Walk C, GRASMERE , 14th October

Walk lead by Mark Stanford, 6.36 miles, ascent 500ft.

The Coffin Trail, Rydal Hall, St Mary's Church, Rydal Water, Grasmere & St Edmunds Church.

6.36 miles. 500ft of ascent. Terrain: mostly well-made paths and mettled roads, there's one section of rocky path (approx. 200 yards) on the Coffin Trail where we will take care and time.

 A C party favourite, we'll enjoy a coffee in Grasmere before heading off at 11am. Care will be needed as we cross the

A591 before heading up to the ancient Coffin Trail, once we've gained the height, we follow the contours to Rydall.

The path offers spectacular views of Grasmere and Rydall Water with Silver How and Loughrigg forming the backdrop. We'll enjoy walking through the formal garden of Rydal Hall before finding respite under the Yew tree at St Mary's where we stop for lunch, making sure to leave time to explore the Church.

We'll hopefully set of around 1.30pm recrossing the A591 with care again. We cross the River Rothay before heading to the shoreline of Rydall Water and then crossing the shoulder of Loughrigg with great views across the lake towards Nab Scar and the Fellfield Range. The route now heads down through woods to a higher stretch of the Rothay flowing from Grasmere. Crossing the bridge, the path takes us towards a second crossing to the bank just below the weir marking the lake's circumference.

The final section follows the wooded shoreline before heading up to the lane for the final mile into Grasmere, we'll stop to look at St Edmund's Church and Wordsworth's grave. We should be back for 3.30pm leaving time to queue for gingerbread and find refreshments. Grasmere, in my opinion, is rather better served by tea shops than decent purveyors of fine ale, although Gwyn tells he knows a place!

Walk B, GRASMERE , 14th October

Walk lead by Pat Guy, approx 8.5 miles, ascent 1400ft.

The objective of this month's walk is a circuit around the bottom of Loughrigg Fell passing Loughrigg Tarn. We start by walking through Grasmere village and taking the road near to Grasmere Lake for about 1 mile before taking a path through Red Bank Wood, shortly after this we walk through an Arboretum for a short while before taking another path to Loughrigg Tarn (one of the many gems of the Lake District). We then follow an undulating path around the bottom of Loughrigg Fell to a quiet road for just over a mile to cross the River Rothay and the A591 then a short climb to Rydal Hall. We then take the Coffin Route all the way back to Grasmere passing Dove Cottage on the way. The walk is about 8.5 miles long with about 1,400ft of ascent.

 

 

Walk A, GRASMERE , 14th October

Walk lead by Peter Hitchcock, approx 9.2 miles, ascent 2500m.

This serious but scenic route will be a narrow horseshoe from Grasmere up to Fairfield and return via Stone Arthur.  Cloud permitting, the views will be classic, however, the 9.2 mile trek with gradual then steeper ascent to 2500m above the town will be challenging but worthy of an ‘A’ grade walk!

For a slightly easier climb ratio rate, we shall walk the route clockwise setting out from Grasmere (with its 50p toilet charge at the car park) through parts of the town you may not have seen before to take the Patterdale/Coast-to-coast path, (after about 800m walk along the road), up a glorious glacial valley to House Gap, just abeam Seat Sandal Hill and adjacent to Grizedale Tarn.  This will be quite a long but durable section. From there it is just a short, sharp hike up to the top at Fairfield.  After admiring the magnificent views, we shall return via Great Rigg and Stone Arther peak back down a lot of stone slab steps to the village passing some magnificent properties you would just die for!!

[Leader’s note:]  If the coffee breaks are short, we should get back in time for a nice relax before the journey home.