| Name of walk | A Bassenthwaite Circuit |
| Date of walk | 2013-04-30 |
| Distance walked (miles) | 17 |
| Duration of walk | 7 hours 30 minutes |
| Weather | Warm |
| Peaks on walk | None |
| Walked with | Ged |
| Parking | Portinscale Bridge |
Yesterday Ged and I did a circuit of Bassenthwaite Lake. A distance of about 17 miles. Kas stayed at home as he would have needed to spend too much time on the lead.
We started at Portinscale suspension bridge and then followed the River Derwent. A blue sky day!
oing under the A66.
Skiddaw
An osprey
A few north western fells
High Stock Bridge. From here there is a bit of a way on the main road (no footpath) before heading up the large track into Dodd Wood.
I'm trying to wean myself off taking pictures of lambs.......with limited success! These had a lovely colouring.....so cute!
Osprey Viewpoint in Dodd Wood. Looking over to Barf and Lord's Seat. It takes about an hour and a half to reach this point. Ged hasn't been here before so he looks through all the telescopes while I go and get a coffee from the Old Sawmill Tearoom.
We head through the grounds of Mirehouse towards St Bega's Church
First we visit the lake shore.
I've now got a short haircut. I'm fed up of either having to wear a hat, or on a windy day looking like 'Cousin Itt' from 'The Addams family'. Of course, if I do abysmally on the K2B, I`ll be able to blame the 'Samson Effect'! A cunning plan!
I was taking a photo of the adult sheep, the lamb just got in the way......honest!
St. Bega's. The foundations date from 950AD, the rest is 12th century
No uninspiring plain glass used here!
By the Powell brothers of Leeds (1874)
We head towards Scarness.
After Scarness there is a field to cross, then another rather wet field after this footbridge/obstacle course!
A new boardwalk way through a small section of woods. A carpet of Wood Anemones. I spot a large deer running away too.
We walk through field after field eventually going through another small wood with loads of fallen trees blocking the pathway. This is supposed to be the Allerdale Ramble, but it doesn't appear to be used much. It comes out on to the road and we head around the north end of the lake. We venture down to the lake shore.
A great view!
We cross over Ouse Bridge and head back down to the lake shore path.
We stop for a late lunch on the lake shore. We have been walking for five hours already. Still two and a half hours of walking to go! We continue to follow the shore path.
The path continues all the way to an underpass opposite Dodd.
Looking across to Dodd.
After the underpass we head through a gate directing you to the Swan Hotel, which is no longer a hotel. Just past Swan House you get good views up to Barf. The white rock is the Bishop of Barf.
It is quite a long road walk through Thornthwaite to the edge of Braithwaite. Here you cross the A66 and take the old road opposite until you come across a signpost for Little Braithwaite which takes you across a field, through an underpass under the A66. Then there is a footpath along the road side until you reach the Portinscale turn off. Time for a pub stop. It even has a welcoming black and white cat!
From the suspension bridge looking towards Keswick.
Another good, easy but long walk for a nice sunny day. It was not particularly warm, but there was virtually no wind. My car thermometer said 13C, it said 5C when we set off walking this morning, much better than we have had of late. The walk took seven and a half hours.
