Haweswater, Burnbanks, Low Raise, Castle Crag, Cumbria.
[ 21.3 km] Tue 18 May 2010

NY 4695 1074
I had a fairly misty drive along the motorway but as I gained altitude at Shap I saw clearer weather ahead. The lanes to Haweswater Reservoir were deserted and when I arrived I was the only car on the car park. I set off just after 8am to walk back along the road. The sky was clear blue and there was no wind.

The reservoir looked wonderfully calm and picturesque and I was surprised that nobody else was about. I was in shadow for most if the 4.5mile walk along the road but reached the sun when I got to the red phone box at Burnbanks.

I
Haweswater dam

I followed the road up into the woods then at the stone track I left to head north up Burn Bank, following sheep tracks. I wound my way through humps and bumps to reach the main path north of Four Stones Hill. There is a large ancient cairn then the map shows some standing stones which turned out to be two disappointing stones about a metre high. I’m not even sure they are ancient.

The impressive face of Measand End was in front of me and the ziz-zag trail climbing it could be seen. Approaching Fordingdale Bottom I turned right to head up towards Bampton Common. The 1:25K map shows a path going diagonally up the steep hillside but this is another of the Ordnance Survey’s major blunders as there is no path and the hillside is so steep it would be dangerous to try and get to the summit this way. I climbed up to a sheep trail that follows the contour high above the valley bottom. It was a very pleasant walk along it with great views. At the point where Measand Beck starts at the confluence of Keasgill Sike and Longgrain beck I crossed over and headed up towards Long Grain.

A faint quad bike track took me up to the summit where the magnificent views opened up. I crossed the main ridge path to the edge of Bason Crag which gives a fantastic view down in to the huge basin of Whelter Bottom. The panoramic view of Haweswater is directly ahead and way down below is Castle Crag, my next objective. In good weather this must be one of the best routes in Cumbria and judging by the lack of any path hardly ever walked. The map shows an ancient fort on Castle Crag but I couldn’t see any evidence of one. There were certainly no dressed stones about. I picked my way down a rocky descent to the main path by Haweswater and enjoyed the final mile back to the car. Except for a couple of walkers in Burnbank I hadn’t seen anybody all day. That now changed as there were a lot of people about on the low level path and the car park was now full with many cars parked along the road side.