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Great Wood to Walla Crag then Bleaberry Fell |
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Weather on the Fells can change rapidly ... up-to-date weather on 0870 0550575 |
| Great Wood car park is about 1 mile out of Keswick, on the left opposite Calfclose Bay, on the Borrowdale Road. | |
| Leave the car park at the northern end,
talking the footpath that goes up diagonally, (northeast) avoiding the
lower path. After a gentle climb, avoiding all tracks off, the path
exits the wood onto a fenced and walled path above Keswick. (photo: Looking across Derwent Water) |
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| At the end of the path, turn right and
continue on a path above Brockle Beck, then turning left across a wooden
bridge. The path then meets the metalled road leading to Rakefoot.
Continue right up the road, keeping right at Rakefoot, then across
Brockle Beck to join the path leading up to Walla Crag. (photo: Skiddaw range over Keswick) |
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| Follow the path alongside the wall as it
gently climbs to Lady’s Rake above Walla Crag. A gate is eventually
reached giving access to the path leading across the edge of Walla Crag. (photo: Clare pausing to look back to Blencathra) |
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| Leave the top of Walla Crag at Lady’s
Rake, following the footpath southeast towards Bleaberry Fell (Boggy in
the early stages), heading for a rocky prominence midway to Bleaberry. (photo: View down on Derwent Water from above Walla Crag) |
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| (photo: ... view of Calfclose Bay) |  |
| At this rocky area, close to a Sheep
Fold, the path turns left (a new path under construction at the time) to
Bleaberry Fell. Follow this path to the final section which is up a
steep stone path, followed by passing a couple of cairns to reach
Bleaberry summit. (photo: Looking towards Bleaberry Fell) |
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| Continue south from the summit over open
ground to High Seat. (We did a shorter version, going ‘off piste’
from Bleaberry Fell to join the path below Ashness Fell ... not a
problem walking, however there is a small fence we had to negotiate that
blocks the way to the path) (photo: Skiddaw range from Bleaberry Fell) |
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| Once at High Seat, follow the path
northwest in the direction of Ashness Fell, eventually following the
course of Ashness Gill (or Beck). The path now skirts around the north
side of Ashness Fell before dropping to a gully to Ashness Bridge. (photo: Derwent Water from the slopes of Ashness Fell) |
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| Join the road at Ashness Bridge, heading
down hill, but soon after the bridge follow the footpath off to the
right. (photo: View ahead on the path below Falcon Crags) |
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| Continue on the path above Derwent Water,
passing under Falcon Crags, until Great Wood is reached. (photo: ... and looking back down Borrowdale in the evening haze) |
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| The path now goes up hill alongside a wall
then left across a small wooden bridge into the wood. Passing into the
woods, the path soon starts to go down hill to reach the southern end of
the Great Wood car park. (photo: Looking up in the direction of Walla Crag) |
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| (photo: ... back in Keswick as darkness falls) |  |
Copyright © 2003 'Sandy Saunders Productions'. All rights reserved.