Walkhighlands

I missed this out on my round from Barf to Sale Fell so went back to pick it off today.

I parked at the Whinlatter visitor centre and headed up through the woods following the green trail. If you always take the options to your left and up you come to a small clearing where a number of forest roads converge and there is a bench and an information sign. Follow the road that goes up to the left and you come to a new gate in the fence which takes you out onto the open fell. The initial climb up the side of the fence is quite steep but is short and from then on it's really easy going. Whinlatter summit is the second top you cross following the path along the ridge. From there I continued on the Brown How and then down through the woods until I found Whinlatter Pass at Hobcarton car park.

The route from Brown How back to the road isn't easy as it is mostly just sheep trails traversing the thick grass on a fairly steep slope and there is no obvious entrance into the woods. I just followed the fell wall until I found an improvised stile that someone had thrown together to help get over the wire fence and into the woods. From there you just descend until you find a track and then turn left towards the road.

This is a fairly unremarkable hill and probably one to tick-off rather than plan for a good day out.

Here are a couple of pics and my route...

That's one of my last 8 unclimbed Wainwrights. Looks like it deserves to be. Can you get through the forest to Lords Seat.

I don't know. I had a look at that from Brown How as Wainwright said there used to be a way of doing that without dropping below 1500ft but it looks like you would have to cross half a dozen wire fences and find your way through thick woods to do that today.

The route I took was longer than is necessary to tick it off. I reckon you could park at the end of the fence just a few yards beyond the visitor centre entrance and go straight up and then along the ridge, then return by the same route in about 45 minutes.

You can then cross the road and do Grisedale Pike

Yes you can Iceman, we did the round from Darling How, Whinlatter, Lords Seat, Barf, Broom Fell and Graystones with a steep descent

I did Whinlatter from Lords Seat and back today. I was doing the 6 W's from Wythop Mill - Ling Fell, Greystones, Broom Fell, Lords Seat, Barf and Sale Fell. But it was such a glorious day, and Whinlatter looked so close... I got chatting to a fellow walker who had the forest walking guide so was able to work out how to to get there. The key is the numbered posts.

Whinlatter to Lords Seat
From the top of Whinlatter head east towards the forest fence, then follow it north then north-east to Tarbarrel Moss. Tucked away in the corner is a nice new gate. From the top of this little knoll there's a neat little path heading north down through the trees - crosses the Mountain bike trail then continues straight down to the main track junction. You'll see a post with a no.3 on it. Take the track that goes up to the north-east - past this post. Mountain bikers come down this short section of path, but when the track ahead shows no entry, take the turning on the left. A little further on a path branches up on the right (post no. 53) ignore this and keep on the lower path to the left. Follow this for about 600m to the next junction (post no. 5) and turn left again. Follow this path to the stile at the edge of the forest and you're almost at the top of Lords Seat.

Lords Seat to Whinlatter
From the top of Lords Seat take the path heading down to the stile into the forest. Follow this path down to post no. 5 and turn right. After 600m, ignore the path coming in from up left (post no. 53) and continue ahead. Then turn right at the next junction (where the mountain bikes join the path from the left). The path drops down into a clearing with a junction of tracks (post no.3). The track to the left goes down to the visitor centre, the track to the right winds its way down to Darling How car park. If you look more-or-less straight over the junction you'll see the red arrow post for the mountain bike trail and just to the left of this is a barely noticeable path up through the trees. Follow this for about 100m uphill (re-crossing the bike trail) to emerge at the top of a knoll and you'll see the little gate onto the open fell on your right. Follow the fence south-west then south, then choose a route across to Whinlatter top (keeping close to the fence loses least height)


I hope this helps. I met 2 couples on Whinlatter who'd dropped down to the Visitor Centre then slogged back up hill because they couldn't find the elusive path. So I'm sure I'm not the only persons who dreads forest paths, although I think a nice shiny GPS would sort out that problem!