rklogo (6K) Rowan Keld Images Footsteps of Discovery CD-ROM
David Rayment


The Key Pages
'Footsteps of Discovery in the Northern Lake District' has 13 near-virtual circular walks enabling you to experience the sights and sounds of the area. Every walk is associated with one of the key locations.

The walks are between 5 to 9 miles in extent and every walk has an interactive map, a summary, a detailed description, hypertext links, images, sounds and one to seven viewpoints with feature identification pop-ups. The maps and route information pages can be printed.

The viewpoints enable you to identify the features displayed, including mountains, fells, large crags, valleys, woods, rivers, lakes and islands, tarns, villages, houses of distinction, bridges and roads.
Latrigg and the Glenderaterra Valley
A 7½ mile (12 km) walk featuring a grassy fell with a superb viewpoint over Keswick, followed by an excursion into a wild and remote valley surrounded by high mountains and barren moorland. The route reaches about 420 m (1378 ft) The agile red squirrel can be seen in the woods along this route The views from the top of Latrigg are often dramatic and always interesting
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Keswick, Brundholme Wood and the Railway Line
These attractive wooden rowing boats are available for hire at the boat landings A 7¾ mile (12.5 km) walk featuring places of interest in and around Keswick together with a detour to explore the countryside to the east-north-east of the town. Here lies the steep, wooded valley of the fast-flowing River Greta and a disused railway line. There are a number of attractive and old buildings beside the River Greta
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Around Derwentwater
Some of the yachts on Derwentwater on a calm misty evening Skiddaw seen from the southern end of Derwentwater A 9 mile (15 km) low level walk explores many of the bays and promontories around Derwentwater and also some of the beautiful woods close to the lake.
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Naddle Valley, High Rigg and Low Rigg.
Castlerigg Stone Circle is a neolithic construction that predates Stonehenge by a thousand years. A 8¾ mile (14 km) walk featuring an ancient stone circle, two quiet pastoral valleys, a simple but attractive Lakeland church, peaceful country lanes, a wide beck, a quiet tarn and a long, hummocky ridge with splendid views.

 Heather can be found growing on many places. On steep rocky faces the sheep are unable to browse it.
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Ashness Bridge, Walla Crag and Great Wood.
Walla crag is a popular place for paragliders. A 5 mile (8 km) fairly easy walk featuring a picturesque old bridge, impressive crags, an attractive wood and open fell with magnificent views over Derwentwater and the surrounding mountains, particularly those to the west, south and north.

 The flora of the Lake District has been heavily modified by its population of sheep. The one seen here are Swaledale sheep
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Watendlath, Dock Tarn and the Stonethwaite Valley
A varied 5¼ mile (8.5 km) walk featuring a picturesque hamlet beside an attractive tarn, a high fell with an isolated high-altitude tarn, an ancient hanging oak woodland, a pretty valley with green fields and bordering uplands and an old packhorse route linking two valleys. There are beautiful views of the Stonethwaite and Borrowdale Valleys. Easy in parts but with some steep sections.

 The attractive village of Stonethwaite. The name is Norse and means 'the clearing in the stones'. Orchids are common in the Lake District. This one is a Northern Marsh Orchid
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Kings How, Brund Fell and the Watendlath Valley.
In autumn the stately silver birches along the Watendlath Valley are well worth seeing The top of Brund Fell is noted for its isolated rock outcrops A 6¼ mile (10 km) walk featuring a beautiful wooded valley, a huge, amazingly-poised boulder, heather and bracken-clad fells, a prominent peak with lovely views, a strange landscape of isolated rock outcrops rising above a sea of heather, a remote hamlet, a glaciated hanging valley and a waterfall.
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Grange, Castle Crag and Seatoller.
A 6½ mile (10.5 km) walk encompassing some magnificent and beautiful scenery. It features bracken-covered fellside, boulder-strewn becks, a steep, wooded crag with spectacular views, lovely oak woodlands, a sylvan river valley, gentle pastoral countryside and the attractive settlements of Grange and Seatoller. Moderately easy, apart from the steep but short climb up the scree slope of Castle Crag.

 The red-breasted robin can be seen and heard in all wooded areas in the Lake District Castle Crag provides extensive views of the Borrowdale Valley
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Cat Bells, Maiden Moor and High Spy.
The summit cairn on High Spy is an impressive structure. The view from High Spy is also impressive! A 7¾ miles (12.5 km) ridge and fell walk with spectacular views over Derwentwater and the Newlands Valley. Parts of the walk are fairly steep and there are some rocky sections.

The slopes of Cat Bells provide extensive and easily attained views over Derwentwater. Here you see a launch passing one of the small islands near its western shores
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Newlands Valley, Hindscarth and Dale Head
A 7 mile (11.3 km) walk featuring two mountain peaks and an isolated tarn. It also includes the wild and remote upper reaches of a glaciated valley, some pastoral countryside, an old mine track, abandoned mines and a picturesque church. The walk is strenuous and steep in parts.

The Newlands Valley is one of the most attractive in the Lake District. It provided the famous author, Beatrix Potter with a setting for her childrens books about the hedgehog 'Mrs Tiggywinkle'. The commom sandpiper can often be seen and heard next to tarns and rivers in this and other walks
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Newlands Valley, Scar Crags and Causey Pike
In late summer the heather comes into bloom and paints the mountains purple. The top of Causey Pike has a distinctive shape that makes it instantly recogniseable from many places in the Northern Lake District A 7¾ miles (12.5 km) walk of contrasts. It includes country roads, an old mine track, peaceful green pastures in a gentle valley, flower-rich hedgerows, grassy fells, heather moorland, a tumbling beck in an upland valley and spectacular views from a long mountain ridge and a rocky mountain top. Contains steep and rocky parts!

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Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head and the Coledale Valley
A 7¾ miles (12.5 km) walk on the high peaks with a final trek down a wild and treeless valley. There are some magnificent mountain views and a chance to see an old mine of archaeological interest. Some strenuous climbing is involved.

 The orange colour of the dead bracken lasts from autumn to spring and provides welcome colour during the winter months The brilliant red of the foxgloves can be seen all over the Northern Lake District.
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Dodd, Dodd Wood, St Bega's Church and Mirehouse
The small church of St Bega's sits close to the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake A 5¾ miles (9.25 km) walk featuring an ancient church, an historic manor-house with literary connections, a climb through Forestry Commission woodlands, a superb view from a subsidiary peak on the western side of the Skiddaw Massif and a stroll across gentle pastures bordering Bassenthwaite Lake. Mainly easy with some steeper sections.

 In midsummer a profusion of dandelion and hawkbit plants turn their yellow faces to the sun
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