It rained on Thursday 5th June, but not too heavily. After a lazy start and some essential shopping in Keswick, we drove to see the Catlerigg Stone Circle above Keswick and then on to Ullswater, stopping for an early dinner in a traditional pub, The Horse and Farrier, in Dacre on the way back. On reaching Keswick it had turned into a lovely evening, with the sun shining and the air warm. Time to take another stroll around the lake – OK, not ALL the way round – just a short circuit past the Keswick launches, along the foreshore and up to Friar’s Crag then around a beach full of lambs playing tag and hide and seek, skirting Cockshut Wood, up towards Castlehead Wood and back into the town. About an hour’s gentle stroll.
Head on down to the lakeside from the town passing through Hope Park where the flower beds are full of pretty blues like these geraniums and irises.
alongside the new Theatre by the Lake
with a glance across Crow Park where sheep roam and people gather for picnics and the 360 degree views of the surrounding fells – Borrowdale to the south, Catbells to the west, Skiddaw and Blencathra, north-east.
Carry on along to where the road terminates at the Keswick Launch jetties. There are lots of benches to sit on and watch the sun set over Derwentwater
And it continues as a broad pathway which follows the lake shore through shady trees to Friar’s Crag
which is named because the craggy headland is said to have been the launch point for monks making a pilgrimage to St Herbert’s Island.
(St Herbert’s Island was the setting for Owl Island in Beatrix Potter’s book ‘The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin’. )
Bear left to visit a memorial to John Ruskin in amongst the trees, then head down some steps to another path which leads through a gate and onto the shoreline.
Where a group of young lambs were play-fighting and chasing one another along the shore.
At this point you can continue around the lakeside through another gate leading to Calfhouse Bay, but we left the shore and headed back towards Keswick via Cockshut Wood.
Through another gate into the wood, watch out for deer and red squirrels, then at a clearing, exit right through a gate towards Castlehead Wood, up on a hill in front of you.
We didn’t go up there on this evening as we’d been up before and it’s a rough scramble at the top to a view-point. That’s another walk!
At the road, turn left along a path which runs parallel to the Borrowdale Road and back into the town. We left it at the churchyard and cut through the lane beside the church back to our apartment.
Where we had a lovely cold G&T.
If you enjoy a walk, short or long, then you may enjoy visiting Jo’s Monday Walk where you are in for a treat.
TRAVEL WORDS 