Walla Crag walk, Derwentwater, Cumbria

Walla Crag cairn

I'll start by wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year. I'd thought I'd make an early start on the blog this year to ... try and squeeze an extra post in :-)

There's nothing better on occasions to go for a winter walk to escape Christmas food indulgence, lethargy and shopping. Today however was different as it was too windy and this virtual walk will have to do as a reserve.

It seems to me that I now post in Time Tunnels or a Time Hop with consecutive themes either being from last week, last year or maybe 2011. I haven't covered much of what I got up to in the not so happy year of 2012 on this blog but it was a great period of change, un-needful stress and lots of excessive travel on the road (usually in the dark) to South Yorkshire. All of this had to come to a sudden end in late January 2013 when the need to renovate and clear out my Mother's house for rental (nursing care home fees) purposes. Both February and March of that year were tough accepting the change whist constantly working on the house at weekends, late at night after work and then after visiting my Mother.

The day finally arrived when I handed in the house keys to the Estate agent to pass on to the new tenant. As I hadn't been anywhere for months and needed a break, the following saturday I checked and opted for the best available weather conditions in a radius of a two hour drive. This particular day out on 6th April 2013 was momentous in many ways as it was the beginning of a new chapter in my life although I wasn't quite sure what kind of chapter at the time.

Climbing up to Walla Crag

I drove to Keswick in Cumbria and opted to do my favourite walk, details and map are here ...

The Walla Crag / Ashness Bridge circular walk

... heading south on the east side of Derwentwater. This is the walk that I always recommend to any friends who are new to hillwalking in Cumbria / The English Lake District as it is so varied and inspiring.

In fact I get so enthused about it that I am pleased that you are about to join me on this visual feast of walking.

Derwentwater and Catbells

The view starts to open out a bit once the path hits the edge of the woods above Keswick. (above two images)

Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake from Walla Crag

On leaving the trees behind, there is a bit of ascent pain that average walkers manage to deal with for a short time but as they say "No pain. no gain" and the views from the top are spectacular.

Derwentwater and Keswick from Walla Crag

I'm sure you can understand why I am a fair weather walker to capture photographic views like this and share them with you. For those walkers like myself who have followed in the footsteps of Alfred Wainwright will know that the imperial height measurement in feet was easy to remember at 1234 ft, but Ordnance survey seem to have upgraded it in more recent years to 1243 ft (379 metres)

Passing Ships, Keswick Launch, Derwentwater

The Keswick Launch is a ferry company that runs a simultaneous clockwise and anticlockwise service around Derwentwater calling at numerous landing stages on the lakeshore.

Bleaberry Fell

Not being one to conform to tradition, I decided to add an extra dog leg into the the walk by covering the higher and more exciting looking wintery Bleaberry Fell at 1936 feet (590 m)

Bleaberry Fell path

The path seemed pretty much straightforward to start with so I'd thought I'd give it a go, however ...

Bleaberry Fell ascent

The extra dog leg walk was a bit more tricky at one point of ascent as four dog legs found it far easier than the human's two :-)

Skiddaw from Bleaberry Fell

From experience and what you can observe in this post is that the greatest ascent doesn't usually produce the better views as their is always some undulating crag or mound in the way, but it certainly opens up a different world. Skiddaw in the background being the fourth highest mountain in England at 3054 ft (931 m) ...

Helvellyn

...and then swinging panoramically to the south east, Helvellyn being the third highest at 3118 ft (950m). Brrr, too cold to hang about here, so time to re-join the main path again.

Ashness Bridge

The path southwards from Walla Crag defends the gradually down the hill until the World Famous Ashness Bridge is reached.

Although Ashness bridge bears a single track road serving the remote and hamlet of Watendlath, it became famous in Victorian times on The Grand Tour as many artists travelled to the area to replicate the scene. A William Linton (1791-1876) example
Comparing the Victorian scene with the 21st century image, it is unfortunate that the trees are starting to obscure Derwentwater with the Bridge gradually becoming more prominent in it's own right with each passing decade.

Derwentwater Lakeshore

The best way to see the lake of course is to continue with the walk down the road to the lakeshore.

Skiddaw and Derwentwater

and a beautiful and easy stroll back northwards to Keswick with views of the mountain Skiddaw

Friar's Crag

One of the most famous locations on the shores of Derwentwater is Friar's Crag. It seemed to get it's name from the peninsula that was used to moor boats and transport monks to the nearby St Herbert's Island for a pilgrimage.

Walla Crag from Friar's crag

Had this been a summer post, I would have chosen the above image as the title shot, but instead I've just highlighted it from obscurity !!

Friar's Crag view

Not only did the view south from Friar's Crag attract the monks for their onward journey but the tourists came later, although maybe not before Canon Rawnsley set the scene as a founding member of The National Trust. The Canon was influential as vicar of Crosthwaite in preserving large areas of Borrowdale from the developers. Brandlehow Woods was the first on the far side of the lake towards the right of the image.
Friar's Crag was handed over to the National Trust in 1920 following Rawnsley's death.

Keswick Launch

It might be romance and speculation to suggest that the Monks inspired boat travel on Derwentwater but boat owners didn't miss a trick and hired out their craft for pleasure use on the lake. That was all blown out of the water by the arrival of a super ferry of it's day called The May Queen. Everyone wanted to travel on it and a lot of surrounding business was lost. The Keswick Launch company commenced operations around the same time in 1935 with big plans for the imminent launch of a second boat.

Annie Mellor

There was much controversy in the town of Keswick as many locals didn't think that there would be enough business for the Annie Mellor. As you can see, it is still operational today along with other classical vessels in the fleet. Unfortunately due to regulation changes as a result of a fire on a boat in The River Thames (Marchioness Disaster 1989), two of the fleet including The May Queen that were taken out of service were beyond repair and broken up. The vessels that survived and were rebuilt to the new required standards were Annie Mellor, Princess Margaret Rose, Lady Derwentwater and Iris.

Boats for Hire Derwentwater

Just to complete the story ... It's nice to know that some of the classical smaller boats are still available for hire.

The Heads, Keswick

The walk back into Keswick passes the unusual street name where the Victorians first built their hotels that overlooked the lake and some of the scenes depicted above. The mountain backdrop is Skiddaw to the north once again.

Hi... Robin, Keswick

Lastly there were no comedy shots today but a bird bonus at the both the start and end of the walk as I changed in and out of my walking boots in the passenger seat of my car. Those that know Keswick and The Lake District will understand that car parking fees can be expensive as the authorities seek to encourage longer stay visitors and the use of public transport such as the one I have hinted at in this post. However as a long stay day visitor, I have a secret parking location in Keswick and with a visual treat like this, I'll be returning there again !! It was good he came back to see me at the end of the day.

Robin, Keswick

Ashness - Seatoller walk

On the final day of our Lake District Borrowdale walking trip, most of the group opted for a 5 & 1/2 mile linear walk which involved taking an open top bus from the Seatoller terminus to the shores of Derwent water.

On this occasion we had a different walk leader and she had difficulty trying to point us in the right direction away from the Lake shore bus stop as the view here was so good. There was enough time given though to take in the scenery and have a few last thoughts about yesterday's windy experience as I looked towards the hill of Catbells.

I had walked most of the route before and was keen to try new ground in the middle section between Watendlath and 2/3 the way down the hill to Rosthwaite (for the benefit of the walkers amongst you ...where the Grange Fell path leaves to the north).

(The previous time I had walked the first section to Watendlath was also with a different large group many years ago, however on that occasion the weather wasn't pleasant or suitable for photographs !! Interestingly enough, I had covered the last section from near Rosthwaite with the same group a few years before on a day when the walk leader misread the distance with his fingers !! On this occasion we started from Seatoller and covered all of the hills going north to the left and dropping down into the valley before Catbells for the return route. A fellow walker bought a map measuring pen the following day and we both concluded that it was a distance of ... 14 miles !! Consequently, another section of this walk that had previously been unpleasant as we were longing for Seatoller car park to come into view !!)

Today's weather was ideal and I was up for finishing this Lake District Bank holiday weekend with a pleasant gentle experience after yesterday's wind.

We set off from the bus stop and passed Derwentwater Youth Hostel before climbing up through a tree covered slope onto the Ashness to Watendlath road

Ashness Bridge.... Derwentwater & Skiddaw

We were treated to one of the most popular views in the English Lake District immortalised by postcard publishers and Artists stretching back to Victorian times. (On a side note, when I was younger, my Mother went to an art class and painted this scene. On some of the postcards she had, the lake was more prominent ... maybe someone needs to trim those trees a little before it is lost forever in this view !!)

Surprise view

A little further on past the bridge, there is a deviation from the road to the right through the trees to a clearing at the top of a high cliff or rock face where the expansiveness of Derwentwater is breathtaking.
(One of the Keswick Launches can be seen left of centre on the lake.)

We continued up the Watendlath road a little further until the contours levelled before branching off on the pleasant footpath route to the village. It was at this point that the walk leader thought it was a good idea for a short break and what a break it was .....

"Are you going to throw that stick or not ?"

One of the group came with a Camper van and brought her dog Jessie. Fantastic dog and entertainment.

All too soon, we spotted a roof and that was a sign that we were approaching ..... lunch ... at Watendlath.

It was time for a last look back at where we had just walked from ( path on the left hand side at the base of the hill) .....

Watendlath Tarn

.... and settle down for lunch on the left hand side of the river bank with views the other way of this ...

A few friends joined us for lunch

After lunch, it was time for a quick tour of the very few buildings of Watendlath (the most famous thing being a plaque that denotes the home of Judith Paris chosen by the writer Hugh Walpole in 1931)....

...and to get some refreshment in the only place where you can spend money for miles.... The Caffle house tea room.

It was time to descend the hill into Borrowdale once more. it may be of interest that the distant valley  and the curving rounded ridge in the left of the image was the ascent & descent route respectively on the Allen Crags & Glaramara post two days earlier.

The Borrowdale valley floor signalled the arrival of Rosthwaite or rather afternoon tea !! ...

Carrot cake on sheep plates !!

Regular blog readers will know that this flavour is not quite top of the list, but hey, it was a relaxing day and with these views anything is fine !!

Rosthwaite house

The last section of the walk was a well trekked path being part of the Cumbria way. There was an unusual section that I remembered from the previous occasion where the path disappeared across rocks, sloping down into the river. There was a long rope attached to the ground to aid the un sure walker .... fun.

As the walk and the weekend was coming to an end, it was appropriate that we should see the rear of our accommodation from the path. (There was of course still a fair distance to cover on the approved path in a large anti clockwise loop to the right and in front of the distant trees before walking up the drive.)

Seatoller, our destination and home for the weekend .... which I didn't get a chance to photograph until it was nearly time to leave !

Seatoller street !!

After the drive down to the Borrowdale valley from Keswick, the most famous thing about Seatoller is the road sign that separates the mountaineers from the tourists on route to Seathwaite !! However, your transport may prefer that route unless you can catch the minibus to go over the torturous Honister Pass !! ....

"Borrowdale Bus Station" ... the other Seatoller sight !!

I'll finish the weekend with a video that I've just found on Youtube ... Enjoy.