Family Walk: Mosser and Loweswater
Last updated 13:59, Thursday, 03 April 2008
As the tourists begin to arrive, it’s time to seek out the quieter Lake District spots. Vivienne Crow suggests a quieter walk
MAP: OS Explorer map OL4.
PARKING: Roadside parking area opposite driveway to Askill Farm, near Loweswater, GR NY118224.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: The Dial-a-Ride bus 949 from Cockermouth goes to Loweswater (telephone 01900 822795 to book).
REFRESHMENTS: Kirkstile Inn in Loweswater.
DISTANCE: 4 miles
TOTAL ASCENT: 500ft
TIME: About two hours
GRADE: Easy/Intermediate
OVERVIEW: Few walkers explore the area to the north and west of Loweswater, although it is riddled with farm paths, quiet roads and disused upland lanes. This route uses a combination of all three in the area around Sosgill and Mosser.
There are no paths on the ground, so you will need to keep a close eye on your map and watch carefully for stiles to guide you. The first part of the walk crosses several areas of damp ground. The return route is via a rough lane which takes you up to a high point of about 800ft.
THE WALK: With your back to the phone box, turn left along the road (NW). You ignore the first footpath on your right – at Waterend Farm – and then continue past Grange Country House Hotel until you reach Graythwaite’s gated drive (0.3 miles from the start). Turn right here (signpost reads: “Public Footpath Mosser 1.2 mile”) and walk along the drive for 120 yards. When the surfaced track goes through a gap between a wall and a fence, turn left to walk with the wall on your right (signpost reads: “Footpath Sosgill”).
There are no paths on the ground between here and Bramley, so you will have to watch carefully for stiles to guide you.
The wall soon becomes a fence. As the fenced area narrows, strike off left to cross a wooden footbridge. On the other side of the beck, walk straight ahead, following a sparse line of trees. You soon cross a stile in a fence and then continue in the same direction following the line of a fence to your left.
Having forded one narrow channel, you need to veer slightly right to head up to a gate and stile in the field corner.
Beyond these, walk straight across the next field to cross a stile just to the right of a wooded area. Continue with the fence and the woodland on your immediate left to reach and cross another stile (0.8 miles from the start).
The next stile is a little difficult to spot. It is hidden in a slight kink in the perimeter fence of the thick woodland straight ahead – a few dozen yards to the right of a large metal gate. And you’ll have to cross some decidedly damp ground to get to it.
Once across it, the sogginess continues as you walk through the trees to another stile.
Now make your way over to a metal rung stile in the wall opposite. Beyond this, walk with the fence on your left until you reach a metal gate. Don’t go through this; instead, go through the one up to the right. Then, with the farm buildings of Bramley below to the left, cross to yet another wooden step stile (1.15 miles from the start).
Continue along the daffodil-lined lane in the same direction. An old, misleading signpost indicates this is the way to Pardshaw. When you reach the road (1.5 miles from the start), turn right. You can see Pardshaw across the valley, and, as you gain height, Cockermouth becomes visible in the distance.
About 100 yards after passing the driveway to Mosser Heights on your right (2 miles from the start), turn right through a gate set back slightly from the road. Although the signpost indicates this is the public right of way to Mossergate, there are no paths on the ground.
Walk with the fence on your left and then cross a footbridge. Now bear half-left to walk alongside a fence on your left until you reach another stile and footbridge. Cross these and head straight up to the fence on the northern side of this field. Walk alongside it towards a small area of trees where you will find a gap between the fence and a wall. (When I last did this walk, the gap was hidden behind a large pile of branches.)
Walk with the wall on your immediate right. It soon becomes a fence. You can see the lonely Mosser chapel over to the left now. Go through the next gate and continue with the fence on your right.
Cross the second of two wooden stiles on your right and then bear left along the muddy lane. Just before you reach the farm buildings, cross the stile beside a gate up to your right to enter a narrow enclosure. Head just to the right of the farmhouse to cross another stile (2.5 miles from the start).
Now turn right along the lane. When it forks, keep left along the surfaced route. As you gain height, the fells straight ahead include Carling Knott and Burnbank Fell. Eventually you will pass one signposted track off to the right. This will take you back down to the Loweswater road, but it’s better to stay high for a little longer and take the next track on the right, indicated by a public bridleway signpost (3.6 miles from the start).
Descending this grassy track and crossing a few more stiles along the way, the views become more dramatic as you look down the lake towards Melbreak and, beyond that, the northern peaks of the High Stile range.
On reaching a T-junction with a surfaced lane, turn left and then swing right. This track drops you back down on to the road, opposite the parking area where you started the walk.
POINTS OF INTEREST: The settlement of Mosser, which means shieling in the moss, is little more than a scattered collection of farms. Before the dissolution of the monasteries, it was the site of a rich chantry.
The custom of saying Mass for those who had died became very popular in the Middle Ages, some wealthy people even leaving money so that prayers could be said in perpetuity. Religious houses became overwhelmed by this practice, so they sometimes set up “chantries” which were dedicated entirely to this purpose.
For more walks in the Western Lakes, try Vivienne Crow’s Walk! The Lake District (North) published by Discovery Walking Guides. Available in bookshops and on Amazon.
