Terrain Overview
Walk Overview
The walk itself is easy an gently sloped passage to the top. Wainright noted
in the Outlying Fell Book Guide ...
"Claiffe Heights is the naturally wooded and man-afforested upland rising between Esthwaite
Water and Windermere. It has not a well-defined summit ....."
It was with a tinge of sadness to see the massive desolation of the tree
population by the Forestry Commission especially on the summit approach.
You could be forgiven for thinking it had been bombed, however dont let
that take away from the maginificent view from the summit cairn. We were
indeed very lucky with the weather which showed the area off at its finest
We sought permission from the Landlord to park the car freely. There is also
a Church Car Park with an honesty box just slightly further up the road
The walk starts here
From the pub car park turn left and with in fifty yards or so a path branches off left
to lead upwards past the side of the Pub building. For info the Church car park is
just on the right hand side of this picture
The path passes the Pub and leads gently upwards towards a gate
Carry straight on through the gate
The path rises gently and follows the line of the wall
Within about a quarter of a mile or so the path branches off. Take the right
hand fork. The other path leads to private land
The path cuts through open grass pasture leading towards another hand gate
Continue along the path after the gate and prepare for a left turn ahead
Not long after passing through the gate a path branching off left and sign posted
for Latterbarrow is taken
Looking across to Coniston Old Man from the track
The track leads past a small tarn, however due to the recent storm Darragh
causing overspill, we had to circumnavigate to get back on track
Once through the gate, the path becomes more boggy as it leads to a small
wooded area
On approach to the wooded area take the right hand fork
Maybe due to recent bad weather, but the path becomes heavy going for a while
The path turns left and rises gently over some rocky outcrops
At the top of the rocky outcrops, the path swings right to lead onto the summit approach
In this shot, the summit lies to the left. Aim for the Col to gain some better ground
The desolation of the Forrestry work is all too apparent as we turn left at the
top of the Col to get to the final part of the ascent
Looking over Windermere from the Col
After turning left at the top of the Col look out for a path that rises
from the left quite steeply towards the summit
The summit cairn comes into view
Sue and Spud on the summit of Claiffe Heights. Click here for a 360 degree view
Looking along Lake Windermere from the summit
Looking over the Lake towards Windermere
Looking towards Seat Sandal from the summit
At this time of year obviously the hours of light are greatly reduced and the setting sun
was an indication that we should start to make our way down and back to the car
and also The Lily Bar in Ambleside to do a bit of quality control sampling
of the Loweswater Gold
Just back down in time for the setting sun and another fabulous day out on
the fells of Lakeland
