At this time of year I always crave spending time outdoors. Autumn is my favourite time of year, followed by Spring, and with the Autumn Equinox upon us, I made a last minute decision to spend the weekend camping and walking the Lake District.
With a new found love of hill walking, I’d been wanting to get up the Lake District for a good walk for some time so my last minute trip saw us drive up to Cumbria after work on Friday. We pitched up one of our favourite campsites, Castlerigg Hall Campsite near Keswick. The campsite overlooks Derwent water, and there are a host of enticing walks in the immediate area to choose from.
I chose to walk Catbells, a short Wainright walk that also rather handily features in my Collins guide book, The Low Fells: Walks on Cumbria’s Lower Fells.
Our ascent of Catbells started at Hawse End, the ‘small carpark’ I’d read about, actually consisted of just a patch of gravel with space for 3 cars, and as we approached a car backed out. Hurrah! From there we followed the route set out in in my Collins guide book.
For those seeking soltitude, this is not a route to choose! Famed as a family walk, it was busy. The benefit of a walk that attracts a lot of people is that the route is made obvious, the downside however, was needing to wait a few minutes for each set of walkers to pass to get shots of the landscape without it looking too crowded!
The ascent is short and sharp and we needed quite a few stops on the way up to catch our breath before we reached the first scramble. Bouyed with the confidence of watching a steady stream of fellow walkers drop to their knees and climb up, we followed suit, and soon found ourselves at the summit, just as the weather started to close in.
The views from the summit, in fact, throughout the walk were stunning. Every step revealing enticing new vistas including Derwentwater, Bassenthwaite Lake and the peaks of Skiddaw and Blencathra. In terms of views, despite the modest length of the walk, Catbells is hard to beat.
Don’t let the short length of this walk (just over 6km) or the fact that the fell is just 451 metres high make you think it’s easy! There are a couple of good scrambles that require both hands, and then on the descent, there’s a short scramble down from the summit which largely involved (at least for us and the other walkers we observed) sliding down rocks on our bum.
The descent of Catbells rewarded us with stunning views of Derwentwater and whilst the rocky steps were slippery with mud in the wet and we had to move slowly, it didn’t take us long to get down, and we were soon back at the car.
This was just the second time that I’ve ever scrambled, and I’ve decided that despite suffering from vertigo, thanks to the adrenaline kick, I love routes that require scrambling! The verdict is out however for Mr CWS who isn’t as keen, but we both enjoyed the walk and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the Autumn Equinox.
Our Walk
- 6.23km circular walk, starting at Hawse End
- 3 hours 20 minutes, thanks to lots of photography and snack stops!
- Check out more photos from the walk over on Flickr
Find out more
- Castlerigg Hall Campsite
- Catbells Wainright Walk With Julia Bradbury
- Catbells via Hawse End walking route
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from
http://www.campingwithstyle.co.uk/walking-catbells-cumbria-first-day-autumn/
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