Strenuous Leader : John Distance : 10 miles (1800+ ft of climb)
From Elterwater up to the main road where we start the climbing up to Walthwaite Bottom and Hunting Stile Crag from here we will turn left and make our way to Dow Bank and Spedding Crag. We will catch our breath and turning right and left we will follow the path up to Silver How where we can have our dinner and take in the great views.
From there we take the path into Grasmere where we will take the coffin route to Rydal Mount, following the path by Rydal Water we will take a path along Loughrigg Terrace to Walthwaite Bottom and back to Elterwater in time to change shoes before the coach leaves.
Please be aware this is a hard walk and we’ll have to keep up the pace to complete. Hope you all enjoy.
Moderate Leader: Laura Distance : 7 miles
We leave the village via the Elterwater Inn and take a stony track for the main ascent of approximately 100m heading towards Little Langdale, at the bottom of Lingmoor Fell.
We head to Fell Foot and turn on the opposite side of the valley via Slater Bridge, Strang End to the woods for our first waterfall Colwith Force. On tracks to the second waterwall, Skelwith Force, we pass a guesthouse that has a self-service café outside in the farm yard.
At Skelwith Bridge we pick up the meadow paths on level ground alongside Elter Water and emerge at the Britannia Inn.
Total ascent approximately 340 metres and only livestock I walked through was sheep. A couple of stiles to negotiate and little mud on a dry day. Please be advised that there are cyclists on some of these tracks.
Easy Leader: Jackie Distance: 5 miles
We will follow the lane and track uphill past Elterwater Hall and Howe Banks, then descend into the Little Langdale valley. We will follow a lane predominately downhill to Colwith, from where we will follow the Cumbria Way (footpaths and tracks) to Skelwith Bridge, where we may be able to view Skelwith Force (waterfall). We will pick up the Cumbria Way once more and make our way back to Elterwater along a pleasant riverside and lakeside path.
NOTES ON THE AREA
Standing at the entrance to Langdale, and with the craggy Langdale Pikes as a backdrop,
Elterwater is a cluster of attractive cottages, shops and an inn. The name of the village is said to mean ‘Swan Lake’ in Norse, and swans do indeed grace the nearby Elter Water from time to time. Surrounded by waterfalls, volcanic crags and tree-clad slopes, the village is built of the attractive, local grey-green stone and centers on a small green with an ancient maple tree. The village was once the focus of a thriving charcoal burning industry that used Juniper wood, which was especially suitable for making gunpowder.
The manufacture of gunpowder came to be an important Lakeland industry during the 18th century, and the gunpowder works at Elterwater did not close until the early 20th century.
Skelwith Bridge stands at an ancient crossing point of the River Brathay, near which today’s main road forks to enter Great Langdale or to turn for Coniston. Just upstream of the village, which boasts a small slate business at Kirkstone Galleries, the river forms a number of attractive cascades, Skelwith Force. The village of Skelwith Bridge was the home of Doris and Muriel Howe, novelists who wrote both under their own names and under the joint pseudonym ‘Newlyn Nash’.
They wrote more than seventy romantic and mystery novels, many set in Lakeland.