Stone Circle via Great Wood Keswick

[TonyEW]

Stone Circle via Great Wood
There are numerous car parking opportunities in Keswick, if you know where to look you can park for free.
The walk takes us alongside the lake for the first part of the walk. A lot of work has been carried out along the shore and it is now a pleasant area just to sit and watch the world go by. The path takes us to Friars Crag; a seat can be found here and on good days a good place to soak up the sun as well as great views down into Borrowdale.
On the Friars Crag promontory there is a monument to John Ruskin (8 February 1819 – 20 January 1900) was an English art critic and social thinker, also remembered as a poet. He spent time here in Keswick. He described the view as one of the three or four most beautiful views in Europe. In later life he lived at Brantwood on the shores of Coniston Water.
In Calf Close Bay, there is a rock sculpture placed there to commemorate the Centenary of the National Trust in the Lake District. Carved out of a boulder of volcanic rock from the Borrowdale Valley, the unusual design represents ten segments across ten rings, a century. The high range of lake levels means a variation from total submergence to standing marooned high on the shore. A memorial plaque is set beside the path.
Leaving the shore, cross the road and head into Great Wood. The climb up through the wood is gradual.
Our next destination is the Neolithic monument at Castle Rig stone circle. No one can say for certain what the circle was used for. Some say it was a place of worship, others that it was a solar clock and yet others say it was just a meeting place. The only thing that is certain is that early man had an eye for a view.

A great short walk of about 10km with 250m of ascent