Low Fell walk - Fellbarrow walk - Darling Fell walk

Route: Fellbarrow, Low Fell and Darling Fell

Area: Western Lake District

Date of walk: 23rd March 2016

Walkers: Andrew and Gilly

Distance: 5.6 miles

Ascent: 1,800 feet

Weather: mostly dull and hazy, but sunshine at the end

A mid-afternoon start necessitated a local walk, and so we decided to revisit one of our local favourites – Low Fell. The view from the summit of the fell is one of the best in the district, though we had low expectations today in view of the dull and hazy conditions

Our usual start is from Thackthwaite but today we made a different approach. We parked just beyond the head of Loweswater, near the phone box, and followed the track up towards Askill. We then joined the old Mosser Road (unfit for cars but well suited for pedestrians) and walked along the flanks of the fells to our right

We followed a route up Mosser Fell and Fellbarrow, pathless in parts, to the summit of Fellbarrow. The weather was uninspiring and very cold, so we didn’t linger there and followed the ridge south towards Low Fell

After walking past the north top we turned right at the depression which leads to Darling Fell. We’d normally have diverted to the south top from where the view of Crummock Water, Buttermere and the Western Fells is sublime, but today it was very hazy and there was no point in doing so. We made the steep down and up to nearby Darling Fell and as we did so there was a dramatic improvement in the weather – grey skies quickly turned blue – and we enjoyed some late afternoon sunshine and glorious views back into lakeland

The photos which follow gradually improve in line with the weather – so please persevere as we did and I hope that you will be rewarded as we were

For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box

Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)

Scroll down – or click on any photo to enlarge it and you can then view as a slideshow

Loweswater from the roadside parking space

and again as we climb up towards Askill

Looking back down the track

Holme Wood

We follow the old Mosser Road

We leave the road here to enter onto open fellside

Trig point at the summit of Fellbarrow, here looking towards Grasmoor

We follow the path across the ridge towards Low Fell

Looking across Lorton Vale to Whiteside

Crummock Water comes into view further along the ridge

Looking down into Lorton Vale…

Crummock Water

The best view is from a point just below the south top ahead, but as it was cloudy and hazy we didn’t detour, and turned right at the depression below