Low Fell and Fellbarrow

I've never been a big fan of Low Fell and Fellbarrow in the past. But yesterday's visit changed my views. Taken on a day blessed with the finest Spring weather imaginable, I think these provide the perfect family walk.

But you've got to get your route right, and other writers hold a different opinion from me.

Everybody agrees that it's best to start from Hackthwaite, and I've no quarrel with this. Parking here is limited and squalid, but if you don't mind a short stretch of uphill tarmac walking, there are a couple of satisfactory pull-ins a quarter of a mile or so to the north. The road is quiet and the verges this week were overflowing with celandines, primroses and the occasional violets. That extra mileage is well repaid.

You leave the centre of the picture-perfect village on a signed footpath up a concrete drive. This quickly deteriorates into a cobbled streambed where you need to tread carefully. You need to look out for low-hanging branches too - I nearly brained myself when returning later, watching my feet and never thinking that the real danger was lurking at head height! But these watery cobbles are quickly left behind, and the route now develops into a grassy track heading upwards through fields towards the open fellside.

Here, things settle down nicely because someone has spent considerable effort creating an excellent path that winds its leisurely way upwards round the corpulent bulk of Watching Crag. Higher up, where the gradient steepens, they've even gone to the trouble of providing a series of zigzags to take the sting out of the ascent.

So it's curious that some route descriptions recommend leaving this excellent highway after only a few hundred yards, branching initially downhill to the right and then heading directly up towards Fellbarrow.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that this is exactly what I've done myself in the past! But I'm a bit older now, and not quite so keen on wearing myself out climbing steep. sketchy hillsides. These days, I know a good path when I see it, and those gentle zigzags leading up to the col behind Sourfoot fell are exacly the thing that makes my eyes light up.

So, if you follow my advice, you'll ignore Fellbarrow for now and carry straight on, letting your mind wander as it will until you find yourself at the col at the top of the zigzags. Having continued a little further through the gate beneath Watching Crag, you should still have enough breath left to enjoy the fabulous views that open up ahead.

Your climb is pretty much complete now. The summit of Low Fell is just a short distance ahead on the other side of a small drop. It's a neat cairn atop the only moderate section of steep fell-walking that you'll encounter on this route. There's a nice piece of grass on which to enjoy a well-earned rest and take a few pictures:

Once you've recovered, you'll probably be tempted to carry on to the outlying 412m top on Loweswater Fell and get a closer view of the fabulous panorama ahead with Crummock Water, a silvery jewel gleaming between Grasmere to the left and Mellbreak to the right. Sure, a bit of "down and up again" is involved in getting here, but it's well worth it.

Returning to the gate above the zig zags, you've a decision to make. For sensible folk accompanying tired children, you'll probably want to forget about Fellbarrow now and head for home down the way you came up. But if those children have a yen for a little adventure, this is the point to take a sharp left-hand turn and follow a good track that runs underneath Sourfoot Fell. This quickly leads you to the fence running over Smithy Fell, and shortly thereafter, leads you to the steep rise onto Fellbarrow itself.

This will be an unwelcome grassy challenge for many, but it's soon over and, as a reward, there are both another cairn and a trig point (a rare sighting these days) with an excellent view of Cockermouth. Curiously, these are on the other side of the fence, but no matter because there's an excellent stile to take you there - none of the rickety leg-breakers that feature on so many Lakeland Fells. In fact, you may be wondering how it comes that all of the furniture up here looks so neat. Here's information from Claude on this:

"In 2020/21, a large portion of Low Fell was acquired by Buy Land Plant Trees CIC to 'hand it back to nature." The previously dilapidated fencing has been replaced, sheep access prevented, and it has been established as a nature reserve. Planting of scrub — hawthorn, birch, blackthorn, rowan and others — started in 2021/22 with the eventual aim of creating a mosaic landscape of scrub, trees and open areas of moorland and peat bog."

If this is correct, all I can say is "well done, the 'Buy Land Plant Trees CIC'" - you've done a fine job.

The only thing left now is to consider how you're going to get home. Of course, the sensible thing to do would be to retrace your steps back to the gate above the zig-zags, but if those children are feeling adventurous, you might like to give them a chance to develop their route-finding skills. This can be easily achieved by heading back down the steep grass you've just climbed, then taking a left to descend via the "sketchy" fellside mentioned earlier. There's little in the way of a path and one or two obstacles in the form of fallen branches, abandoned sections of mesh fencing, and a wet gully to be negotiated somehow, but no serious risk as long as care is taken. In my opinion, every fell walk should end with a flourish, and this one fits the bill perfectly. It will get you back to the bridleway and a safe return to Thackthwaite in no time at all.

Enjoy!

Graywoodhouse and Jimearl6 like this post