High Close & Red Bank
distance:
3 km
difficulty:
Easy
ascent:
170 metres
duration:
1 hrs
Summary.
This short walk takes in some of the area’s most beautiful woodlands, with good views across the neighbouring valley of Grasmere and its surrounding fells at several points. Although the first half of the walk is all uphill, the climbing is gradual with few steep sections.
Route / description.
- Leave the Estate via the gate to Elterwater. Take the road to the right of the corner shop and follow it out of the village. Approx. 150 metres beyond the edge of the village, at a lefthand bend in the road, you will come to a small car-parking area on the right, bounded on one side by a little rocky outcrop. Turn right into this and follow the indistinct path on the far side onto Elterwater Common. The path soon becomes better-defined, and leads you gently uphill in a south-easterly direction, to intercept the main Great Langdale Valley Road at a cattle grid, gate and stile. Cross the stile and follow the road away from Elterwater for a couple of hundred metres. Take the first turning on the left – opposite a house – and follow a minor road for only a short distance.
- Turn off left at the first bend in the road, via a choice of gate or stile in the stone wall, by a Public Footpath sign. Pass the National Trust plaque for ‘High Close’, following the path up into the woods. In late spring and early summer the ground beneath the trees here is carpeted with bluebells and greater stitchwort. At a T-junction in the path, follow the arrow on the post to the right. The path begins to skirt the southern edge of the wood. Shortly before meeting a gate that leads out into fields, take a left fork, that heads uphill and back into the trees. The path broadens as it winds up through the woods. Eventually you will come to a gate and another T-junction. Turn right and follow the path as it veers to the left, past an iron bench and into rhododendrons. The path finally bends to the right to reach a gate and the minor road from Langdale to Grasmere.
- Turn left onto the road and follow it up and over the crest of the hill. After passing a gate signed Deer Bolts Wood on the right, the road begins to very gently descend towards Grasmere. Shortly after a Public Bridleway sign on the right, you will come to a Public Footpath sign on your left, just before the road dips sharply to begin its steep descent of Red Bank. Turn left onto this path, which contours across the bracken-clothed hillside towards woodland, passing two iron benches on the way, with lovely views across Grasmere. The path winds its way through beautiful mixed woodland – a haunt of roe deer – and emerges at a junction of paths by another iron bench.
- Turn left to follow the signpost for ‘Elterwater & Langdale’. Passing through a gate, the path takes you out of the trees and up a narrow belt of fellside enclosed by stone walls. Once through another gate, you come out onto the open fellside of a col leading back over to Langdale. Ignore paths branching off to right or left, and continue straight ahead until Elterwater village comes into view down below. Follow the path as it descends Elterwater Common back to the village.