Claife Heights and Latterbarrow

Friday 28th December 2012

A couple of years ago I spent the New Year in the Lake District, which struck me as such an excellent way to spend the New Year that I thought I’d do it again for the start of 2013. Unfortunately the weather, as has been common for most of 2012, was not very good, with the wet weather of Christmas continuing into the New Year. Instead of cold, dry, sunny weather (such as I got New Year 2009) it was mild, wet and windy. To start this holiday I thought I’d walk in an area of the Lake District that I’d never walked in before, which you would have thought would be difficult to find as I have walked all around the Lakes and been up every fell that Wainwright described. But, I actually went to a place that a lot of the tourists to the Lake District go to, and that is Bowness-on-Windermere, the small town on the eastern shore of the largest lake in England, Windermere. I arrived at Windermere station after travelling through the morning, which is not unusual as I often arrive in the Lake District at Windermere, but this time I didn’t catch a bus to more interesting places, instead I walked down the hill to the harbour at Bowness. Despite the poor weather there were loads of tourists waiting to take a steamer onto the lake, while I walked straight past them to the Windermere Ferry that goes to the other side of the lake at Cockshott Point.

After a quick journey across the lake I started climbing the wooded hillside past the Claife Viewing Station (a relic of early Victorian tourism – now a ruin) and on a fabulous path that twists very steeply up the side of the hill. It was very wet underfoot with leaves covering the ground, which made the walking rather treacherous, but it was still an enjoyable climb after the long autumn days without a good walk. On coming out of Station Scar Wood a left and a right turn brought me to the small Scale Ivy Tarn which lies right alongside the path, or at least it should. After all the rain of recent weeks the tarn completely covered the footpath to a good depth. Previously this would have been a problem as the water was too deep, but anticipating wet weather I had bought, especially for this holiday, gaiters and waterproof socks. I’d never used Gaiters before, although there’s nothing new about them, but the SealSkinz Trekking Socks were an absolute wonder. They were especially useful as the boots I was using was an old pair that I’d stopped using in 2009 because they were letting in water. The sole on the boots that I had been using until now was not in a good state so I was going for boots that had a good tread rather than waterproof boots.

With these waterproof Trekking Socks I found that it didn’t matter how much water I walked through my feet stayed dry. I don’t do gear reviews, but these socks were fabulous, and with the wet weather I was encountering in the Lake District they were going to be getting a thorough workout. It wasn’t long before it started raining again as I waded through Scale Ivy Tarn and plunged into more woodland. I was walking in an area of low hills that lie between Esthwaite Water and Windermere called Claife Heights. The highest point is called High Blind How, but it is not very well-defined, and was difficult to find. Much of Claife Heights is wooded which makes navigation difficult as you can’t see where you’re going for all the trees, so you are solely reliant on a good footpath. I had that until I entered an area that had recently been felled, obliterating the path. There were very good signposts in the wood but at the crucial point I lost track of where I was going with strong winds and low clouds making route-finding impossible. There is a trig-point at the summit but I couldn’t find it; I did find some crags in the general area but the summit could have been anywhere in the mist.

Despite getting a little lost trying to find the summit I somehow eventually managed to find my way back onto the correct route at Brownstone Tarn. I continued along the path following signs to Hawkeshead until I decided to turn off the main path and head towards Latterbarrow, a prominent hill in the north-western corner of Claife Heights. I had no problems with navigation now as the hill is devoid of trees and it felt so much better walking up this hill rather than through the interminable woodland that I had been walking through. At the top of Latterbarrow is an impressive beacon, an elegant obelisk and monument to whoever built it. Unfortunately it was getting dark by the time I got to the top and it was so windy I had difficulty getting a good picture of the magnificent construction. After many pictures I finally got one that I was reasonably happy with so I made my way down the wind-swept western slopes of Latterbarrow to a road. This was a tricky descent in the strong winds so I was relieved when I finally reached the shelter of the trees near the road, where a short walk took me into the village of Hawkeshead.