Strenuous Leader : John Distance : 9 miles
We will leave the car park and Grasmere to climb Helm Crag and from there our route will take us to Gibson Knott and Moment Cragg. We will make our way to Calf Crag and then descend into the valley for our journeys end in Grasmere. The first part of the walk is very undulating ridge with rocky outcrops which will involve some scrambling, if you have sticks it would be best to bring them to be on the safe side. Once we start heading down the valley if becomes very boggy, at the bottom of the valley we cross the river where we pick up some half decent paths.
Moderate Leader : Joan Distance : 8 ish miles
Our walk starts in the direction of Kelbarrow. As the road splits we take the left track heading towards the landing stages/Red Bank which leads us on to the Loughrigg Terrace. The views on the terrace are worth the climb of 640 ft. From Loughrigg Terrace we head towards Rydal.
At Rydal we pick up the Coffin Trial which will lead us back into town. This walk has many ups and downs !!! Just when you have finished one climb……you are faced with another. On the walk we have to be mindful of our pace if we are to get back for a well-earned drink before setting off for home.
Easy Leader : Peter Distance: Approx. 5 miles
Although the initial and final sections are on the road the remainder is on lakeside paths and very enjoyable. The highlights are the pebbly beach near the ford of the Rothay River and the copse of woodland near White Moss. They define the circuit of Grasmere with the views over the lake/village and up to Dunmail Raise popular with photographers through the ages. The trees reach to the lapping water, sometimes underwater after heavy rain.
NOTES ON THE AREA
Grasmere is one of the smallest lakes in the Lake District along with Rydal Water and is well known as ‘Wordsworth Country’. Grasmere Church is dedicated to St Oswald, after the 7th century King of Northumbria who is said to have given his name to a sacred well in the vicinity. The most interesting features of the church are its heavily timbered roof, Wordsworth’s memorial tablet in the chancel with its epitaph by John Kebble and Wordsworth’s grave in the south east corner of the churchyard.
Immediately opposite the church stands The Gingerbread Shop, built in 1660, and formerly the village school. It was attended by the Wordsworth children when the family lived at the Rectory. Grasmere Sports, a popular event that regularly attracts thousands of visitors, are held in late August, and include such events as Cumberland wrestling, hound trailing, and a fell race to the summit of Butter Crag.
Grasmere and Rydal are forever associated with the name of William Wordsworth, one of the ‘Lake Poets’ who settled in the area. He was born at Cockermouth on 7th April 1770. After his mother’s death in 1778 he and a brother spent 5 years at Hawkshead Grammar School. After the death of his father in 1783 he lived mainly at Penrith before going to Cambridge where he graduated in 1791. Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy moved to Dove Cottage, near Grasmere, at the end of 1799. He remained at Dove Cottage after his marriage in 1802 and three of his five children were born there. In 1808 the family moved across the valley to Allan Bank and, in 1811, to the rectory of Grasmere opposite the old church of St Oswald. Two years later they went to live in Rydal Mount. In 1843 Wordsworth was appointed Poet Laureate. He died in 1850 aged 80.
Dove Cottage is open to the public, and the relics in the cottage and museum include some manuscripts of Wordsworth’s poems, a large number of portraits of Wordsworth, his family and of nearly all his friends. The museum also contains objects illustrating old Westmorland life.
Rydal Mount is owned by Wordsworth’s great-great-granddaughter and was opened to the public in 1970. The gardens were designed by Wordsworth and contain numerous rare trees and shrubs. A path through Rydal churchyard leads to Dora’s Field, so called because it was dedicated to Wordsworth’s daughter, who then predeceased him. The other famous resident of Grasmere was Sarah Nelson who invented Grasmere Gingerbread. Her mother was widowed before Sarah was born in 1815. Her mother, and later Sarah scraped a living in domestic service but Sarah became an accomplished cook and after a move to Grasmere with her husband and young family she invented the gingerbread in 1854 and started selling it at the back door. It soon became famous and people flocked to buy it, as they do today.