free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
I parked just north of Thackthwaite where there is room for about 4 cars and walked into the village and turned right into the yard next to a sign saying public footpath to Low Fell. It begins on a stony path, then through a gate to the left into the field, up the field and through another gate to the next field, up that and through the gateway onto the Fell. Turn right here and follow the old drove road track.
- Looking towards Grasmoor
- Looking back down the drove road
Keep following this until you come to the ironwork remains of an old gate and fence posts. At this point I dropped down to the right, crossed the burn and then climbed up straight ahead until I reached the fence, then followed the fence to the top of Fellbarrow. There's a stile to go over to get to the trig and cairn.
- Top of Fellbarrow
There was no one else around. I headed back down to where I'd met the fence and carried on following it down, then went through the gate and over Smithy Fell and down to a short section of wall. Had my lunch sitting on the low wall.
Next was a steeper little section to the top of Sourfoot Fell, then left off there and downhill to meet the top of the drove road at a gate. Through the gate there were some sheep, and in the far distance I could see some belted galloway cows as well.
Then I followed the path to the stile where there were view of Crummock Water, with Grasmoor looking huge and Rannerdale Knotts looking tiny.
There are really good views of Grasmoor, Crummock Water, Mellbreak and others from the first top, then down a little dip and back up again for the second top. From this one you look down ahead onto Loweswater too.
After admiring the views for a while I retraced my steps to the gate at the top of the drove road and followed that back down some zig zags to the point I'd left it at the beginning of the walk.
The last section back to the car was just a steady walk back the way I'd come earlier. I had a dog with me and there were some sheep on Low Fell and some cows very distant. There were also cows in the field next to the one I was in at the very beginning/end. If they'd been in the field I had to cross, I'd have abandoned this walk and gone somewhere else instead.