Route: leaving the car on a quiet road near the village green in Bassenthwaite Village and taking a signed footpath to the east bending left up Back Hill and then leaving tarmac for grassy paths trending slightly north of east at a junction and then heading a little south (still mainly east) at another notional junction to run along the edge of soft fields (of cows and sheep) to a crossroads of paths. Turning left, getting closer to Kestrel Lodge, and across more fields and a bridge over a large stream to cross a c-road.
Walking uphill through tall trees, the path becoming very overgrown and overhanging branches shedding last night’s rain onto shirt and short. At the top, running right along a track and then left along a field boundary. At this point rejecting a possible route down and up via Little Tarn to head, instead, north west across more damp grassy fields, eventually turning right on a track, past Overwater Hall, to turn left along a c-road to reach the highest point. Then left down a busier c-road for 1km before turning left onto a track by a field and the bending right to cut a corner and continue parallel to a hedge before bending left, over a faint saddle to descend onto another completely overgrown path (though also, unbelievably, the Reivers off-road cycle route). Eventually reaching a broader path through tall trees and then a pleasant path to the outskirts of Bassenthwaite Village and back to the car.
Conditions: an ideal mix of sun and 15C with breeze.
Pub: Sun Inn, Bassenthwaite, for (surprisingly good) Wainwright Amber.
