Whitbarrow Wanderings 17th August


Walk Leader: Pete Lang

Number on Walk: 18

Distance: 11 miles

Weather: Dry and Warm

 

The route was a total of 10.6 miles starting at 10am from the small hamlet of Mill Side. The walk was quite well attended with 18 members participating. The weather unexpectedly started with some light drizzle, however after about ten minutes, it turned dry and warm for the rest of the day. The walk took us into the hamlet of Mill Side where we took the public footpath towards Low Fell End. There we joined the main footpath in an anticlockwise direction around the base of Whitbarrow. This is a Wainwright Outlying Fell with a height of 215m. The conditions underfoot were very good as we made our way through Watson's Wood and onto Township Plantation. These two wooded areas have a maze of paths and call for careful navigation, however we soon emerged onto open pasture land above the small hamlet of Row. At that point we stopped for a short coffee break to take in the fantastic views of the Lake District fells. Once refreshed we then continued through Row, and around the Northern end of Whitbarrow to Fell Edge, where we began our climb onto the fell proper. This was the only tricky part of the walk as the path was considerably more overgrown than my first recce, but luckily only for a short distance. Once onto the open fell we then headed to the five large unnamed cairns on the Western side of Whitbarrow where we stopped for lunch. This spot has excellent views out towards the sea ahead and also of the Lake District fells behind. Following lunch we then headed across the open fell, which makes up the Whitbarrow Nature Reserve, to the highest point and summit of Lords Seat. This is typical limescale landscape complete with stunted trees, whose tops have grown sideways due to the harsh prevailing winds from the sea. It was then only a couple of miles of high level walking across the nature reserve with ever better views of  Arnside and the sea, before a steep descent back through Buckhouse Wood to Millside and the cars. Overall a pleasant and well received walk of nearly five hours.