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Kings and Watendland walk

Kings How, its name relating to Edward VII, is really part of the extensive Grange Fell, which takes its name from the village at the mouth of Borrowdale, the original grange being one of the outlying farms of Furness Abbey. From the lay by car park, retrace your steps along the Bsz89 for 110 yards (loom) to turn right on a lane sign posted 'Troutdale Cottages'. The walls, trees and boulders are lagged with moss, testifying both to a high rainfall and clean air. Where the lane turns, the attention switches to Black Crag and other precipitous slopes, which are clothed with a mix of native trees such as sessile oak, rowan and silver birch.

Keep to the right of the beck. Look for bog asphodel, which in summer is golden and later takes on a reddish hue. The path enters woodland that is a resort of red squirrels which may be active in mild spells during the winter. As you climb in the woodland, which is shared by oak and birch, listen for the thin notes of the gold crest and stop periodically to scan a view of Derwentwater and Skiddaw beneath a proscenium arch of oak branches. You may also feel like standing for a while to admire a milk white waterfall.

A stile fixed to a short length of fencing is used to cross an old boundary wall. Your path joins the main path that begins near Grange and, as you turn left, becomes a flight of steps. On the stiff climb, from step to step, you will doubtless be looking at your feet rather than the scenery. Notice in autumn the jettisoned leaves of oak and birch, and also the vermilion berries of the rowan. As you approach an elevation of 1,000 feet (300m), oak leaves are few, and the leaves of rowan and birch predominate. At a bifurcation, the heather line is attained. Go right on a meandering path that enters a soggy little valley and passes a middle aged yew on the way to the summit of Kings How. In birch woodland, look out for fly agarics.

This fungus .:. red with white s twill look familiar because it is popular with the illustrators of fairy tales. A fairy or elf looks well portrayed on this showy growth. The white spots are actually the residue of the membrane that covered the emergent fungus, which it should be emphasized is poisonous. At a cairn, go right. Ere long you will see a slab of inscribed slate, set vertically on a crag face, the inscription informing the wayfarer that this hill was given to the King Edward VII by his sister Louise (the 'u' being rendered 'v') as a sanctuary of peace. From the summit, the view of the white buildings of Grange in Borrowdale and a backdrop of high fells is entrancing. Northwards, mighty Skiddaw and Derwentwater are revealed beyond a foreground of ling and rocks.

Continue from Kings How on a path which makes a steady descent to Long Moss. (An alternative is to return to the cairn and go right, but the descent is steep and rocky.) Look for a stile that negotiates a wire fence. Bog asphodel is at home on the tract of soggy ground. A short distance away are the remains of a sheepfold, where you might stop for a snack.

The track to Brund Fell begins with a left turn about room yards (gom) from a much older, ruined sheep croft. The path is well defined, passing through an area of heather and huge rocks which, when sunlit against a dark sky, are dramatic. A cairn on a rocky outcrop that is patterned by lime green lichen marks out the summit of Brand Fell at r ,365 feet (4r 6m). The heather lands are the haunt of several large day flying moths, including the northern egger, fox moth and the emperor moth, the caterpillars of which are large and green.

From Brund Fell, head right on a boldly defined path to the corner of two walls and a stile. The ground is sloppy after heavy rain. Follow a path that has the drystone wall to the right and it will lead you to a major path, connecting Rosthwaite with Watendlath, and a left turn is made. On the wettest patches near the path grows butterwort, one of the insectivorous plants, sticky glands on the upper surface of the leaves, which form a basal rosette, trapping insects, which are then absorbed. The small flowers on long stems are violet, and are seen from May to July.

The descent to Watendlath is on a path consisting largely of loose stones. A huddle of buildings near the outflow of a large tarn makes for an appealing picture. The name of this isolated settlement is Norse, vatn endi, and is said to mean 'the end of the lake'. Towards the end of the twelfth century it was granted to the Cistercians of Fountains Abbey, in Yorkshire, who tended sheep here. Later, Watendlath was tenanted by several families who lived frugally, rearing cattle and sheep, and attempting to grow cereal crops in a region where grain tended to grow well but in many years rotted in the ear. The walls, which are a notable feature of the area, date mainly from the mid-eighteenth century. The fell country was the last to be so enclosed.

Today, Watendlath is part of the extensive Lake District holdings of the National Trust. The hamlet 'came on the telephone' in 1984 when a cable was buried beside the path from Rosthwaite. Visitors with a literary interest seek out the farmstead associated with]udith Paris, heroine of one of Hugh Walpole's series of novels dealing mainly with the Herries family. A packhorse bridge, with the typical single span, was given its parapets when a plough horse slipped over the edge. An inscription relates to a visit by Prince Charles in 1995. He arrived by helicopter when redoubling was taking place and was persuaded to lay one of the cobbles.
At Watendlath is a cafe where patrons sitting at outdoor tables in the walled garden have close views of chaffinches and plump hens. Ducks, which grow podgy from the offerings from visitors, frequent the shore of the tarn. Recross the bridge and turn right through a gate for the last stage of the walk. The path, which is well defined, keeps close company with Watend lath Beck, which should not be crossed.

In the scattered woodland, which features oak, birch and ash, you might see the redstart, a notable bird visitor in summer. Look for the rustcoloured tail, which quivers as though the redstart is letting off surplus nervous energy. Nesting takes place in holes in trees. A ringgit may be noticed in the valley, this being originally a circlet of stone that enclosed the best land, permitting crops and also grass for haymaking to grow without hindrance from stock.

After about one and a quarter miles (2km), ignore the bridge over Watendlath Beck and follow the path to the left, which takes you through a pleasant Oakwood to a bifurcation. Here a left turn leads to a stile, beyond which you will hear the roar of water as the beck begins its hectic descent as Lodore Fqlls. It is possible to view a section of the upper falls, but great care should be exercised, the rocks being slippery in the damp conditions. Tree roots are a hazard for the casual visitor. It is better to visit the lower falls after finishing the walk.

The return to the valley is downhill, between banks of bracken, to High Locoer Farm, where refreshments are available. During the descent, you may hear and see greylag geese, a large number of which patronize the marshland at the head of Derwentwater during the off-season. Cross the road, turn left and use the footpath beside the B5289 back to the area where you left the car.

Lodore Falls, behind a large hotel on the B 5289 towards Keswick, can be viewed on payment of a small sum. Water tumbles over mossy rocks between Gower Crag and Shepherds Crag. The drop, of 150 feet (45m), is but a dozen feet (3.5m) less than the falls at Niagara. There was a time when the hotel placed a cannon on the lake shore and, on firing it, roused the echoes on nearby crags. Harriet Martineau, in her Guide to the Lakes of 1854, mentioned that the way was through a little garden and orchard, 'where the fish preserves are ter¬rible temptations to waste of time, and over a foot bridge, and up into the wood, where the path leads to the front of the mighty chasm'. The footpath remains; its setting has been developed to provide amenities for the hotel.

Southey's clever but somewhat tedious poem, which answers the question as to how does the water come down at Lodore, was written for the entertainment of his children at Greta Hall, Keswick. There must have been a particularly heavy rain¬fall, for it includes the lines: The falls (when they are active) remain in a natural state. A classic Lakeland story is that of the American tourist who, hav¬ing looked long and hard for Lodore Falls, sat down, mopped his brow and asked a local man where he could find the falls. Said the native: 'Thad's sat on 'me.

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