High Street - Pooley Bridge to Windermere (★★★★★)

I had been looking out for a walk that would be a little bit more adventurous - and one that looked to fit the bill was the old High Street Roman Road across the Lake District.

This route would originally run from Brougham Fort, near Penrith, to Ambleside - but my plan was to join it at the top of Ullswater, and the finish near Windermere train station.

But today it is the afternoon before the main walk, and so for now I am not planning on doing any proper walking - and the plan for now to head down to Ullswater, have a bit of a poke about, and then settle down for the night - with the main walking to be done tomorrow.

But a train and a bus journey later, I arrive at Pooley Bridge - to be greeted by the usual raining skies.

Tonight I am staying in the Crown Inn (which I high recommend), and with the light rain continuing as I arrive, I first settle down for some food at the inn - and then once it has backed off head up above the lake and back, to scout out my intended route.

The view climbing out of Pooley Bridge (from the night before)

Having head up the hill, I do indeed find the High Street route - but after a bit of an explore, and a bit of a sit to look at the view, it is soon time to head back into Pooley Bridge - and settle down for the night.

With a nights sleep behind me, I head back up the same route - but this morning I am greeted by thick cloud cover - and to be honest there isn't all that much to be seen. 

And as a result, we will have to wait a bit for the clouds to open up enough to get some proper views.

In general August logically seems a fairly reliable time to get some good weather - but in the lakes if you are after dry weather, your best bet is to head over in April (with March and May also being decent bets for drier weather). 

In April the lakes will see 3cm a day - rising to 4cm in March and May. Whilst between June and September, the levels increase to 5cm/day - with October seeing the wettest weather, at nearly 7cm per day. The rest of the year averages about 5-6 cm/day.

So whilst August isn't the worst for rainfall, it isn't the best - and there are typically 20 days in August when you should expect some sort of rain (this drops to a low of 17 in April, and peaks to 23 in October and November).

So although it is August, it is still more likely to rain than not in the lakes - and so unless you are incredibly selective about when you decide to visit, your weather has a good chance of looking a lot like this.

But before long, we reach a point where the High Street should in theory divert off - but with this route being overgrown, we just continue on round on the clear path that exists. 

Up ahead we pass a local out for a walk, and they confirm that this will indeed be just as good a path - and that will will get back onto the official route if we stick with it.

Admittedly, in return for this snippet of knowledge, we do have to politely little to lots of advice about going for walks, and a long explanation about how it will be very far. And clearly there are doubts here about my capabilities.

But having successfully managed to do rejoin the official route of the path, everything becomes a bit more straight-forward - and to make it easier, another walker overtakes me while I stop for an early spot of food. 

And this is very welcome, because it gives me someone to follow (hoping that they are heading in the same direction, and know where they are going).

Whilst this may sound a little desperate on my part, it is worth keeping in mind that this is not a well traveled route - with the main track being one clearly used by the farmer when feeding his sheep - and so it is a route that requires a lot of frequent map checks.

But from here the path is continuing to climb up, and on a clear day this path would presumably have some lovely views over the lake (instead of my view of clouds, clouds, and more clouds). 

But, having cleared the end of Ullswater (without actually seeing it), the path goes over the top of Loadpot Hill, and then begins a section that is getting increasingly boggy.

From here, we continue on through the bog - but as we clear Wether Hill, the clouds shift for long enough for photos to begin.

We just about catch sight of Ullswater, before we leave it behind

It becomes clear now that we are walking through an incredible landscape - and it is also clear that this would be a fabulous walk on a clear day.

And having cleared Red Crag, Raven Howe and reached High Raise - there is now a also bit more to be seen looking forwards.

Looking forward from High Raise

Although the route is quite marshy, and clearly not particularly well traveled - the path ahead has been clear and easy to follow - and seem to have been kept alive by the local farmers - with this providing the lone route along this ridge.

But as I start to think that me and my fellow walker (who I have by now lost) have been the only people out today, I reach a ridge that looks out over a steady stream of hikers heading up towards Kidsty Pike.

These are a mix of Coast to Coasters, and day hikers - heading up from Patterdale below - and after a long and fairly lonely trip across the lakes, it seems incredible to have such a busy procession appear out of nowhere.

And here my lonely trudge has come to an end, for not only is it much less boggy,  but looking ahead I can see more little people wandering along my intended route.

And looking out, my path is very clear as it crosses what looks to be a fairly narrow strip of land - along the Straits of Riggindale, between Hayeswater and Blea Water (a small lake that juts out from Haweswater).

The path ahead crosses a natural bridge

It gets wider on closer inspection

By this point visibility is much better - and while I'm not a massive fan of walking along the edge of steep ridges, this one turns out to me much better than it appeared to be from afar. 

And the views either side are pretty good too - although having chosen the path furthest on the right (at the base of the tilt in the land), my best views are out over Hayeswater.

Looking down to Hayeswater

The same view further along

Next the path passes Raceourse Hill (which is a high point at 828 meters above sea level), and then bends rounds slightly to the west via Thornthwaite Crag - where I stop for a well needed rest, having only just got back to doing longer walks after an injury.

But by this point, it is actually getting fairly cold (it is a British August day), and this is mostly because there is a fairly strong wind coming across - but we can't complain too much, because that is the same wind which has been moving the clouds away.

Before long I get going again, and soon the path splits, with one route heading up to Froswick - whilst my onward path drops down into Troutbeck Park below (still following the High Street route).

Could go left, but here we follow the High Street route right

This brings our time in the hills to an end - and to be honest I'm pretty grateful, as I'm not sure I have too much more hill walking in me today - but the descent into the valley is still a long one.

Whilst on the map this descent looks pretty steep, in reality the route is far more straight-forward, and eventually we make it out at the base of the valley - far below the hills we have been walking along.

Down in the valley

Here we find a nice change in scenery - and it is an incredibly pretty valley to walk along - offering up a nice contrast to the more rugged and more spectacular hills along the top.

Further along the valley

This here is very much my sort of terrain (lots of views, with a lovely path), and we continue on down this valley (crossing over the stream we are following along the way), until we rejoin the road near the imaginatively named Jesus Church.

Jesus Church

Here the adventurous nature of our trip somewhat reduces, as our onward route is now along the pavement of a road - but it is still pretty pleasant to walk along, and not knowing the best route to walk, I figure this at least guarantees my successful arrival into Windermere.

As it is I probably should have turned off the road shortly after the church, and then headed round to Windermere via Orrest Head.

Having passed Windermere school, we do eventually turn off to head through High Hay Wood, and Elleray Bank, on a route I have used before on a previous visit.

This takes us all the way round to the train station - and here I am staying at the Windermere Hotel - which I am guessing was named by the same guy who named Jesus Church.

I mostly chose the hotel for the location, as it has easy access to the train, and provides access to plenty of food - but in many ways the hotel is delightfully old fashioned in a slightly Basil Faulty sort of way - and stuck in a belief that it is where all the posh people go, whilst obviously being a touch run down.

As a result it is a cheap enough place for bog explorers like me, turning up at the end of a long walk - but it is also big enough for me not to feel bad about turning up in a bit of a state.

That said, it is obvious that I won't be turning up for dinner - as I left my Sunday best home - but in many ways it is a perfect choice at the end of a long day, when I just want to head to a quiet room and get some sleep. And I did not really fancy the caviar and boiled goose anyway.

I decide not to hang around too long on the following day, but since I am here still decide to have a potter about Windermere - and annoyingly enough today is a much better day, with much better views out across the lakes.

First I head up to the ridge at Orrest Head

And then down to the lake at Bowness

Stopping off at a viewpoint on the way back

After this walk around, it is time to get the train, and head home.

Total Distance: 18.6 miles (main day of walking only)

Total Ascent: 3,455 feet (main day of walking only)

Enjoyment Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

Click for a writeup of another walk that also joins up with Windermere - walking from Burneside to Ambleside (via Bowness), originally along the Dales Way.

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 90 OS Landranger map (Windermere itself is very slightly off map - and is included on 96 or 97 maps) (links redirect to Amazon). The route is not particularly well way-marked on this occasion and some parts of the original route must be worked around (I didn't run into any trouble finding the route however).