• Alston
• Allonby And Aspatria
• Ambleside And Troutbeck
• Appleby In Westmoreland
• Askam In Furness
• Barrow In Furness
• Bassenthwaite
• Borrowdale
• Bowness On Windermere
• Brough
• Buttermere
• Brampton
• Broughton In Furness
• Carlisle
• Cartmel
• Cleator Moor
• Cockermouth
• Coniston
• Dalston
• Dalton In Furness
• Dent
• Grange Over Sands
• Grasmere
• Greenodd
• Grizedale
• Hawkshead
• Kendal
• Keswick
• Kirkby Lonsdale
• Wasdale And Gosforth
• Kirkby Stephen
• Longtown
• Loweswater
• Maryport
• Melmerby
• Milnthorpe
• Nenthead
• Newby Bridge
• Orton
• Penrith
• Pooley Bridge
• Ravenglass And Eskdale
• Sedbergh
• Seascale
• Shap
• Silloth And Solway
• St Bees
• Skiddaw
• Staveley
• Tebay
• The Duddon Valley
• Threlkeld
• Ulverston
• Vale Of Lorton
• Wasdale
• Wetheral
• Whitehaven
• Wigton
• Windermere
• Workington
• Spa Hotels In Windermere The Lake District
• Hotels With Hot Tubs In Windermere
• Hot Tub Hotels In Windermere And The Lake District
• Romantic Breaks In Windermere And The Lake District
• Themed Hotels In Windermere And The Lake District
• Weekend Breaks In Windermere
• Windermere Attractions And Boat Trips
• Boutique Hotels And Accommodation In Windermere And The Lake District
• Windermere In The Rain
• One Way Ticket To Windermere Por Favor
• Horse Riding In The Lake District
• Walks In The Lake District
• Windermere Boutique Hotel Bedrooms
• Holiday Accommodation Wanted In The Lake District

Lake District walks

Many Lake District walks hinge on Keswick, northern capital of the region. Within a few miles of the town, the scenery is so varied a visitor can select a walk to suit his or her mood.

To the north, the landscape billows and the fells are like waves in a petrified sea. Big and rounded, they are composed of Skidded Slates, which are not really slates but flagstones, shale's and mudstones, laid down on the bed of an ancient sea. To the south, beyond the Jaws of Borrowable, are craggy mountains of a volcanic origin. From Glaramara, in clear weather, the northern fell country might be taken in during one sweeping glance.

Sheep graze on what is otherwise an empty landscape. Norman Nicholson, the Lakeland poet, wrote of whole valleys lying bare and open to the eye, with scarcely a wisp of bracken to preserve their modesty. Bracken, which was formerly cut as bedding for farm stock, now forms a chest high jungle. Among the dales that extend from Keswick is the Newlands Valley, one of the dales radiating from Keswick. Large and well farmed and virtually enclosed by fells, Newlands is entered on narrow roads that give an expedition a sense of adventure.

Keswick lies between two major lakes, namely Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake. The first memory of John Ruskin, Victorian philosopher, art critic and author, was of being a child of five whose nurse took him to Friars Crag, overlooking Derwentwater. To Ruskin, the view of lake and mountain represented 'one of the three most beautiful scenes in Europe'. Derwentwater, with its wooded islets, contrasts with Bassenthwaite Lake, a stretch of water that is the only one with 'lake' as a suffix, the others being either mere or water.

Keswick has more literary associations than any other town of its size. Robert Southey, the poet laureate, lived here and was buried in the yard of Crosthwaite Church, his friend Wordsworth penning some lines for a memorial inside the building. Arthur Ransomed, author of Swallows and Amazons, was inspired by a scenic feature far removed from the Coniston Windermere area where most of his work was set. He gave Friars Crag the name Darien and shifted it south so that the children appearing in his book might camp where the promontory 'dropped, like a cliff, into the lake' and there was a splendid backdrop of hills.

The Walker's Guides devised by Smith Settle are companionable, offering much more than directions. Here, also, are notes on history, topography and wildlife, augmented by practical information. The Lakeland series began with the Central area and continued with segments based on important towns: the Southeast is explored from Kendal and the Northeast from Penrith.

The present volume relates Keswick to its varied environment and offers the customary twenty circular walks ranging from 4 to IOVz miles (6.S17km), in an area from the village of Caldbeck in the north to Ask House at the head of Borrowable in the south. The text is enlivened by photographs, line drawings and paintings, and maps on which special features are highlighted. All the maps in this guide are orientated north.

The duration given for each walk takes into account time off to take photographs or eat, but not to doze. Walkers of limited experience who intend to visit the fells are advised to wear boots, if only for ankle protection, and carry some waterproof clothing. Mountain weather is fickle and fast changing. A day that begins with the sun like a blowtorch in a cloudless sky might easily develop in to one with cloud, wind and rain.

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