Dale Head Route 5

A scenic Lakes walk geared for winter

Winter weather can be a bit... iffy. But when sleet rages sideways in the wind, Borrowdale offers treetrunk shelter to soften the blast. Fortify yourself with a hot chocolate at the youth hostel, pull on the waterproof trousers, then brave the worst of winter up on Dale Head.

If it’s all too nasty, you can escape afterwards into Newlands (see point 6 on the route map). But this routeline assumes the wind is in the west, so there’s some soft snow to foot-plough down all the way to Dalehead Tarn, and shallower snow or even none at all along the lower-level ridgeline of High Spy.

And if winter afternoon should flower into a golden winter evening, where else to be but Cat Bells? Snow covers up its sadly trampled top-knot. Winter chill keeps away the Cat Bells crowds. And the newly built topographic cairn – which hasn’t been there long enough for me to show you a snowy photo of it – tells you the names of all those high fells behind you that you still can’t see because of the lingering stormclouds.

As darkness falls, decamp to the nearby off-track hamlet of Stonethwaite, for one of Lakeland’s best bar meals at the Langstrath Inn. Because in Borrowdale, even the nasty days are nice ones.

Descending from Dale Head, with Newlands valley below and snowy north-western fells as a backdrop.

One of Britain’s finest views – dropping towards Cat Bells with Skiddaw and Blencathra beyond.