Ashness Bridge from Great Wood
A varied walk up through woodland along a sometimes rocky path to Ashness Bridge and back along the lakeshore.
I was trying to think of a nice easy weekend walk for the kids and managed to find one that had woodland, lakeshore, some nice stream crossings and the beautiful Ashness Bridge - a winning combination.
James was off to a running start from the car park up the hill - which wasn't too steep but takes a little while to flatten out. Whilst we were in the woods, we found sticks for Millie, James and Sam which kept them entertained though I need to remember to stand further back when they're waving them around 😅
Your first, and pretty much only, fork in the path is at Cat Gill where you will want to take the right-hand path across the bridge, taking in the view of the waterfall. If you happen to take the left-hand path you'll soon know you've gone wrong as it's a steep climb up to Wall Crag from there - a walk for another day!
A little further uphill you emerge from the woodland to views across Derwentwater to your right and dramatic rockfaces to your left. The path is a little more rocky underfoot and there were plenty of muddy sections as well today with both boys slipping over at different points.
Further along when the rockface recedes to your left, you can start to hear the water crashing over the rocks and that's a sign that you're about to see Ashness Bridge. We took a break for refreshments and some photos and Sam - bless him - slipped over on another rock (a lot of the rocks around Ashness Bridge are fairly smooth either due to weather or people sitting on them over the decades - or both).
The route carries on to the car park about 20 metres up the road from the bridge - here you head to the right through the car park to a much narrower path in the far-right corner. This takes you down through woodland, over some fairly large fallen trees and down a steep slope until you reach the road (an alternative route would have been to follow the road from the bridge down to the lakeshore which may be preferable if you don't fancy obstacles).
Once you cross the road, which is gated on the side you descend from - which is great if your kids run on ahead - you'll follow the lakeshore round to a recently installed boardwalk where they've released the previously constrained course of the Barrow Beck so that it can flow naturally into the lake as apparently it used to cause issues on it's man-made route at this point.
As you follow the lake north back to the car park, you'll either find that you can complete the route via the shoreline or, like today, you may have to head back up to the roadside where there is a narrow path you can walk in single file. We headed back down to the lake again a little further on, however the route map I've uploaded follows the lakeshore path. There are the usual obstacles such as tree roots and rocks but that's all part of what makes it interesting and if you stick to the road you'll miss out on some fantastic views.
Eventually you'll cross another small stream and see a fork in the path up to the wall by the road - this is where you cross back over to the car park. It's a busy road with fast moving traffic but visibility is good in both directions so just take care when crossing.
We had a lot of fun on this walk - it was a nice, easy distance that only takes a couple of hours so we're already planning to come back to see what it's like in drier conditions.
