Roundthwaite, Low Borrowdale, Whinash, Jeffrey's Mount, Cumbria.
[ 14.6 km] Wed 19 Jan 2011

NY 6092 0324
After last week’s wash out of a walk I wanted to try again to see what the fell-tops were like. Today’s weather is much improved with high pressure sitting over the UK and not going very far. I parked near Roundthwaite at the same spot as last week but today I wasn’t going to repeat the walk but access the tops from the next valley south. The sky had been clear overnight and the resulting low temperature was around freezing.

I set off south along a frozen and slippery lane until I came to the main A685. I was now able to walk on the grass verge and was glad to head up the track to Low Borrowdale and leave the noise of the M6 motorway behind. It was still cold with lots of frost on the ground and ice on the road. I rounded the bend in the valley to see Low Borrowdale farm ahead. When I reached it there were parked vehicles about but no signs of life. It certainly didn’t seem to be a working farm as there were no barking dogs around. I continued along the track which is now unsurfaced and soon became a green track all the way to High Borrowdale Farm. This farm has been a ruin for many years but the main house has been stabilised and a metal gate fitted to the ruin to prevent entry.

All I had to do was go round the back and use the back window, though there was no window in it. I stopped to take some pictures and have a coffee before continuing up a delightful old diagonal track up the fell side towards Whinash. As I got higher the views of Borrowdale opened up nicely and near the top I stopped for a while to take in the wonderful sight. The track petered out and even the route of a faint path was difficult to follow. On the top I picked up the main path along the ridge which I followed to the right. This is the path I was on last week and then I had no views at all.

Today was different as the panorama was excellent. It was good underfoot and a delight to walk along and over Winterscleugh, Belt Howe and Casterfell Hill towards Jeffrey’s Mount. I left the main path and climbed Jeffrey’s Mount from the steeper SW side. I wandered around the flat summit for a while to see if there was any water for a future camp but I could only find a drainage ditch which wasn’t much good.

I took the main descent route to the north and followed the path I used last week. However, near the bottom I walked round the buildings in Roundthwaite to see if any qualified for the name ‘Roundthwaite Abbey’ which is shown on the map. None showed any signs of being part of an Abbey.