Lat/Long: 54.577887, -03.327355
OS Grid ref: NY 14300 21108
The mornings are much
darker now and it was very dark and raining when I set off north
up the M6 motorway. I left at Penrith and headed west along the
A66 then past Keswick and over Whinlatter pass to Loweswater.
I parked my car on the small triangular area of Ground near the
telephone box then crossed the road to head through a field to
the north. My plan is to follow the route of a walk I did in May
2012. |
Countryside for sale |
|
I soon reached the narrow lane and continued walking in a
roughly northerly direction. It was interesting to see quite a
few ‘for sale’ signs of nearby land. After a mile I heard
footsteps behind and a young lad of about 10 was running by. He
wasn't in training gear just his normal clothes.
I reached the buildings at
Thackthwaite and left the road to turn up through the farmyard
with farm building on the left and Thackthwaite House on the
right. |
Running down the lane |
Thankthwaite weathervane today |
Thakthwaite weathervane May 2012 |
|
The first part of the track is overgrown and rough and on
the right is the extended garden of Thackthwaite House. Higher
up at the end is an old weather vane which I saw the last time I
was here. I don't think it was in the same place though. |
|
The path then followed up through the fields to a gate opening
at the base of the fell. The trail splits here but it is not
obvious, to the right is the main track but last time I followed
a minor path shown going up the fell diagonally to the left. I
followed that route but now it had vanished. |
On the climb |
Old quarry |
Crummock Wate and Mellbreak |
|
It soon partly appeared in the grass and when I came to a sharp
right turn it was easy to follow diagonally up the fell side to
an old quarry. At the quarry I climbed above but couldn't find
the continuing route so I followed the contour until I came to
the green track which I saw earlier lower down. That was easy to
follow as it wound round the northern end of the fell and took
me up via a couple of zig zags. The weather wasn’t too good and
there were occasionally squalls of rain and strong winds. As I
approached Watching Crag the wind increased quite a lot. The
path was easy going and I soon climbed up the north ridge of Low
Fell and made a very windy traverse along to the summit to the
south. One advantage of the mixed weather was some very moody
views of the mountain ranges to the south. I looked down on
Crummock Water with Mellbreak to the right at the south summit. |
Crummock Water and Mellbreak from Low Fell in dramatic b&w |
|
I headed up the tra |
I turned sharply west to make the steep descent down to Crabtree
Beck where I had the option of an easy descent down but decided
to continue with my original plan and climbed steeply up the
fellside too Darling Fell. It was still windy on the summit. I
had been following defined paths but now there were none as I
continued my route to the north towards Beckhead Moss.
I
descended to an old track and decided to turn left and follow it
in a westerly direction into an area I have never visited
before. |
From Darling Fell |
|
The going was quite easy with some interesting small hills.
Crossing over one hill I saw a woman below walking the other way
heading upwards. She appeared to be on her own but as I
descended I saw a male walker higher up the fell so assumed they
were together but walking at a distance apart. There were some
sharp and painful gorse bushes lower down along with rushes
lower down and wet patches. I managed to get through OK to reach
the old road which is now a rough track that runs from
Mossergate down towards Loweswater. I turned left to follow it
down and noticed it had some sections of patchy tarmac but lower
down some very deep erosion ruts which would mean it is only
possible to navigate by Land Rover. I saw two groups of
middle-aged walkers coming up as I descended. I reached the road
along the side of Loweswater and started to follow it back to
the car. I stopped to have a look at the Pinfold enclosure which
I did the last time I was here. |
Sign for the Mosser track |
Pinfold enclosure |
==
Beware the Pinder.
If your livestock were found
somewhere they shouldn't be, this enclosure was bad news.
This is the Pinfold, from the Old Norses pin (to seize) and fold
(enclosure). Animals that escaped, grazed common land when their
owners had no commonrs' rights, or got out of control on their
way to market, were put on the pinfold by the Pinder, a local
constable. To get them back, you paid a fine.
In southern
England, enclosures were called "pounds" from the Anglo-Saxon
pund. We still use the term in the word "impounded". Loweswater
records contain reports on the pinfold from as early as 1655.
== |
Beware the Pinder |
Crabtree Beck Farm today |
The farm in Sep 2017 |
A short way further on was Crabtree Beck Farm which I
stopped to photograph. When I was here in Sep 2017 it was being
refurbished and it is now finished. It was then an easy walk
back along the narrow lane. |
Crabtree Beck weathervane |
|
I passed the old school house which is now the village hall and
had a look at the Millennium Monument which is a small model
relief map of Crummock Water and surrounding fells with
descriptive names. It was short walk back to the car. |
Village Hall |
Loweswater School Erected 1839 by John Marshall
Esq Lord of the Manor. Upon land the gift of John Hudson Esq |
 |
2000 Millennium model |
|
The path goes through the farm garden and I stopped to chat to
the farmer and his wife who were sorting sheep. They said there
is a date stone inside of 1629. I asked about the dam and
although they knew about it they said nobody knew what it was
for. I followed the farm access road to the road then the path
back to my car. |
Guide map of the area.
Unfortunately north is to the bottom |
From the Millennium guide |
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