Carlisle & District Rambling & Fellwalking Club

Walk & Event Reports

Sunday 3rd April 2016

B Walk

Borrowdale Round

8 Miles Grade 2

Leader: Geoff Entwistle

Reports by Peter Flynn & Geoff Entwistle

Photos by Pete Rutland & Peter Flynn

Peter's Report

The walk started with a conundrum.  A notice in the gent’s loos at Rosthwaite indicated a box (presumably for coins) and a notice saying “9 out of every 10 people who visit these toilets make a contribution”.  How do they know?  A camera?  A peep hole?  The mind boggles at the possibilities and the implications.  It was a relief to get started and head initially for Millican Dalton’s cave,  where he lived in the summer months from the late 1890’s for 50 years till he died aged 79 in 1947.  His motto – “don’t waste words – jump to conclusions.  He lived off woodbines and whisky and gave lessons in camping, hiking and climbing.  It seems that if you could stand the B.O. then his instruction was very useful.  From there along the river to the main Borrowdale to Keswick path,  and here we doubled back, had a leisurely lunch on the summit of Castle Crag,  and then wandered down to Seatoller,  and back along the river to Rosthwaite.  An interesting feature in that area was the Youth Hostel where Heather worked for a short while and she pointed out how dramatically they had changed over the years,   with a varied menu,  very pleasant lounge and dining room and all mod cons.  A lovely, gentle walk,  very many thanks to Geoff for leading it and for telling us so much of interest about the area.    

Peter

Geoff's Report

Eleven Club members enjoyed a pleasant walk round the head of possibly the most attractive valley in the Lake District. Starting at Rosthwaite in Borrowdale, just after the forecast improvement in the weather had arrived, we headed to the River Derwent, where we declined the option of crossing the river by the stepping stones as they were under water, crossing by the "New" bridge instead. We then followed the west side of the river, with a diversion to go to see the "Professor of Adventure" Millican Dalton's cave on the side of Castle Crag, apparently still being used for spartan accommodation. At Gowder Dub we changed direction and ascended south west on the Allerdale Ramble path going to the west of Castle Crag, from where we took the short but steep ascent to the summit of the Crag, arriving just in time for the lunch stop enjoying the superb viewpoint. Returning to the Allerdale Ramble, a pleasant path with good views above the valley took us to Seatoller, and we returned to Rosthwaite via the River Derwent and the Youth Hostel, where we enjoyed refreshments in the Flock Inn cafe. A lovely walk.

Geoff