Low Fell and Fellbarrow from Loweswater

Low Fell is a rounded ridge above the north-eastern shore of Loweswater, on the north-western edge of the fells and well below its neighbours around Buttermere. Ordnance Survey mapping puts it at 423m, and Wikipedia records that Alfred Wainwright, who described it in the 1966 Western Fells volume of his Pictorial Guide, had guessed that its neighbour Fellbarrow, at 416m, was the higher of the two. What the fell lacks in height it makes up for in position: from its crags the ground falls away to Crummock Water, with Grasmoor and the Buttermere skyline filling the horizon.

The circuit from Loweswater runs to 9.8km with 545m of ascent, which Walking Britain grades easy to moderate. It climbs Darling Fell above the lake, crosses Crabtree Beck on a plank, and reaches the cairn on Low Fell, then crosses Sourfoot and Smithy Fells to Fellbarrow before dropping to Mosser Lane. Walking Britain singles out a second cairn on a small crag south-east of the summit as one of the great panoramas of Lakeland, a better viewpoint than the summit. Parking is the practical limit: Walking Britain lists room for two cars near Crabtreebeck Farm and a larger area at the north end of the lake. The Lake District National Park gives the B5292 from Cockermouth and the B5289 through Low Lorton as the road to Loweswater, and the start is about 9km from the town in a straight line.

The paths are grass, often beside fences, and Walking Britain warns that the one near the start does not follow the line printed on the OS map. WalkLakes grades the shorter Thackthwaite approach to the same ridge as easy but boggy, and says it calls for map and compass skills.

It suits walkers who want two Wainwright summits and a lake view in a morning or an afternoon without a day on the high fells. Skip it if you want a level path or a guaranteed dry foot, because the boggy, faint ground between the tops is poor going in low cloud. For a flat circuit with the same Lakeland lake scenery, Buttermere Lake Circuit has no climbing at all. The base for this walk is Cockermouth.