Wednesday 20th December 2023
The weather for the rest of my holiday in the Lake District was not great with persistent rain and strong winds that put all of the fells out of my reach or, shall we say, impractical. Instead I came up with some low-level walks, which do have some appeal in bad weather as often it is only in these circumstances that I visit these paths. After getting something for my lunch, on a whim I branched into Rothay Park, over the bridge and up the path that climbs steeply over the southern shoulder of Loughrigg Fell. I had wrapped myself up in loads of waterproofs, but soon after starting to climb I was so hot I had to take my heavy waterproof coat off. It is tricky when walking in wet weather to be able to stay dry both from the rain and from your own sweat, so you need to learn how to regulate your temperature correctly while outdoors to ensure that you are not so hot that you sweat and also not too cold. The goal is to stay warm and dry, but not so hot that you get wet from the inside. Eventually the gradient eased and I cooled off, staying on the bridleway over the top and down the other side, not bothering to ascend Loughrigg as I had done that just four months ago. When I reached the bottom I was faced with a choice of whether to walk to Skelwith Bridge on the busy main road or to take the safer, wiser option of climbing up the quiet lane to the side of Little Loughrigg and then descend to Skelwith Bridge, and in the end I took the quickest route on the main road and fortunately I was soon at Skelwith Bridge.
A path beside the river brought me to Skelwith Force, where I tried to get a closer view of the falls, taking infinite care on the wet rocks, but soon realised that this was foolhardy and resumed my walk to a nearby bridge over the River Brathay and, once again on a whim, I crossed over into the woodland opposite. I was motivated to cross the bridge by the fact that just beyond that point the valley opens out to grassy fields, and instead I took an excellent path that climbs above the falls through woodland, but soon realised that I needed to stop wandering aimlessly and make a decision about where I was going, and eventually I decided to resurrect my plan for this day and head to the shore of Windermere. I was directed by my map along quiet roads and tracks to a good path that took me through Pull Woods and beside a road. This was very well signposted and promised to get me all the way to ‘Bowness via Ferry’, but I went the wrong way and ended up at Wray Castle, a National Trust property that I had never visited before. The Castle was closed for the winter so I couldn’t go inside and instead dropped down to the shore of Windermere to head south beside the lake. The views were terrible with thick mist preventing me from being able to see across Windermere and with so many trees lining the lake it was difficult to get a good picture, so I just continued along the path. I wasn’t there to take pictures anyway, I was in the Lake District to have a relaxing walk and that I did beside the lake.
It had briefly, almost stopped raining while I was at Wray Castle, but it soon started again and increasingly heavy as I made my way along the path, which prompted me to put my waterproof coat back on. Previously I had come north along this path in 2015 and originally my plan for this walk had been to copy that day but in reverse, though that idea hadn’t lasted very long. I had a relaxing walk while beside the lake but eventually the path began to climb up the side of the hill away from the shore and when it came back down I had reached a caravan park, so soon after that I branched right through the trees up the side of the hill, but the path was marred by being so wet and by nearby forestry operations. Eventually I came off this path onto a neat little path that I have taken before and descends steeply through woodland, weaving through the landscape on a delightful course that took me all the way down to Claife Viewing Station. I had deliberately diverted off the lakeside route to take this wonderful path through Station Scar Wood that I remember fondly taking previously and brought me to the viewing station, which was built to frame the picturesque views up Windermere that unfortunately were not good on this day. After taking a couple of pictures I descended to the shore and reached the ferry with seconds to spare before it left to take me across the lake to Bowness.
On the other side I followed the path around Cockshott Point and through the normally tourist-filled town of Bowness-on-Windermere where I had considered catching a bus back to Ambleside but since I had so much time left I walked all the way back along the road. I found this walk back curiously relaxing as there is a wide pavement beside the road and passes plenty of trees, so even though it’s beside a busy main road I was able to disengage my brain, listen to music and enjoy the walk. I find any walking a pleasure even it’s through a suburban street and it had stopped raining by the time I reached Bowness, which helped with the walk back. This whole walk was really nothing special and didn’t take me to anywhere of interest, but the Lake District is such a special place to walk that it doesn’t matter where you go or what the weather is, so long as you adapt the walk to suit the weather then you will always have an enjoyable walk and there is nothing I like more.
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