Borrowdale walk - Lake District walks

Route: Borrowdale

Area: Central Lake District

Date of walk: 24th September 2022

Walkers: Andrew and James

Distance: 2.2 miles

Ascent: 300 feet

Weather: Mostly sunny

The woodlands of Borrowdale are the last surviving fragments of an enormous ancient forest that once stretched all the way down the west coast of Britain and Ireland. They receive on average 11 feet of rainfall per year and qualify as temperate rainforest. The valley is one of the most important habitats in Europe for mosses, liverworts and lichens. As a result of their rarity and diversity, the Borrowdale rainforest is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It also gets international recognition as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), the highest tier of protection given to habitats in Europe

Today’s short walk explored a small part of the area, Cummacatta Wood. This is one of my favourite woods in the district and I’ve often walked though it, but invariably on the way up to King’s How.

We started from the National Trust Bowderstone car park near the hamlet of Grange. At the northern end of the car park there’s an easily missed gate which leads into Cummacatta Wood. Most folk who park here will head in the opposite direction, towards the famous Bowderstone, so that anyone following this route is likely to enjoy the walk in solitude. After passing through the gate we followed a meandering and gently rising path through the woods, with good views back to Castle Crag. All too soon the woodland section ended near Troutdale Cottages and we joined the Borrowdale road and walked past the village of Grange. There’s a narrow footpath, and the opportunity to divert to the banks of the River Derwent at one point. Beyond Grange we re-entered into Cummacatta Wood and from here retraced our steps back to the start

For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box

Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)