Lattrig and Lonscale - Photo Gallery
It was already sunny when I got up, the birds had been telling me so since five thirty. For the first time this year I set off in shorts and fully expected it to be warm enough to wear them all day.
I parked at Keswick station, handy for Spooney Green Lane and the popular route to Lattrig, it was the first time I had climbed it though. You pass an information board for Lattrig woods, continue up the track and you come to another information board this time for Gale Ghyll woods.
After the second information board there is a track uphill on the right, follow the track and you reach the main path that takes you at an easy gradient to the summit of Lattrig. The path is easy and well made and almost smooth enough to take a wheelchair up to the top, whether it would be smooth enough for the the occupant of the wheelchair I wouldn't like to say. At the summit there are no cairns but it is obviously the top and the view of hills and lakes is extensive.
Follow the easy path downwards to the car park at the top of Gale Road, already full of cars, the path to Skiddaw makes an ugly scar on the opposite hillside. The ugly scar is what I am heading for and it is as unpleasant to walk on as it is to look at, a long hard slog.
In an attempt not to have to walk up to the top of the scar I thought I would be clever and take a more direct route to the col between Jenkin Hill and Lonscale Fell. The path passes through a gate in a fence that runs alongside a ruined wall and at that point you can see the col at the head of the valley of Whit Beck. I didn't go through the gate but followed the line of the wall in the direction of the col hoping to find some sort of path. The sides of the valley are very steep so I stayed high, walking through heather that was very dry and which proceeded to strip the skin from my bare legs. The col looked very far away and the heather stretched all the way so I decided to retreat back to the scar and follow it to higher ground.
I slogged up the path and as I got higher I saw the path I should have taken below me but by this time I was resigned to going the long way round. Eventually I reached a gate with a stile at a junction of footpaths, the path leading up to Skiddaw Little Man before I reached the gate was very tempting. After passing through the gate the main path to Skiddaw carried on ahead, but I turned right for Lonscale Fell.
The big path to Skiddaw was full of people but the long walk to Lonscale Fell was by myself, easy walking over grass typical of the Northern fells and as usual further than it looks. The weather was warm and sunny with a wonderful cool breeze that was strong enough to bring out the hang gliders.
The faint path follows a fence all the way to the summit of Lonscale Fell but a short distance from the summit there is a junction of fences which involves climbing over a rather insecure metal gate. From the summit you should carry on along the faint path towards the cairn on the excellent high viewpoint above Glenderaterra Beck.
This is a splendid viewpoint, down to the beck, back to Skiddaw, across to Derwentwater but the real surprise is the view of Thirlmere. From the cairn you can follow the edge of the crags down to the Cumbria Way path that traverses the lower southern slopes of Lonscale Fell.
This is now a nice walk on a very pleasant day with good views of plenty of hills and when you get to the crossing of Whit Beck it is a wonderful green and beautiful place. Shortly afterwards you rejoin the scar, by the time I got down to Gale Road there were cars parked for a long way down the road and the sky was full of hang gliders (well that sounds better than three or four doesn't it?)
It was still warm and sunny by the time I got back to Keswick.
Andy Wallace 25th April 2004