Last year we booked a week in the Lake District at the start of June: the logic being that it was summer and we would hopefully be dealt a fairly decent hand from the weather gods. Alas, it was not to be, with the whole week (bar one day) spent frantically scanning weather maps and dodging showers. Happily, we’d based ourselves in a lovely cottage in Keswick, so staying in was no chore. In fact, the cottage was so lovely that we booked to return before we’d even packed our bags to leave: this time in April, which has historically been a much more successful month for us weather wise (thank you, Skye and Lochaber).
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The first day of our return was a bit of a mixed bag: blue skies with the occasional brief rain shower. Not quite good enough to tempt us up a fell with the forecast for the rest of the week looking generally much better, but good enough to be better than 5/7 days on our last trip. Result!
Wanting to take it a bit easier on our first day and not being bothered about loading the dogs into the car for a hike further afield, we opted to walk from the door – one of the benefits of staying almost in the centre of Keswick. Perusing our many walking guides to the Lakes, we chose a 4.5km circular route from our Pocket Mountains guide (which was a little longer for us as we started from our cottage). A gentle scenic route with just one short climb, this was the perfect start to the week – a similar route is available online on Andrew’s Walks.
Setting off down Keswick High Street, I wondered if we’d timed the walk catastrophically badly. The ‘shower’ persisted the whole way down the High Street and into the streets beyond. Watching the rain bead on my new waterproof, serious doubts started to creep in about the possibility of enjoying the walk. At least it would give the waterproof a good test run?
Happily, as we left the houses behind and picked up a public footpath leading into the woods, the rain ceased and I cheered up. The woods were just on the cusp of the leaves unfurling and it was so invigorating to see hints of green popping on the branches. Invigorating enough to (mostly) get me up the (embarrassingly small) hill in the heart of the wood, which has a view deserving of a far longer climb.
There are two benches at the top, as well a small cairn detailing the surrounding summits. The rain having stopped, we enjoyed a five minute rest at the top to soak in the view. We’ve bagged the majority of the northern and north western Wainwrights now, and I love being able to look around and pick out the peaks we’ve summited – and relax knowing they’re not still waiting for me!
Coming down is a quick job (just take care with the short rocky section). Exiting the woods leads to crossing the busy Borrowdale Road, then over fields to reach the shores of Derwentwater and the popular viewpoint of Friar’s Crag. We didn’t hang around here as it was a lot busier than the walk had been up to this point. We’d had the Castlehead viewpoint to ourselves, but there were lots of people and dogs walking along the shore of Derwentwater. Then, it was a short walk back to our cottage – with a quick detour to Booths to pick up a dessert. We’d earned it, right?
Dog friendly rating: 4/5. This is a great dog walk, with chances for your dog to enjoy off lead time in Castlehead Woods. Keep in mind that the road appears very suddenly when you exit the woods, so make sure leads are back on in good time. Dogs will also enjoy the chance for a paddle in Derwentwater – make sure though that leads are on when there are sheep around. I’ve knocked a point off as the sections in Keswick and along Derwentwater are quite busy, and if you have a reactive dog you can probably expect at least one or two approaches from an off lead dog. Plus, there’s the busy road crossing – please, please be careful when crossing with your dog.
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