Keswick’s best kept secret
Barrow? You’re probably thinking of shipbuilding and submarines, but up here in Keswick – for those in the know at any rate – it’s the name of a wonderful fell top (455 metres high). Climbing there gives you a taste of upland meadows, high rugged tops, ancient field patterns of the valley bottoms and stunning views of Bassenthwaite and Derwentwater, the area’s largest lakes – all in just a short walk of 1½ - 2 hours.
Yesterday at the height of the holiday season I was passing High Coledale at 8 o’clock with only the sheep and birds as companions. On a blustery morning with bright sunshine, riffs of colour and shade played on the brackened fellside as the clouds bustled and billowed above. Magical. No wonder our niece insisted on climbing Barrow on her wedding morning.
Don’t tell everyone about it – or it will get ’super-model’ attention and no quiet mornings – but make sure you get up there before you leave. Full details and an accompanying slide show of photos are on the website’s walking section under The Barrow Round – high tops and valley bottoms.
3 Responses to “Keswick’s best kept secret”
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Thanks Ian, that sounds like a walk to keep up my sleeve for next time. My family and I have just returned after our 2 week stay at The Larches. It is a very special place, we had a superb holiday. I will keep up to date via the website!
Thanks Lee. Glad it was a good fortnight. Did you get the iPod working with the router?
Ian – the Ipod worked fine with the router thanks, I used it mainly to look at news headlines and the met office website – which turned out to be fairly inaccurate, looking out of the window in the morning was much better!