Dales Way to Cumbria Way link

We had returned to the Lake District with the aim of completing the Cumbria Way, abandoned in Keswick earlier in the summer. To make the trip more worthwhile we had decided to start by linking up the Dales Way, which we walked in 2007, with the Cumbria Way. At their closest point (Bowness-on-Windermere to Tarn Hows) the two paths are five miles apart as the crow flies. The trouble is (a) we are not crows; (b) we needed to get to the starting point of the link and on to Keswick from our end point. And, because it was now September with the pressures of work that this brings, we had to complete the whole thing within three days. We had decided to link from the Dales Way at Bowness, via the ferry across Windermere then on to the Cumbria Way at Skelwith Bridge. Thus it was that we set off from Windermere Station shortly before 10 am today, having left Milton Keynes on the 6.23 train towards Glasgow and changed at Oxenholme.

We’d travelled through a misty dawn and from Windermere Station it looked as if there was still mist over Lake Windermere. However by the time we’d walked, quickly, through Windermere and Bowness, down to the lake, it was a beautiful sunny morning. The train that had come into Oxenholme Station from Windermere had been absolutely packed and when our (nearly empty) train pulled into Windermere, the platform was crowded with people waiting to get on the next train out. However, they had left plenty of people behind...Windermere and Bowness were busy (with traffic jams if you were foolish enough to attempt to drive) and there were long queues waiting to get on the boat trips round the lake (which, fortunately we did not need to do). It had been busy when we were here in 2007 too, sitting on the grass eating ice cream whilst Helen texted Tom.

For today, we continued along the road to Ferry Nab for the chain ferry across the lake to Ferry House. Given that Hill House, Beatrix Potter’s farmhouse, is just up the road from Ferry House, I’d wondered if our ferry would also be very busy, and for cars trying to get across there are warning signs back up the road warning of an hour, then 40 minute and 20 minute wait. However this morning, there were just a handful of cars waiting to go across, plus a few foot passengers. The ferry was over the other side of the lake, which allowed time for photography, but 10 minutes later it came our way...and we were off. It was a very pleasant short crossing and the man didn’t seem interested in collecting the fares of the foot passengers. I felt a bit mean about this, given the fare is only £1 per person, but couldn’t see what to do about it.

Most people were continuing round the bay to Wray Castle which is just slightly further north, but we’d found a route that left the lake here and headed north-west past Wray Church and then on, via minor roads and footpaths, to Skelwith Fold and Skelwith Bridge, from where we would follow the banks of the river to Skelwith Force). In comparing our printed (2005) map with the latest online version, we’d noticed quite a lot of additional tracks in the area, and it turns out that the first part of the route we had selected is now a cycleway that continues around to Ambleside. There were not too many people following the new route, so it was very helpful for us.

We passed both Wray Church and an entrance lodge to Wray Castle, both built in the same pseudo gothic castellated style as the castle itself. The cycleway then ran parallel with the road initially with views to Blelham Tarn then, after crossing the road, looping round through Pull Woods. Just before it re emerged onto the B5285 we encountered three cyclists who appeared to be in difficulty. However they were just tired; they were looking for a bus and hoping to fit their bikes onto it. Unlikely in both regards...and they were only going to Ambleside, about three miles from here!

We meanwhile were taking the path that leaves the B5285 on the corner at SD359022 and climbed steeply up a grassy bank to woodland, eventually passing a caravan site before emerging onto the road close to Skelwith Fold. This is a delightful hamlet, and the road dropped away, with superb views to the Langdale Pikes. They had even provided a seat and information board. We continued along the minor road to Skelwith Bridge, joining the main A593 just to cross the River Brathay on Skelwith Bridge itself.

When we passed close to here on the Cumbria Way in June, we had been surprised not to have to come to Skelwith Bridge to cross the river (there is a new bridge a few hundred metres upstream) and this meant we hadn’t photographed the Skelwith Bridge Hotel, where Richard’s parents stayed when we were on our honeymoon at a hotel down the road (read the whole story here). We put that right today, before taking the path alongside the river to Skelwith Falls. At that point we had “closed the gap” between the Dales Way and the Cumbria Way, so we returned to “Chesters by the River” where we celebrated with tea/coffee and rather large pieces of cake from their take away.

The next challenge was to walk to Ambleside, from where we would catch a bus to Keswick ready to rejoin the Cumbria Way tomorrow. We climbed up the minor road toward Loughrigg Tarn, then took the track that continued towards Loughrigg Fell and passed below the crags, up and over to Ambleside. There were superb views to Lake Windermere beneath us and to the Fairfield Horseshoe of summits to the north of Ambleside. I walked around Fairfield Horseshoe when I was much younger; today I was very happy with Loughrigg Fell and amazed that no other walkers overtook us! The only problem was my feet. I had, knowingly, come away with my newish walking boots, which are just slightly too small (I'd made the mistake of buying women's boots, whilst my wide toes mean I really need men's). By the time we reached Loughrigg Fell the little toes on both my feet were suffering. Richard tightened the laces on my boots to ensure I retained as much space around my toes as possible and we descended to Ambleside, walking just behind a female walked who had joined our route from a different path.

On the outskirts of Ambleside we crossed the River Rothay and Rothay Park, and hobbled into the town centre. My sense of direction initially took us away from the bus interchange, but we soon realised. Then as, we walked in the direction, a number 555 bus came towards us, but we were nowhere near a bus stop. Fortunately, when we found the bus interchange, we only had about 30 minutes to wait for the next bus. We sat on a seat outside the library for a while before anxiety over the growing number of people waiting at the two bus stops led us to cross back over to them, to claim our place in the informal queue. We needn't have worried; lots of different buses came in and the queue soon diminished. Despite the fact that there were two bus stops, all the buses came to one of them and, confusingly, one of the buses had the right number but was going to Kendal not Keswick (this is the wrong direction, but in the heat of the moment I nearly got on it). When our bus came in, we were able to get the front seat of upper deck, and we enjoyed the drive to Keswick, for the next leg of the adventure.