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Walking Sale Fell and Keswick

This is a part of the Lake District known to few visitors, hence its charm. Serious birdwatchers are familiar with the sloping ground to the west of Bassenthwaite Lake, where are to be found Wythop Woods, with their mixture of mature deciduous trees. The footpaths on and around Sale Fell are still grassed over, the Wythe Valley is tucked away from the sight of familiar roads, and Wythop Church is close to the road but not visible from it, lying behind a lofty retaining wall of the best possible craftsmanship. Two gaps in the wall give access via steps to the main path leading to a Victorian building which is unusual in having its porch on the north side.

This was dictated by the building's fell side situation. The church, dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch, dates from 1866 and it took the place of an ancient chapel, the ruins of which you will see later in the walk. A lintel in the porch of the new church is dated 1673 and was moved here from the older building. Wood from that structure was fashioned into an altar cross, which was covered in brass by a craftsman at the old Keswick School of Industrial Arts.

Your walk begins with a wooden gate at the southeast corner of the churchyard. The path lies through a belt of trees to another gate, giving access to the open fell. Walk uphill to join a major path, turning right and gaining height gradually. Sale Fell, like many another northern hill, has a bare look about it, the Skiddaw Slates having become greatly eroded. During the climb from the church you will become aware of the high rainfall, represented by ground that is invariably damp and mossy. The most conspicuous plants are bracken (though this is not as widespread as on some other fells) and gorse, which is in flower for most of the year.

The path you are following leads directly to Kelswick but, to climb Sale Fell, leave it just before it begins to dip near a stone wall on your right and where you will see a grassy path leading off to the left. The ascent of Sale Fell is not arduous, the path leading unerringly to the large summit cairn. To the north, in good weather, your eyes scan the Cumbrian Plain extending to where there is the glint of water (the Solvay) and a big blue Scottish hill (Criffell). Southwestwards lies mighty Skiddaw . To the before the wall to follow it to another gap, at this point bearing right to follow a green way that eventually arrives near the old farmhouse at a point near where your original path from Wythe Church ends.

Turn left at the tarmac road, then bear right for the remains of old Wythop Chapel. The route is in line with the road and consists of a prominent hillside terrace, grassed over, heading for a tract of oak woodland. What is left of the chapel is well marked on the left of the track, just before you enter Chapel Wood using a tall wooden gate in a deer fence.

This deters the roe deer that are widespread in such a well wooded area. They are relatively small deer, foxyred in Summer, greyish-brown in winter, with a south is the broad but secluded Wythop Valley and a hint of the extensive conifer forest which is centred on Whinlatter.

Walk for a short distance eastwards, and you may rest your back on a rock outcrop as you have a snack and look out across the isolated fell called Bines and the northern end of Bassenthwaite Lake.Leave the summit of Sale for Kelswick by descending southeast to a wall which has an open gateway and turning right prominent white kidney shaped patch at the rump. A testy roebuck gives a hoarse bark. An open-air service is held annually at the site of the chapel, this event occurring on the third Sunday in August. The early history of the chapel is vague, it having been variously dated to the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. It was rebuilt in 1673, and to the end was a plain structure with 'primitive interior fittings', such as an altar table that was a narrow board supported by a moveable bracket inside the reading desk.

In the eighteenth century the parish minister, who was not necessarily ordained, was elected by the chapel men, paid Iodized per Sunday, with the right of whittle gate, which involved board and lodging, for three months at a time, at various homes in the parish. The church bell is said to have been suspended from a nearby tree. Christenings, marriages and funerals took place at Lorton.

To walk through Chapel Wood, on a broad path, is always a fascinating experience. In spring the sunlight slants through fresh green leaves, and in autumn the oak trees, which predominate, put on a josephs' coat of many colors. Beyond the wood, look out for a buzzard on the tousled slopes of the fell. Big and broad winged, the bird may be circling and uttering its distinctive call, which is like the mewing of the domestic cat. There is a scattering of berried thorns.
 
Follow the broad path to a point about I So yards (135m) beyond where a footpath goes off to the right, and then seek out a minor and not-too-distinct path on the right that keeps close company with a wire fence as it heads for a tract of coniferous woodland ahead. A five barred gate has a sign from Forest Enterprise welcoming walkers to the big wood. The path occupies a terrace with the land rising to the left and falling to the right, where are situated Wythe Woods. In a gap between trees, you will have a view of part of Bassenthwaite Lake.

Though not in the craggy heartland of Lakeland, this northwest corner hears the croaking of ravens as birds pass over. Where Bassenthwaite Lake is visible, in the 'off' season you might look down on a chevron of geese, for both grey lags and Canada geese are to be found locally. The woodland has the usual complement of small birds, the residents including tree creeper, scuttering up a tree like a little mouse; the wren, tiny, with cocked up tail and loud voice; and the familiar robin.

A forest road is encountered. Follow it down the hill to a T-junction and, turning left, go down the hill until it curves to the right. At this point, go left, down an avenue of beech trees that becomes an avenue of tall and stately firs, and takes you to the road near Route beck. Notice a building called the Old Vicarage and a Victorian postbox set in a wall as you walk upwards and along to where you left your car.

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