| Factfile | Grade: Easy
Approximate time: 90 minutes
Distance: 2.9 miles (4.7km)
Total ascent: 469ft (143m)
Buses: 949, dial-a-ride bus service. For details, phone the Traveline on 0870 608 2608. Cumbria is one of the last strongholds of the native red squirrels, which have been replaced in most of England and Wales by the grey, introduced from North America in 1876. Because greys breed rapidly, with two litters a year, and are better able to survive a severe winter because of their extra body fat, they out-compete the native species, particularly in lowland deciduous woodland. They have been known to displace the much cuter reds completely within seven years of arrival in a wood. Red squirrels are also more susceptible to certain diseases and find it less easy to adapt when hedgerows and woodland are destroyed. There are many projects throughout the region, mostly run in conjunction with Red Alert North West, to monitor and protect the species. The witer Vivienne Crow is a journalist with a passion for hill-walking and she writes walking articles in newspapers and magazines. |
This short, low-level walk starts with a gentle stroll through pleasant mixed woodland just above Crummock Water. Emerging from the trees, you cross farmland before returning to the parking area via a level path at the base of the steep-sided fells. If you’re a fan of red squirrels, Lanthwaite Wood is the place to go. When I did this walk last autumn, I stood and watched several of them foraging for nuts, scampering up and down the trees and chasing each other through the fallen leaves. I’d never seen so many in one spot – I counted eight in total. The walk starts from the parking area next to Lanthwaite Green Farm near Crummock Water (GR NY158208). Turn left and walk along the road for just 120 yards until, just after the farm buildings, you cross a stone stile at a footpath sign to your left. The path snakes its way between walls and fences for almost 300 yards, until reaching a kissing-gate on the left. Go through and cross the field towards the woods, keeping the drystone wall on your right. You now enter the cool calm of Lanthwaite Wood. Follow the track as it bears slightly left. Then, as the track swings round to the right, the trees thin to reveal Crummock Water and, on the other side of the lake, the steep-sided, brooding Mellbreak. The woods are home to a large population of red squirrels. You’d be unlucky if you didn’t see at least one or two. You may also see deer as you wander among the trees, as well as a variety of birdlife. As another track comes in from the left, keep straight ahead and then bear right at a fork, heading slightly uphill. Marching easily along this clear track, keep straight ahead at a crossing of paths and then turn right at the road. (This is a generally quiet road, but the traffic is often too fast for such a winding route, so be careful!)
 | | Whiteside Fell and Lanthwaite Wood |
As you walk along the road, you’ll have to watch carefully for the next turning – it’s easy to miss. You pass Scale Hill holiday cottages on the left soon after leaving the woods, followed a little later by a cottage called Watching How on the right. Almost 200 yards beyond this cottage, there is a stile and footpath sign slightly back from the road to the right and partly hidden by the trees. Clamber up and over this stile to gain access to a narrow path through the woods. You weave in and out of the trees on this path for 40 yards, and then you reach a wider, grassy path crossing your way. Turning right, you follow this until you see a faint, muddy path heading down through the trees to the left. Take this, easing your way down the short slope on a messy combination of mud and fallen leaves. At the bottom, carefully cross the wobbly, lop-sided stile and plank bridge and then walk across the field ahead, keeping a row of oak trees on your left.
 | | Liza Beck Foot-Bridge |
It is important that you stick to the public right of way across this private land. Having reached a wall, keep it on your left until you come to a wooden stile. Crossing this - and with views ahead towards Whiteside - ascend the field to a drystone wall ahead, keeping a fence on your immediate left. Cross the wall via the stile and then bear left to pick up a clear, grassy track. At the road, go straight across and through a gate. Having crossed the footbridge directly in front of you, bear slightly left to go through another gate. You now head up the hill with a fence/wall on the right - heading for what, from this angle, looks like an horrendously steep ladder stile at the top of the enclosure. Having crossed the stile, turn right along a clear path through the bracken at the base of Whiteside. You can really stride out now as you follow the line of the wall along easy, mostly level ground, ignoring all paths to the left.
 | | Liza Beck stream bed |
About two-thirds of a mile beyond the ladder stile, cross Liza Beck via a wide bridge. Continue straight ahead on a faint path until you reach a vehicle track where you turn left. On the relatively level and low-lying ground to your left - between Crummock Water and the steep slopes of Grasmoor - it is possible to make out the remains of hut circles and boundary walls that are thought to be part of a late Iron Age farming settlement. There are few such archaeological sites in the Lake District – others include Threlkeld Knotts and Millrigg in the Kentmere Valley. When you reach the road, turn left, and it’s a quick 120 yards back to the car park. |
