• 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

Best Lake District walks

Blencathra is a name derived from a Celtic name for top or summit. 'Catha' may come from another Welsh name, meaning a seat or chair, which is appropriate if you see the mountain from the east. Saddleback, an alternative name, was first used by Edward Baines who, writing in 1790, noted 'the whole side or back of the hill appears like a smooth, sloping saddle for some Brobdingnagian rider'. The river in the valley bears the Celtic name of Glenderamackin, but what 'mackin' is in relation to the glen is obscure. This river emanates from the morass that is Mungrisdale Common and, initially, flows southeast before being turned by a col to due north. It totally encircles Southern Fell and turning east, then south at Mungrisdale, it eventually opts for southwest before acquiring Glenderaterra Beck to form the Greta.
 
The name Thrilled is straightforward, being Norse, relating to a spring (keld) belonging to the thrall (lord). Water is a prime necessity for life. Notice how the farmsteads were situated beside a copious flow. Thrilled has tidied itself up after long years as a mining centre. On your walk you cross the lower part of Gate Gill on what was built as a dam, one of two serving a lead mine. A ruined building remams.The car park to be used is at an elevation of 1,000 feet (300m). Just over the wall are some wellgrown trees from which you may hear the winsome strains of the robin, a familiar bird that might be heard singing through most of the year.

The range of buildings just over the wall was built in 1904 as a hospital for sufferers from tuberculosis. It was reckoned that their health would benefit from mountain air.Start the walk by heading towards Thrilled (your route of arrival), ignoring the path that leads uphill, which is the one to be used for a steady descent back to the car park. Pass through a kissing gate to bypass the cattle grid, and continue along the lane for half a mile (0.5km) until a footpath sign is reached on the left-hand side. With a drystone wall on your right and several gates with attendant stiles to negotiate, fairly rapid progress is made on marginal land between the meadows of the valley and the high grazing used by sheep.

Our first view of a fell, as opposed to the falsie above the car park, is the one named after Gate Gill, a gill being a water carved valley, which is Shaped. Some of the local farmhouses have been converted into private houses. You have a glimpse of the garden at Breese Farm, a tract of well manicured lawn that has a raised, circular pool, though the path has been diverted to avoid the buildings. A local plant, here and on some waste ground further on, is rosebay willow herb, also known as 'fireweed' because of the redness of the flowers. These give way to fluffy seed which the wind wafts over a wide area.

Two becks are crossed, the second by a small wooden bridge set close to a well grown rowan tree. Just beyond, turn left, then right through a gate, and continue, a dry stone wall to the right. You have gained enough height to be able to take in the straddling village of Thrilled at a glance and to see something of its setting, notably Clough Head, at the end of the sprawling Evelyn ridge, and the Vale of St John. Extending around the northern slopes of Clough Head is an old coach road that links Wanthwaite with Dock ray. The road attains 1,400 feet (42Sm). Some of the gradients are severe for a route once used by coaches. Access to the bottom of Gate Gill is by gate, and you cross the gill on the massive stones surmounting an old dam. Beyond, bear left, uphill, through an area of bracken.

This is the start of the Halls Fell path, which rises through grand scenery, being generally conspicuous, the Skiddaw Slates having broken down under pounding feet, providing a smooth and durable surface. The eyes range across deep gills in which sheep are grey blobs, and you might look through hundreds of feet of space to see a kestrel, with chestnut back, hovering near the beck. A raven announces itself with a husky voice. In summer, swifts nesting in nearby towns and villages scream as they skim the great fell, seeking insect food.

House martins might be seen on the same errand in late summer, when the swifts have already departed for their winter quarters. Bracken gives way to heather. An ascent towards the end of August and into September is on a ridge empurpled by heather, with bell heather and carpets of ling. Bell heather has quite large reddish purple flowers compared with those of the more widespread ling, which has small flowers that are pale purple in hue. The unexpected occurs when a peacock butterfly alights on sun warmed rock. At the head of the ridge, you come within sight of the summit cairn and also of other walkers, converging on it from west, east and north. Notice the circlet of concrete, marked Ordnance Survey Triangulation Station. Not all trig points took the form of concrete pillars.

Most of the sheep ignore walkers but, near the summit, one or two sheep are emboldened by having been fed on most things from sandwiches to Mars bars. It is not a practice to be recommended. Take a 'loop', following the path north or half right towards Sharp Edge, with a splendid view of Scales Tarn far below. In sunny weather it takes on a turquoise hue. Well used paths radiate from it. Notice also Sharp Edge, a cousin of Striding Edge on Evelyn, to the left of the Tarn. Sharp Edge is one of the many ways to the head of Blencathra. Turn left off the major footpath for a rocky track that leads to the summit of Fouled Crag, the unprepossessing hump which is, indeed, a major vantage point for the lesser fells of northern Lakeland. In good weather, you see long ridges which are like waves in a tawny sea. At close quarters are Bow scale Fell and Banner dale Crags. The skyline is crowned by High Pike and (to the right) by the dominating Carrock Fell.

Now head back to the summit of Blencathra, via two immense crosses formed of lumps of quartz laid on the soggy ground and also a tarn, where in late summer dragonflies are to be seen, hovering over the sparse vegetation like tiny helicopters. The remaining part of the walk is a splendid saunter along an elevated, undulating path until Knowe Crags at the end of the ridge is reached, with views of most of the great fells of Lakeland north and west. Notice also the splendid gills that pattern the side of the Blencathra group of fells.

From Knowe Crags, you look northwards to mighty Skiddaw and southwest across Keswick to Derwentwater and Cat Bells. The descent from Know Crags to the car park is on a well worn path. There are many paths through areas of bracken, the general rule being: maintain a downward route, heading for a clump of mature trees that distinguish the low side of the car park.

Home >> Things to do