Lake District
SD228961 Head south, then past the pub, to a waymarked path opposite School House. Cross the bridge and take the wider path through woods and riverside. Cross a packhorse bridge, and head slightly left on to the main path into farmland. Continue through the top of the farm before ascending, more steeply below Wallowbarrow Crag. This becomes a good track towards Grassguards, where a permissive path cuts left around the buildings, emerging through a gate back on to the bridleway.
SD223981 Turn left; the path crosses a forestry track then gradually ascends through open hillside which becomes rougher and wetter towards the remaining forestry. Great views of the Coniston range are currently clear and open, but the extensive felling is part of a decades-long project to restore the landscape with broadleaf woodland and bogs, improving habitats and reducing flooding. Go left at the bridleway junction, now in trees, and through a gate at the end of the forest.
SD211992 Take a steep right up this fence then veer slightly right from its top corner. Stick to this vague, grassy path as it twists around rocks and crags in a generally northeasterly, and definitely uphill, direction. Keep left of a large crag which turns out to be a false summit, and pass a small path junction cairn as you get close to the true summit. Shortly afterwards, the grassy path levels, forms a mini col between a jumble of rocks and crags on the left and a vertical crag on the right. A faint track left behind the first of the ‘jumbles’ takes you to the initially hidden trig point. The stunning Cumbrian coast and Duddon Estuary stretch out below you with, if you’re lucky, Snowdonia and the Isle of Man beyond. Behind, commanding views of the Scafell and Bowfell ranges prove you don’t always need to summit the highest tops for a mountain fix.
SD218997 Return to the main path and retrace your steps towards, but not as far as, the small cairn you passed on ascent. Instead, look for an easier grassy line doubling back to the left below the summit crags, then continuing as a faint south-easterly track down to the left of Maiden Castle (a prominent rocky knoll) and eventually a gate. From here it’s particularly steep, stony and gravelly, so careful footing is required. Eventually you’ll drop SD230991 Stay this side of the building; a subtle waymark directs you along its wall, right, to a stile in a fence. Cross it and follow a vague line down the field to a stile in its far right corner which leads to woods then riverside. Turn right, heading downstream, emerging from trees on a rough and boggy desire line [see page 59]. Eventually the riverside ‘path’ disappears between rock and water: if you hit this point, retrace your steps slightly and forge your way up through felled trees towards the remaining forestry, where the track reappears and waymarks set you back on your way. Continue to some haphazard stepping stones (or boulders!) with a wire handrail.
SD228976 Keep this side of the river, then over a footbridge and uphill through the woods. The path drops you back down to the base of Wallowbarrow Crag’s dramatic boulder field and the River Duddon. Eventually the packhorse bridge from earlier appears: cross and, for variety, keep straight ahead through the woods emerging over a footbridge into a field. Go right for the pub, or left along a stream to emerge just north of the village hall.