Windermere to Ambleside off-road

Monday 18th December 2023

After coming back from the Lake District last summer, I had a difficult autumn that saw me doing hardly any walking for various reasons and this had a negative impact on my mental health, so I made the decision to start walking again as often as possible even it was only locally for just an hour like in lockdown and this had a hugely beneficial effect on my mental health as well as my physical health. The benefit seems to start almost as soon as I walk out of the door as it is not long before my heartrate slows and I am suddenly feeling more relaxed, but I was still not walking for more than an hour or two, so I was desperate for the chance to be out for longer. Being outdoors is a huge boost for me, so it is ironic that I work in an office all day in front of a computer and the pressures of work tied me up all autumn until the week before Christmas when I finally broke free and was able to experience the freedom that I so desperately needed. There was only one place I wanted to go and that was the Lake District even though the weather was now much worse than when I had left it at the end of August, but just being in the Lake District, no matter the weather, was all I needed. Unfortunately I didn’t reach Windermere until two o’clock and at this time of the year it would be dark by four, but I was keen to do a walk in the available time.

When I arrived in the Lake District four months earlier, I immediately set off along a footpath that crosses the western slopes of Orrest Head and now I followed in my footsteps until I reached High Hay Wood where I had lingered previously wishing I could explore before reluctantly returning to the path. Now, despite the drizzle and rapidly approaching lack of daylight, I came off the main path to take a permissive route through the wood, across several grassy fields and into St Catherine’s Wood. The view up Whinless Beck, between the woods, was captivating and began the work that had prompted me to come to the Lake District and revitalise me after the long autumn. After passing through St Catherine’s I crossed a road and followed tracks across sodden grassy fields that brought me into the Trout Beck Valley. I came this way in 2016, after visiting the top of Orrest Head, and on that occasion I discovered that the bridge over Trout Beck had been washed away. Now, I found that splendid, substantial bridges have been installed that took me easily across the valley and steeply up the path to Town End. Eventually, I managed to drag myself up the hill to Holbeck Lane where I had great views, despite the dwindling light, across the fields and down the length of Windermere.

Branching off onto Skelghyll Lane, I crossed the hillside and climbed to meet the track that crosses the southern slopes of Wansfell and I have taken many times while staying at the Ambleside Youth Hostel. This track took me into Stelghyll Wood and with the light failing I made my way along the wet path, across Stencher Beck and down the hill to the northern end of Windermere and the Ambleside Youth Hostel. This has been a tricky year for me when I have had difficulty motivating myself to get out for a walk, but whenever I have gone for a walk I have found that the benefits were tremendous. It was great to be back in the Lake District and although the ground may be saturated after the huge amount of rain we’ve had this autumn and the weather may not been good, it was just the recuperation I needed and that nowhere else could provide.

Return to the Churnet Valley

Saturday 1st April 2023

At the start of spring this year I was feeling frustrated at the poor weather that had kept me at home for much of the winter and right through to the end of March, so I was desperate for a good walk and on this day I finally forced myself to get out despite the drizzle outside. I went to the Churnet Valley, in Staffordshire, which I had visited many times over the winter of 2021/22, but I had not been back since October, which despite being only six months ago felt like forever given how frequently I had been to the area in the twelve months previously. I parked at Froghall Wharf and immediately came across a problem as I had not come with any plan of where I was going to be walking, so I found myself repeating the same walk that I had taken a year earlier from Froghall. It was not a bad route, but after all the rain over the winter it was not the firmest underfoot. I started by joining the route of the tramway that used to carry limestone from Caldonlow Quarry to the limekilns at Forghall Wharf before being loaded onto the Caldon Canal, but I didn’t stay on the track for long before branching off into Harston Wood where the thick garlic smell of ramson filled the air while wood anemones decorated the banks of the stream. Eventually, I climbed out of the valley on a steep, muddy path that brought me to outskirts of the village of Foxt where, as in 2022, I took a path that descended through some grassy fields before plunging into a valley clothed in Whieldon’s Wood.

This was filled with many small green plants, including bluebells, which in a month’s time will produce a wondrous display, but not at this early point in the season, nevertheless the abundance of wild plants that filled the verdant valley was uplifting and stayed with me as I headed downstream. Eventually I came to the outlet of a lake where a landslide has closed the path, so I had to carefully make my way around the difficulties before reaching the main footpath where I turned left to continue to follow the Blackbank Brook downstream, and found the path to be just as phenomenally muddy as I had seen over the winter of 2021/22. There was nothing I could do about it except to just brave the mud and somehow find my way down the path until with Froghall Wharf in sight through the trees I turned off the path to climb up to a road where a short walk brought me to Hermitage Farm and after crossing several grassy fields I reached Booth’s Wood, but this was nothing like I remembered. On previous visits this dell has been thoroughly overgrown with the path severely blocked by fallen branches, but now the path has been cleared, which greatly benefited me and hopefully, by clearing the ground, will also benefit the bluebells which grow in abundance in this dell.

At this early point in the season it was celandines and wood anemones that filled the woodland and they were no less welcome than the bluebells that I knew from last year would come to dominate in a month’s time. After taking loads of pictures I eventually moved on from there and up to the relative mediocrity of Booth’s Hall Farm where I wanted to turn left onto a path that would take me back down into the Churnet Valley, but I couldn’t find it. I was mindful of the fact that I was still following my route of twelve months earlier so I wanted to go somewhere new, but I couldn’t find the path past the farm building so I resigned myself to following the familiar path over waterlogged fields that took me past Greenwood House and eventually down to the bottom of the Churnet Valley. Since I had turned right at this point twelve months earlier, this time I turned left to walk beside the canal for a short spell before crossing over the valley to enter Consall Nature Park. A steep climb took me up Far Kingsley Banks to a fantastic viewpoint across the park that I have come to love over my previous visits. After admiring the view, which wasn’t at its best, I followed the path down to the bottom of the valley and after passing the pools proceeded to head back out of the park and onto the towpath beside the Caldon Canal that brought me all the way back to Froghall Wharf. I really needed this walk after a difficult winter, and it shows the importance of getting out for a walk.

Stony Cove Pike and Red Screes

Thursday 31st August 2023

Unfortunately I had to end my holiday in the Lake District two days early due to train strikes and tragically, after the wet start to the holiday, the weather was now fantastic so I was going miss out on two good days, but the Lake District will still be there for the next time. Before I left I had time for one last walk, if only to get me from Patterdale to the train station. When my plan for this day had been to get to my next overnight accommodation in Coniston, I was going to climb Red Screes via Middle Dodd, but with this being my last day in the Lake District, and with good weather, I wanted to prolong the walking for as long as possible, so the previous evening I poured over maps of the Lake District and considered my options, until eventually I decided to go over Caudale Moor, whose summit is known as Stony Cove Pike, before climbing Red Screes. So, in gorgeous weather, I left the Patterdale Youth Hostel and followed the path down the eastern side of the valley, which provided me with a relaxing walk in the morning sunshine that eventually brought me to the village of Hartsop where I didn’t have good memories. Two years ago, I did an unnecessary descent to the village at the start of my holiday followed by a gut-destroying ascent up Hartsop Dodd and onward to Caudale Moor, however, after almost two weeks of fabulous walking in the Lake District, my negative memories from that holiday have almost been expunged so I was not too glum to be back in Hartsop.

After that walk in 2021, I had camped on Caudale Moor and when I woke the following morning the weather was poor, so I came straight back down via Threshwaite Mouth and through the glen. I have fond memories of a descent that took me through somewhere I’d never been before, so I was keen to see it in better weather. A steady climb took me through Threshwaite Glen, past grass-covered glacial mounds and through a boulder-field into Threshwaite Cove before an exhausting climb brought me to the top of the pass at Threshwaite Mouth where I turned right to begin a glorious scramble up to Stony Cove Pike. As I approached the summit, clouds came over and smothered all the views, which was a shock after the sunny start to the day but the cloud soon cleared. After traversing the summit plateau, a wall provided me with a clear guide that was unnecessary in the clearing weather and with a good path underfoot gave me a gentle descent to the head of Woundale before a short climb brought me to St Raven’s Edge where I had great views down the valley of Stock Ghyll to Ambleside and the northern tip of Windermere. A steep descent brought me down to the Kirkstone Pass and after passing the Inn and over the road, I started to climb Red Screes on an ascent that I have taken twice before, but since the last time was in 2009 I thought it would be a good idea to take it again.

It wasn’t long before this steep ascent had worn me out and I had to stop and rest. This climb is unrelentingly steep and I remember previously struggling on it, though the path is excellent and passes through some great mountain scenery. Eventually I gave up on the struggle and stopped for a prolonged rest while I had my lunch, though I later discovered that I was now not far from the summit and after a short, steep scramble I finally reached the Ordnance Survey column that marks the top of Red Screes, Exhausted from the strenuous climb, I clung to the trig point for support and to try and catch my breath. It wasn’t until I had my breath back that I was able to take in the tremendous views all around me that included those over Middle Dodd down to Brothers Water and Patterdale, but of course the most arresting view was towards Fairfield and the Helvellyn range. Everywhere was looking glorious, but I was gutted that this was the last fell of my holiday and I was going home. Eventually I turned my face away from the fabulous views and the summit and headed down the grassy south ridge towards Ambleside on a path that I had previously taken in 2005 in poor weather when I wouldn’t have been able to see anything, though a path like this is always best in descent.

With hazy views ahead of me towards Windermere and dark clouds coming over the Coniston Fells I descended the gentle slopes of the grassy ridge keeping my pace up to ensure I caught the bus I wanted. The path eventually brought me onto the Kirkstone Road still some distance above Ambleside so my descent continued along the road until I was back in Ambleside and able to catch a bus to the railway station and begin my journey home. I was very tired by the end of this walk, so maybe it was good that I was going home, but maybe part of the problem was the heat that had developed during the week, which hadn’t been a problem earlier in the holiday when it had been cold and wet but the heat had begun to make the walking very draining and tiring. Overall, this was a fabulous holiday as is any in the Lake District. At the start I was feeling very stressed and needed some rest and recuperation and the Lake District definitely gave me that, refreshing me in both mind and body.