Derwent Water

Derwent Water

North Western Lake District

Route: Derwent Water from Grange

Area: North Western Lake District

Date of walk: 11th January 2017

Walkers: Andrew

Distance: 6.4 miles

Weather: very mixed

The mountain weather forecast didn’t mince its words – phrases such as ‘zero visibility’ ‘appalling conditions’ and ‘severe gales’ persuaded me that a low level walk would be a sensible option for today’s walk.

I decided to revisit Derwent Water and after joining up a few paths on the OS map I came up with a route I’ve not followed before, though I’ve walked most of the paths in different combinations on previous occasions.

I drove over to the pretty village of Grange and parked in the small car park by the double-arched bridge over the River Derwent. After crossing the bridge I followed the path beside the Borrowdale road, before turning off towards the head of Derwent Water

At the head of the lake I crossed the Chinese bridge and walked along the boardwalk into Manesty Park, and from there into Brandelhow Park. On reaching Hawes End Outdoor Centre I set out on the return leg along an elevated path running along the foot of Catbells – a wonderful section of the walk, with glorious views all around

The path gradually descended into Borrowdale and Grange to end a superb circuit. The photographic record of the walk has a few gaps as there were several violent showers accompanied by gale force winds and horizontal sleet, making it hard to stand up at times, let alone take photos

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)

Scroll down – or click on any photo to enlarge it and you can then view as a slideshow

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