Orrest Head

In 1930, a 23 year old chap from Blackburn called Alfred Wainwright visited the Lake District for the first time, on holiday with his cousin. Leaving the bus, they set about on their first walk immediately, to the recommended nearby hillside of Orrest Head. This was how Wainwright's love of the Lakes started, and it was a key factor in his decision much later to research and write his seven Pictorial Guides.

Writing in his book Ex-Fellwanderer, Wainwright wrote of this first visit to the Lakes:

"Alighting the bus, our first objective, according to my itinery, was Orrest Head, a recommended viewpoint nearby. Our way led up a lane amongst lovely trees, passing large houses that seemed to me like castles, with gardens fragrent with flowers. I thought how wonderful it must be to live in a house with a garden. The sun was shining, the birds singing. We went on, climbing steadily under a canopy of foliage, the path becoming rougher, and then, quite suddenly, we emerged from the shadows of the trees and were on to a bare headland, and, as though a curtain had dramatically been torn aside, beheld a truly magnificent view.

"It was a moment of magic, a revelation so unexpected that I stood transfixed, unable to believe my eyes...


"...I had seen landscapes of rural beauty pictured in the local art gallery, but here was no painted canvas; this was real. This was truth. God was in his heaven that day and I a humble worshipper."

The climb to the top starts oppposite the Bank on the A591 close by to Windermere railway station, is well signposted and takes only about 15 minutes to get to the top. Coming down, simply retrace your steps, or alternatively carry on to reach a country lane, turn left and find a signposted foopath that leads through woods and brings you back to the start. This is the route Carole and I took and according to the pedometer we carried, it totalled 2.8 miles. Short walks don't come any better than that.