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Walking Barrow and Uzzicar

This was Norse country. Braithwaite means 'wide clearing' and Outerside relates to 'Uhtred's shielding', or the place to which stock was taken to take advantage of the flush of vegetation on the hill. From the car park above the village, retrace your steps down the gorse lined road to the second of two footpaths which begin in close proximity.

Your path leads to a footbridge spanning Coaldale Beck. The Methodist church is passed on the left and, on higher ground to the right, is the Coaldale Inn. Daffodils give a welcome splash of colour throughout the village in early spring. Go right, to pass the post office, and at Braithwaite Bridge meet the road bound for Newlands.

Follow the road right for about 200 yards (180m) to the bridleway which climbs (right) to Braithwaite Lodge. At the approach to the farm, a sign on a yew tree indicates the route, which goes to the right of the farm buildings. A crossing of tracks lies ahead, your course continuing straight on, over a stretch of ground often made juicy by heavy rain. A gate permits access to the open fell.

You must now follow a track left, rising slightly to a Munising. The path contours the fell side and rejoins the road bound for Newlands below the site of the former Barrow mine, in an area where landslips often occur. A visitor of many years ago recalls when, in the still of the evening, he heard the sound of screen slithering down the slopes of Barrow; his children called it Shiver Mountain.

At the Munising, turn right up a grassy slope on Barrow. This track has not suffered the ravages of pounding feet, the fate of many better known hills. Barrow is popular, and deservedly so, but the track is wide and cropped closely by sheep. The sward thus presented would grace many a cricket square were it not at such a rakish angle.

Those who take their time over the ascent have the pleasure of admiring, on the left, a splendid view of the Vale of Keswick reaching to the very foot of the Skiddaw massif. Beneath the mile (r.skm) long ridge of Skiddaw is Carl Side, extending westward over Long Side and Unlock Pike before descending to Barkbeth. The now denuded peak of Dodd looks like a skinhead, only the stubble remaining from thirty years' growth of conifers. Bassenthwaite Lake extends westward into more rolling country.

At the 900foot (27Sm) contour, an unexpected dip hides the path. If followed left, it would lead you to the former Barrow mine high above the road heading for Newlands. Your route continues the steady treadmill until, at 1,494 feet (455m), the summit is reached. And what a wild and intemperate spot it can be, without a vestige of shelter. On three sides are fells of greater stature. The Causey Pike ridge, to the left, continues over Scar Crags to Sail, thence to Eel Crags. On the opposite flank, Grise dale Pike towers above the remains of the Force Crag mine, which is clear to e far below, connected through the length of Coaldale to Braithwaite by a still-visible vehicular way. (Barytes, a mineral used in steel-making, was extracted from the local mine until 1966.) The head of Coaldale is dominated by Force Crag, over which forbidding precipice pours Pudding Beck from a hanging valley beyond. The intimidating mountain aspects on three flanks are in direct contrast to the Vale of Keswick in the north.

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