The lower path.

On the way to the steamer I pass a walled terrace with the Birkett Memorial, it could have all been so different.

The Lady of the Lake, launched in 1877, glides into the jetty at Pooley Bridge. An enthusiastic crowd buoyed by the perfect weather climb aboard.  The lake is mirror calm. Only a handful disembark at the Howtown jetty and all disappear into the surroundings.

I go in search of The Howtown Hotel, which I used to frequent when we holidayed here with our young children.  Sadly, it is closed. But there is a nearby tea room  They tell me that the hotel may be booked in its entirety only, eight rooms.  Maybe a place for a family and friends celebration weekend! They have a lovely view from the garden.

Anyway, I enjoy my coffee and get into conversation with a couple of cyclists from the North East. One always comes across a lot of northeasterners in this part of the Lakes . I meet more as the day goes on, all very friendly.

It’s time to get walking . I’m already off route at the café so just follow the road up the hill to join the bridleway, traversing the fell side at about 200m under Bonscale Pike. I have to keep stopping to take in the views of familiar hills across Ullswater, especially up to the head of the lake. I watch the steamers and boats coming and going into Howtown Bay. What an idyllic setting. 

The Ullswater Way comes up to join the track I’m on, and I pick up the daffodil waymarks. It was on the shores of Ullswater that Wordsworth apparently saw the daffodils that inspired his well-known poem.

Shortly after, I’m faced with a choice – a higher route visiting the stone circle up on  Askham Fell or a lower route above the lake. I was around the antiquities before so I don’t feel guilty about choosing the lower route. Dunmallard at Pooley Bridge is getting closer, Sharrow Bay is down there somewhere, its famous hotel being refurbished at present.. One last look from ahigh up the lake.

Now mainly through fields. There are a lot of very muddy sections, even at this time of year. A few farmhouses and derelict barns are passed on the way, I spot a chicken of the woods.

Now, down on the road, I come to the entrance to Waterside House Camp Site. A massive endeavour. It is fairly busy with all sorts of campers, the attraction being its lake shore access. Paddle boarding seems to be the most popular pastime on the water.

Dog walkers are out from Pooley Bridge, and for the last half mile, there is litter, which hasn’t been a problem elsewhere. The holiday atmosphere ramps up a notch.

I’m early, so escape into the relative normality of  the Verey bookshop who also serve good coffee whilst I’m waiting for the bus back to Penrith. I resist book buying to a single one but make a mental note of lots more to seek out.

My after walk pint in The Dog Beck back in Penrith is an excellent Eden River Brew Co. Emperor IPA. Looking at the guide book I’m not finished with the Ullswater Way yet.

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The difficult stretch, but I do it in reverse.

We used to camp in Patterdale at Side Farm before the children were born, I have memories of a stressful walk with my wife. We had already climbed the hills behind the farm, Place Fell?, and ended up in Howtown for a meal and drink at the hotel. I dismissed her idea of catching the steamer back suggesting it would be a lovely walk back along the shores of Ullswater. Hours later we staggered back into camp. the way had been rough and difficult, seemed never ending and had tried our tempers. This was at the back of mind for this same section today. If I was slow could I end up in Howtown after the last steamer had departed? People with electric cars have developed ‘battery anxiety’ I was having steamer anxiety. So lets be safe – catch the steamer over to Howtown first and walk to Glenridding where there are frequent buses at the end of the day. That is why I’m queuing for the first steamer of the day, the Western Belle, leaving Pooley Bridge. What a contrast to  yesterday,  a wet and windy crossing  to Howtown.

Dunmallard and Pooley Bridge disappearing into the gloom.

Approaching Howtown with Waternook under Hallin Fell.

I head to the tea room for a coffee, alas too early – they are closed, as is the Hotel. I walk back down to the bay and pick up the Ullswater Way.

The path climbs above the white property of Waternook, which must have splendid views. 

Open land covered in gorse follows before descending to the diminutive Geordie’s Crag. Outward Bound students are learning abseiling and being encouraged to jump from a height into the lake. No doubt all good fun.

The landward side of Geordie’s Crag. 

The steep jumping side.

The next section through the trees is difficult, rocky ground and an indistinct path on the steep slopes of Hallin Fell. Up and down to rocky bays. There are no daffodil waymarks to be seen. I miss the ‘poetry stones ‘ or rather I forget to look for them. As I come out of the woods, the views down the lake improve dramatically, coinciding with the day brightening up.

The holiday cottages at Beckside Farm, above Sandwich Bay, look idyllic for a secret getaway. More climbing and rocky terrain ensue, setting a pattern for the day.

I am hoping the tea room in Lowther Barn will be in operation, but sadly not. I do, however, make use of their picnic area for my lunch. It’s a good spot to watch the steamers go by with yesterday’s Gowbarrow as a backdrop. 

Through the bracken, the path remains rocky, with Scalehow Force coming down from the slopes of High Dodd.

Back into the woods, silver birch and oak. There are more people about now coming out of Patterdale, dog walkers, mainly.

I’ve turned a corner and have a differed view southwards down the lake to Glenridding with the Helvellyn range ahead. A rocky bluff  is a favourite viewpoint.  A lady is sketching the scene, far more creative than my point and shoot camera work.  Though she does complain about the ever changing light.

There is always some activity on the lake.

A few more ups and downs, ins and outs, well a lot more actually, and I spot an ‘art’ installation, I haven’t done well with these so far. I’m not sure of its value artistically, basically just a plaque to tell you of the painters who found inspiration here. Also in the vicinity are some more of those posts with QR codes linking you to a painting of the scene in front of you. They seem a good idea but I struggled to get them to work. To browse these paintings look here https://www.ullswaterheritage.org/heritage-knowledge-bank/inspired-by-ullswater/virtual-art-gallery

By now I reach the basic Side Farm camp site which I mentioned in my introduction. It is on the shore facing across the lake to the landing stages at Glenridding. What a great situation. The farm now has a tearoom, I can’t go past without visiting. I enjoy a pot chatting to a couple originally from Preston.

Refreshed I walk into Glenridding where I could catch my bus bit it is a beautiful afternoon so I decide to walk on along the lake shore and catch the 5 o’clock bus at Aira Force .  The way is close to the road but mostly in pleasant woodland close on the lake.

Halfway I come across a stone fold with a young oak growing inside it, Taking the Long View, one of three in Cumbria by artists Harriet and Rob Frazer highlighting the value of trees.

But look across the fields and you see this magnificent tree…

I arrive with time to spare but on reading the timetable more carefully realise the school holidays are over and the buses are every two hours. I have an hour and a half to ‘waste’. The café is closed, I wander down to the boat pier and realise there is a boat going back to Glenridding. It’s a lovely evening for the short  cruise on Lady Dorothy rather than sitting waiting for the bus. Its a magic evening.

But I’ve kept you long enough, time to get the bus back to Penrith.  Wetherspoon’s, The Dog Beck, is too handy when I alight, so I pop in for a relaxing pint of Eden Black, from the Eden River Brew Co, to contemplate the very successful day sat in an easy chair in the corner.

Sorry that this has been back to front if you are following The Ullswater Way the usual anticlockwise.

***

Penrith to Pooley Bridge, The Eamont Way.

The Eamont Way was designated and signed recently, 2023. It leads directly from the front of Penrith rail station, giving a pedestrian route to Pooley Bridge. What an excellent start to reach The Ullswater Way. https://www.ullswaterheritage.org/eamont-way

Rain is in the air from early this morning as I walk to catch the bus to Preston.  The Glasgow train is on time, and I’m in Penrith just after 11 am. There was not much to see on the way up.

After a look around the castle, a coffee from the outside kiosk, and a bit of faffing whilst it poured down, I’m ready to leave by midday. Welcome to the Lakes.

There is a map of the route on the wall of the station. The waymarks depict an eel, more on that later at Pooley Bridge.

So I’m on the lookout for an eel as I leave the station forecourt. And sure enough, there is one on nearly every lamppost along the busy road.

The guide mentions  Macdonald’s as a café, but there is a proper one down the road on the route.

The motorway passes close by Penrith, and there is a maze of slip roads and roundabouts. Not the calmest start to a Lakeland walk .

But after less than a mile, the way enters the countryside and the sound of traffic recedes.

Under the railway main lines via a couple of atmospheric arched brick tunnels and onto bridleways and quiet lanes. There are no distant views in this weather. I catch a glimpse of the River Eamont over to my left and am soon crossing it on a substantial footbridge.  It is running full with all the rain.

I come into the little hamlet of Sockbridge. A miniature village green provides a bench for lunch.  These are mainly simple cottages, but a larger property stands out. Wordsworth’s House, built in 1699 and occupied by William’s grandfather, Richard, in the late C18th.The first owners, Reginald and Elizabeth Dobson, have their initials (RED) carved over the door. Their granddaughter, a Mrs Collingwood, sold the house to Richard Wordsworth.

What a charming hamlet, worth exploring further, there is a trail including Sockbridge and Tirril.

Quaker Lane leads out of the village. There is a Quaker burial ground in nearby Tirril. Charles Gough, who died on Helvellyn in 1805, is buried there.  His dog was said to have stayed by his dead master for several weeks. Charles Gough (artist) – Wikipedia

The bridleway brings me onto the main road, which the Eamont Way follows for some distance. I pass the Gothic Kirkbarrow Hall, now a dairy farm.

When the footway runs out I have other ideas and want to visit the parish church of St. Michael’s at Barton. So I turn up the next bylane.

An ornate Lynch Gate, a WW1 memorial, leads into the churchyard surrounding the squat church itself.  The Church has Norman origins, but only the central nave remains from that period. The inside is dark and low, with the central tower splitting the aisle. Many tombstones are old, and I know are listed, but it is difficult to decipher them.

Curiosity sated I walk farther up the lane towards Barton Church Farm. A public right of way goes through the farmyard past Glebe House and then right through buildings via an archway. (Both are grade II listed). I have a feeling they would prefer it didn’t, and this may be why the Eamont Way doesn’t come on this otherwise historic route. Why would the Eamont Way go down a busy road with no footway? I suspect some C21st skullduggery at play.

Glebe House 1637

Barton Church Farmhouse C16th

More open fields now, with limited views westwards towards Ullswater, a smart bridleway, and then open fell with wooded Dunmallard Hill above Pooley Bridge prominent.

A crowded ‘green holiday village’ is passed. Not my idea of the countryside.

I pass some ‘Inspired by art’ posts placed at the viewpoint used by previous artists. The QR code supposed to reveal the original painting, a good idea, but I fail to get it to work on my phone.

Some grand tree lined slopes, and I’m suddenly in the crowded Pooley Bridge village. Pubs , cafés and gift shops vying for the throng’s trade.

I stand below the famous fishing wind vane in front of the Crown Inn and read of the history and connection to the eel waymarks.

Pooley Bridge had a weekly fish market until the C19th. In the 12th century a charter was granted by King John to hold a fish market in Pooley Village square in front of what is now the Crown Inn. It continued into the C19th. In the summer months large numbers of eel were caught and sold in the area. A market cross with a fish and weather vane, similar to the one you see today, was erected. It stood near its current site, was repaired by Lord Dacre in the 1680s but was removed in 1890s to allow a turning space for the omnibuses bringing visitors to Ullswater. The current Market Cross was erected by Barton Parish Council in 2000 to commemorate the granting of the charter and as a reminder of the village’s fishing origins. The Coats of Arms of the Dacre family and the Hasells of Dalemain are inscribed on the north and south faces of the Cross to acknowledge their historical attachment to the ancient Parish of Barton.

***

I’m not staying here, hotels are busy and very expensive, so I board the crowded 508 bus and whizz back to Penrith. My B and B, The Blue Swallow, seems excellent with friendly proprietors.  It’s good to get out of my wet garments. Let’s look at the weather forecast for tomorrow.

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