By Vivienne Crow

Last updated 23:46, Monday, 07 April 2008

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Awe-inspiring: Looking down into Borrowdale from the Allerdale Ramble

What you need to know

Castle Crag: Distance: 4.7 miles Total ascent: 823ft Time: Three hours

Start and finish: National Trust car park in Seatoller (grid reference NY245138).

What to take: The OS Explorer map OL4 and a compass. Always carry warm, waterproof clothing and, as on any walk, ensure your footwear is suitable for the terrain. Don’t forget to take some food and always carry some water. Make sure you have plenty of time to complete the walk in daylight. If in doubt, carry a torch.

What to expect: This is a relatively easy walk of two halves. You stroll through pleasant woodland and beside the River Derwent for the first half and then come back across open fellside above Borrowdale for the second half.

Although only a few hundred feet of height is gained, the views as you climb Broadslack Gill on the western side of Castle Crag are lovely.

The walk should be within the capabilities of anyone of average fitness, including older walkers. There are four or five stiles along the way, but all of these have unlocked gates beside them, making things easier for people with hip problems.

If you are retired or working part-time, save this one for a weekday when the paths are less busy.

HEAD for the far corner of the car park and walk up the broad track to go through the gate at the top.

Bear right beyond the gate and then stay on the level, right-hand path at the fork. Going through a small gate in the wall on the right, you begin a pleasant stroll through pretty mixed woodland.

If you are lucky, you may hear the sound of the Borrowdale cuckoo. Legend has it that the good people of this valley once built a wall across their beautiful dale to keep the cuckoo in so that spring would last forever. When the bird inevitably flew over the barricade, one of the dalesmen cried: “By gow! If we’d nobbut laid another line o’ stanes atop, we’d a copped ‘im!” This is supposedly why the dialect word for cuckoo – “gowk” – also means “fool”.

The path seems to end abruptly when you reach a crag at the edge of the River Derwent, but if you look to your left, you will see that the rocky outcrop can be easily negotiated via a few steps and crevasses. There is even a metal chain to hold on to for those who are unsure of their balance.

Back on surer ground, you pass Borrowdale Youth Hostel on your left and then head down the drive towards the humpback bridge over the river. Don’t cross it; instead bear left along the rough track (signpost reads: “Public Footpath Grange”). Pass in front of a farmhouse and then go through a small gate beside the river to gain a narrow path.

Keep to the river bank until, soon after passing another humpback bridge on the right, you come to a choice of gates. Go through the right-hand one. The path continues alongside the river for the next 250 yards and then veers left. Keep to this clear, wide track as it meanders through the woods at the base of Castle Crag.

You are currently treading the Cumbria Way, one of two long-distance routes encountered on this walk. This popular, 70-mile path runs from Ulverston in the south of the county to Carlisle via Coniston, Langdale, Borrowdale, Derwentwater and the Northern Fells. Later in the walk, as you traverse the fellside above Borrowdale, you follow in the footsteps of long-distance hikers on the Allerdale Ramble. This 54-mile route starts in Borrowdale and then heads up towards Skiddaw before reaching the coast on the Solway Firth and joining the Cumbria Coastal Way as far as Grune Point.

Having passed some quarry workings and a spoil heap, bear right at a clear fork to head uphill along the wider of the paths. At the next junction, turn right (signpost reads: “Public Footpath Grange”). Don’t be tempted by any minor paths off this clear route as you lose what little height you’ve gained to rejoin the River Derwent.

TURN left at a footpath sign just above a bridge over a tributary beck (signpost reads: “Public Bridleway Seatoller 2 miles, Honister 3 miles”). The beck is on your right at first, but you then cross it via a narrow plank bridge. The climb is fairly gentle as you leave the woods via a gate, but it’s a slow plod up the stony bridleway. Take it easy and stop occasionally to turn around and enjoy the fantastic views of Derwentwater and Skiddaw behind.

Castle Crag up to your left is crowned by the remains of an Iron Age hill fort. The Romans also used it, taking advantage of its prominent, strategic position within the valley. But the crag has been occupied more recently than that. Between the two world wars, two of the crag’s caves became the summer home of Millican Dalton. Sick of being a commuter in southern England, he migrated north to the Lake District on an annual basis, making ends meet by leading walking parties on the fells and making tents and rucksacks. He turned one cave into a living area and one into a bedroom, which he called “The Attic”.

At the top of the pass, you are rewarded with views of Borrowdale and its many craggy mountains. Having walked just 160 yards beyond the pass, you leave the broad, level path at a cairn near a small waymarker. Bearing left here, you head briefly downhill on a narrow path to ford two streams and then cross Tongue Gill via a double bridge.

Contouring around this lovely, grassy fellside above Borrowdale, you cross several streams (two via bridges) and go through several gates, only reluctantly abandoning your seemingly lofty position (in reality never higher than 804ft) when you reach two gates next to each other. Choose the left-hand one (towards Seatoller) and head down the grassy slope in a SE direction, turning left when you reach a broad track.

It is possible to cut a corner here, but older knees will probably prefer to keep to the track – it descends in a rather roundabout fashion, but the gradient is much easier. Reaching the road just above the hamlet, turn left. The car park is on the left just after the last building.

• For more walks in the Lake District, try Vivienne Crow’s Walk! The Lake District (North) published by Discovery Walking Guides. Available in bookshops and on Amazon.