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Walking Walla Crag and Ashnes Bridge

Southey, one of the literary giants of Lakeland, who lived at Keswick, was fond of taking his children up the gill to Walla Crag. 'The walk', he noted, 'has just that degree of difficulty and enterprise wherein children delight and may safely be indulged.' Leaving the Moot Hall, follow the left hand road beside the Keswick Lodge Hotel and, at another junction, continue ahead into St John's Street, passing the cinema. St John's Church is on your right and beyond are the outskirts of the town. In any other context, they would be known as suburbs. Ambleside Road gives way to Manor Brow, at the start of which turn right into Springs Road. Hawthorn trees line the right hand side of what becomes a minor lane.

Pass through the environs of Springs Head Farm, with Brocken Beck for company for almost a mile. In springtime, the space beneath the trees is carpeted by wood anemones. Go through a gate into coppice woodland, where birch is a dominant tree and open conditions in May encourage drifts of bluebells. Boulders and trees around the beck are heavily lagged with moss. A pied wagtail, with its distinctive black and white plumage, hunts insect food. The yellow flowers of celandine add a splash of spring color.

After a third of a mile  or so, swing right at the sign for Rake foot Farm, Walla Crag and Castlerigg Stone Circle, following the main path. Foxgloves and wild honeysuckle bedeck the area in summer. Bracket fungus sprouts from damp tree trunks. As height is gained, and views open up, the shapely peak of Cat Bells, beyond Derwentwater, comes into view, the eye continuing to follow the land mass onto the higher ground of Maiden Moor and High Spy. You will pass, on your right, a telecommunications mast.

The path runs on high ground above Brockle Beck. On passing through a kissing gate, it descends to cross a sylvan area before climbing to a minor road, where you turn right, walking to a point beyond Rake foot. At Rake foot, cross over the footbridge and take the path that lies straight ahead. You will have a wall to your right. Continue climbing and, on reaching more-or-less level ground, keep to the right where there is a gate on the right hand side.

Climb a steep stile at a crosswalk before traversing a clear yet very muddy track to Walla Crag. A gate on the right admits to a dramatic viewpoint, though it is somewhat lower than the summit of the crag. Larch, Scots pine and ground hugging yew adorn this lesser vantage-point. Walk with care to avoid making a precipitous descent into Great Wood. The highest point of Walla Crag is at an elevation of 1,243 feet (379m). This great crag has in times past been the nesting place of peregrines and the area is frequented by the northern egger moth.

Far below is Derwentwater, with St Herbert's Island almost shouting to be noticed. Backing the lake is the Newlands Valley, the slope of Barrow blending into Outer side, then Eel Crag. To the right, Grisedale Pike descends to Whinlatter Pass. The Skiddaw massif is often layered with snow well into spring. This is the backdrop to the sylvan beauty of Borrowdale. By contrast, the dull yet dominant peak southeast is Blueberry Fell, which is at the northern end of what is probably the wettest ridge in Lakeland. Even in mist, this summit is a grand spot. The precise course from Walla Crag to Ashes is as follows. Leave the summit area by a stepstile to the south, where there is also a small dog gate.

Close by is the head of spectacular Lady's Rake, a gap where according to an unlikely tale in 1715, when the North was aflame with Jacobi fervor, the countess of Derwentwater escaped from her home on Lords Island up the rake (a path) with her jewels. Her husband had been arrested for high treason and was subsequently beheaded. To the right, a path which will not be followed descends steeply across scree and through Great Wood to the valley road and Keswick. The path to be followed is to the left, on the contour, ignoring the track heading off southeast for Blueberry Fell and maintaining an easy course which makes a gradual descent towards Ashes Bridge.

This stretch is not to be rushed in good weather, when at almost every step fresh beauties are revealed, either close at hand, in the case of bird or flower, or distantly, as with gaunt fell country, often blue-grey in tone under cloud. Ahead, Kings How and Castle Crag are dominant with, in the foreground, green pastures and a white-washed farm. Ashes Wood may be associated by name with the ash tree, but is more notable for its profusion of oaks.

The renowned Hilton Lodore Hotel is half hidden by woodland. The Derwentwater launch looks as insignificant as a water beetle as it approaches a landing stage close by. Between St Herbert's Island and Rampsholme Island is a rocky outcrop which is not visible when the lake has responded to heavy rain. In moderate weather, the rock is a perch for cormorants, which have been visiting inland waters with increasing frequency as the fish stock in the sea is reduced by pollution or excessive fishing.
On the track leading down to Ashes Bridge, pass through a gate, ignoring a right turn until Barrow Beck is reached; then you should turn right to Ashness Bridge, which spans the beck on a minor road, a cul-de-sac, leading to Watendlath. If you have chosen a quiet time, in spring, then the beauty of gorse, flecked with yellow bloom, and a fell side still gingery with dead bracken fronds, will enhance any photographs you take of the celebrated bridge. Otherwise, you might have to queue to photograph the bridge from conventional angles.

Descend on the road for no more than thirty paces to find a clear track which follows the contour. Pass through a gate and, ignoring a path which climbs away to the right, follow a route that is increasingly hemmed in by gorse. Soon the traverse passes beneath Falcon Crag.

Ignore a path which descends to the road. Disconcertingly, the recommended path climbs steeply by a wall side, but only to the point where a footbridge spans Cat Gill, which marks the fault line between Skiddaw Slate and Borrowdale Volcanics. When safely across, the quick descent from Walla Crag joins our route. This descends through Great Wood to a large car park. Leave this by the entry for vehicles and cross the traffic busy valley road with care, and join a further path at the side of the road to head towards Keswick. After about 150 yards (135m), pass through a stile in the wall and continue in the same direction (but with the wall now on your right) for about a quarter of a mile (400m), until a T-junction is reached with a memorial tablet marked 'RDM, 1834' on the left hand side.

Turn left and continue along good track taking a path on the right hand side through a gate onto a clear track above more wet ground, where thrive flag iris and marsh marigold, the latter with shiny kidneyshaped leaves and yellow flowers. A large specimen of red dogwood, a garden escape, will be seen (left) before reaching the shore of Derwentwater.

Friars Crag should be visited by turning left after passing through a gate on reaching the crag. This is a much-favoured stroll from Keswick. A memorial to John Ruskin sports his likeness and records that 'the first thing which I remember as an event in life was being taken by my nurse to the brow of Friars Crag on Derwentwater'.Near the boat landings is a memorial to Canon Rawnsley, a founder of the National Trust, an organisation that maintains a shop in the vicinity. Just beyond is a garden tea room where chaffinch and blue tit fly regular sorties inside in search of food. The male chaffinch is colorful, with slate blue crown, chestnut mantle and greenish rump; the female less so. Here, too, is a modern electronic pianola, making a welcome change from the more raucous jukebox.

Follow the road beside the splendid new Theatre by the Lake to reach the Heads, an impressively large row of hotels and guesthouses standing above Hope Park. Swing right to pass George Fisher's walking and climbing emporium, before returning to the Moot Hall, which was built in 1813 and has served as a courthouse, prison, town hall, market and museum.

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