You may have noticed that the Solitary Walker has not done much solitary walking this year — being involved in matters more literary, culinary and horticultural. I aim to put that right. This is a walk I did a few weeks ago on a visit to my mother-in-law in the Lake District. It's a walk I devised myself, with a little help from the Ordnance Survey's Outdoor Leisure Map No 7: The English Lakes: South Eastern Area: Windermere, Kendal & Silverdale. I took the map with me and worked out the route en route, so to speak. It's nice to do that sometimes, rather than planning everything beforehand — there's a happy freedom in it. The walk was exactly 5 miles long.
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| There's a handy car park at the col between Cunswick Scar and Scout Scar on the Underbarrow road just west of Kendal. From here I set off southwards up the limestone scar. It wasn't long before the landscape opened up: scattered woods, lumpy hills, tiny settlements and a patchwork of green fields full of sheep and buttercups. |
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| A clear path followed the edge of the escarpment. The view west across the Lyth Valley towards Morecambe Bay was tremendous. |
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| Although I wasn't that high, it felt very airy up there, and I bowled along as if I were on top of the world. |
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| This shelter, known as 'The Mushroom', stands on the summit of Scout Scar (764 ft). It was built in 1912 as a memorial to King George V, and has twice been restored. |
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| The path descended gently to the Brigsteer road. Just before the village a track led northwards through woods to Barrowfield Farm. And from the farm another path struck through more woodland . . . |
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| . . . which was deciduous, but with isolated pockets of pine. |
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| After passing this remote smallholding I lost the way for a while, but soon found it again — eventually emerging on a quiet minor road called Garth Row Lane. This took me to Scar Foot, and a slightly scary trek uphill along a bendy, busier road back to the car park. |
