Barf, Lord's Seat and Broom Fell

1 September 2009

Leaving the car park at the Whinlater Forest Visitor Centre, I was immediatey struck by how I was in a different world, or a different interpretation of the world. There were no signs, no maps, just colour-coded blobs on posts (presumably to avoid intimidating those people who can't get to grips with maps). There was a multiplicity of paths, few matching the Ordnance Survey (which is a common feature in lots of forested areas). And there was art.

Making our way through the woodland, desperately trying to find out where we are

Finally on the "proper" forest roads and I know where we are

Looking across Bassenthwaite Lake to the Skiddaw massif

Looking across Derwent Water to the central fells and beyond them the Helvellyn range. The weather forecast had predicted a cloud base of around 550 metres, which is why I'd chosen a relatively low walk, but even 900-metre Helvellyn is out of the clouds. However, it had rained almost all the way here, so I was glad that the showers had given up for the moment.

After our pleasant tour of the forest our first destination is Barf

George still looking clean and fluffy

The Swan in the valley has an historic association with the rock on the left, which is regularly whitewashed, and is known as The Bishop.

The stony path ascends towards the summit of Barf

George comes back to get me

Hurry up!

A look back at our route around Whinlatter Forest

The view across Bassenthwaite Lake shows that we are on the edge of the Lake District, with only Binsey left before it becomes all fields

From Barf, looking to the summit of Lord's Seat

Skiddaw from Barf

And after a rather squelchy crossing of the intervening gap, here is Barf and Skiddaw from Lord's Seat

Broom Fell from Lord's Seat. It was extremely windy up here - the buffeting was making it hard to stand on the very summit, but even a small drop in altitude made a huge difference - maybe, despite the higher cloud than promised, this shorter lower walk was the right one to chose today.

The impressive pillar cairn on top of Broom Fell

After retracing our steps over the top of Lord's Seat, a pleasant and easy gently downhill stroll then remained back to the car

Zoom in for more detail, or click to view larger map in new window

With the exception of the boggy bits between Barf and Lord's Seat, an easy and very pleasant  morning's outing.
Total distance 12.0 km and 673 metres of ascent in 3 hours 24 mins.