Our second exploit into fell walking was to Latrigg, one of the shorter fells just above Keswick. We decided that as Wainwright described the climb from Keswick as being three miles and that as the fell itself could be walked in “Sunday best” that we would simply walk from our cottage, explore a few paths and effortlessly pace our way to the top where we were promised views over Keswick and Derwent Water.

Well, what we were expecting turned out to be almost exactly what we experienced – just with a few twists.

Firstly the footpaths that we were hoping to easily follow turned out to be across fields with sheep and cattle and not having been used in anger very much, difficult to follow and taking us further out of our way than was really necessary. We discovered this on the way back!

So after wading through long grass, avoiding boggy ground, climbing over a gate that simply would not open and some interesting stiles built into dry stone walls, we arrived in the valley crossing a picturesque little stream. We were very close to a disused railway line, apparently turned into a walk and cycle path – but not on the twenty year old map that I was carrying. Still, that did not stop us from finding our way and eventually ignoring the path suggested by Wainwright and simply heading for what looked like the top, we arrived at the summit and enjoyed the stunning views expected.

The way down was experimental, but more successful, as we followed a more direct route once more into a valley, but a wood lined path taking over a quaint bridge and back out to a field before arriving at the Blencathra Centre, which we knew to be at the end of the road our farm cottage was on. The final (successful) experiment was to take a footpath that literally took us to our back door rather than walk down the hill and back up again by following the road. So the way home was more successful, but the walk was about six hard miles in the end and according to my phone/watch combination it was the equivalent of climbing over ninety flights of stairs! So we spent the rest of the day at the cottage relaxing.