It is an enormously popular place, and therefore always very busy, at the northern end of arguably Lakeland’s most beautiful valley, Borrowdale. It is the home of mountaineer Chris Bonnington. It has been said that towns and villages built from local stone blend into the landscape. The Moot Hall was built in 1813 on the site of an earlier building and was, until recent times, used as the town hall but now it houses the tourist information centre. The town’s oldest building is the church of St Kentigern at Crosthwaite. It is generally accepted that the Lakes in general, and Keswick in particular was opened up to the outside world by the first poets and travellers to venture into the region – Gray, Coleridge, Keats, Southey, Scott, Tennyson, Ruskin and Stevenson. To them, and those who followed in their footsteps, must go the credit (or blame) for bringing this remarkable town to the notice of others. On the fells to the south-east of the town, is the famous Castlerigg Stone Circle believed to date from about 3000 BC, predating the great circles at Stonehenge and elsewhere. It is commonly regarded as the best stone circle out of many in Cumbria. Enthusiasts of stone circles consider Castlerigg, spectacularly set among the mountains of Lakeland, to be one of the earliest stone circles in Europe. As well as copper and lead, graphite was also mined in Borrowdale, where it was first discovered, and this brought about the establishment of a pencil factory. Cumberland Pencil Museum, found at the Southey Works, Greta Bridge, illustrates the pencil story from the discovery of graphite to present-day methods of pencil manufacture. It is an interesting place to visit. Even today their coloured pencils are the best.