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" Whinlatter, Castlerigg and Thirlmere"

Date & start time:      9th January 2025.  10.30 am start.

Location of Start :     By the red phone box, Loweswater, Cumbria, Uk. ( NY 143 211)

Places visited :          Whinlatter, Castlerigg, St Johns in the Vale, Thirlmere and home.

Walk details :            A drive round with local walks to enjoy the snowy scenery.

Highest point :           The beauty of Castlerigg.

Walked with :            Loes and Dougal.

Weather :                  Sunshine, blue skies, heavy snow on the fells.

                     

                     

© Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Licence number PU 100034184.

 

The weather is beautiful and the next best thing to a walk in the snow, is a drive in snowy scenery.

We head out, ostensibly to call into the shops in Keswick, but end up by extending the drive and shopping a different day.

In the sunshine and with a good covering of snow the high fells were looking superb.

Cattle grazing on summer silage on the fields adjacent to Whinlatter Pass.

The fell in the photo is Swinside End, with the slopes behind leading up towards Ladyside Pike.

Traffic has used the road so there were tracks which showed clear tarmac most of the time.

When we reached the Whinlatter Centre the road suddenly cleared due to recent gritting by the Council.

It's a shame the gritter didn't carry on in a straight line and grit the road down to Lorton.

The snow amplifies the grandeur of the trees . . .
. . . no more so than here at the top of the pass.

Part way down the Keswick side we stopped for a short stroll.

There's a forestry track leading across to the top of the Comb Beck Valley where small ponds have been built.

The track here offers wide panoramas across to Skiddaw and distant Helvellyn, now that most of the trees have been harvested.

The houses of Seldom Seen and Thornthwaite below.

On the corner the view now extends across Bassenthwaite Lake and over to Binsey Fell.

The pools here were first built to store water to power the lead mines of the valley below.

Today they are redundant and frozen over, on the surface at least.

Dougal considered a dip, then re-considered . . . that looks like unknown territory !

Now no longer used as a reservoir, the pools have been maintained as a visitor attraction.

The track beyond heads up the valley towards the Whinlatter Centre,

but I'll return with Dougal to Loes who is still in the car.

In the time it took for our small diversion, the cloud cover on Skiddaw has changed, leaving the summit barely visible.

- - - o o o - - -

Back into the car and across to Keswick, where we take the road up to Castlerigg and the famous Stone Circle.

The stones, thought to have been placed here over 5000 years ago, were looking lovely in the sunshine.

Cloud shrouding the summits disguise the tops but add to the atmosphere of the day.

The central area includes an extra rectangle of stones,

possibly a grand entrance or alternatively a high alter or some other focal point of the circle.

The air is really clear and all the peaks around are visible.

This is looking west towards the Newlands Valley. You should see Hindscarth , Robinson (with Catbells in front), Ill Bell and Grisedale Pike(behind the fir tree).

To see what they look like from the centre of the circle . . . the act of taking the panorama changes the circle to a straight line of course.

Click here or on the photo above for a Bonus Loweswatercam 380 degree annotated panorama.

We got chatting to some overseas visitors, Peter and Margaret, who were on a six week tour of the UK.

They were able to see The Lakes in perfect conditions. Great to meet you and thanks for the chat.

Loes and Dougal this time, with the wide and white slopes of Blease Fell leading up to the summit of Blencathra behind her.

A winter migrant to the area.
Great Mell Fell behind one of the larger stones of the circle.

- - - o o o - - -

Leaving Castlerigg we chanced the small side roads but found no great problems at all.

The road skirts around the northern flanks of Low Rigg and across to St Johns in the Vale.

A view of Blencathra with more bales of wrapped winter silage for the animals.
Castle Rock ahead, taken as we stop close to Fornside Farm.

The snow adding grandeur to the fells.

After calling in on a friend in Thirlmere Green, we drove on and found ourselves passing the pub at Thirlspot.

It was lunchtime and they were open and serving . . . it would be churlish not to support them.

The Kings Head is a dog friendly pub, so I returned to the car to fetch Dougal, to save him waiting outside in the cold.

The beautiful, smaller back road around the lake is open once more,

so after our lunch we turned right at the head of the lake and drove past Steel End Farm, Wythburn.

Looking across Thirlmere at the slopes of Helvellyn itself.

Looking south up the lake to the Pass of Dunmail Raise.

The steep sides of Rough Crag, unstable in recent years.
Looking through a gap in the trees at the Dale Head Hotel.

This was the view back to Brown Crag across the water.

The path from Swirls to Helvellyn climbs the mountain from the car park behind the trees.

The view of Blencathra in our sights once again, as we eventually find a gap in the trees to take the picture.

That's a clearer view now that we are back on the main road to Keswick.

It's been a great drive and has taken advantage of the best part of the day.

Rather than repeat the drive over Whinlatter, we drove the short extra distance alongside Bassenthwaite Water and round to Embleton on the A66.

This was the view as we entered home territory, albeit the Lorton Valley, from the Hundith Hill Road.

The pointed peak in the distance is Buttermere's Red Pike.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with my iPhone 11pro mobile phone camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . clear roads and snow fells.

Go to Home Page . . . © RmH . . . Email me here

Previous walk - 5th January 2025 - Snowy Low Fell - Southern Top

A previous time up here - 5th December 2010 Castlerigg and Keswick

Next walk - 10th January 2025 - A Snowy Buttermere Drive