Claife Heights, Far Sawrey

The high ground north of Far Sawrey on the western side of Windermere is the location of a meandering circular walk, incorporating six small tarns. Starting from the small National Trust car park just before the ferry house, the sun glistening on the water seemed to promise a good day ahead, weather wise.

A flight of stone steps lead upwards to Claife Station, a recently restored viewpoint originally built in the 1790s.

Starting life as a summer house for a local clergyman, the building later became a venue for the owners of Belle Isle, Windermere’s only inhabited island, to host parties, dance evenings and theatrical productions.
The windows of the drawing room were fitted with various shades of coloured glass to enhance variations in weather and seasons and the renovation includes some coloured panes to illustrate the effect of the originals.

 

Each window gives a unique view of Windermere in all its glory.

 Leaving the viewpoint the path climbed steeply uphill through woods which are said to be haunted by the "Claife Crier". Believed to be the ghost of a medieval monk from Furness Abbey, whose mission was to rescue fallen women. He reportedly fell in love with one who rejected him and as a result he went insane, crying his anguish on the heights of Claife, which his ghost has haunted ever since.
Legend has it that a ferryman once heard the cry and mistook it for someone calling for a ferry, so he went out into the night to take the fare. When he returned, his hair had turned white and he never spoke again. Subsequently, the ghost was exorcised and his spirit confined to the quarry and is known as the Crier of Claife Quarry.

There were plenty of glimpses of the far shore of Windermere as we made our way upwards through Station Scar Wood; a good excuse to stop for a breather on the way up the hill!

 At the top of the slope we joined the White Post trail and headed towards Far Sawrey.









The view opened out to a view of a snow dusted Coniston Old Man in the distance.

I did wonder if this might be the first tarn, but no, it was merely a frozen puddle. Shortly thereafter we did come to the first on the list, Scale Ivy Tarn, also frozen.

The path continued towards Far Sawrey taking us through a wooded area carpeted with fallen leaves and pine cones.

 At regular intervals we had further views of Windermere through the trees; the earlier fine weather had given way to dark clouds making the water look very cold and grey.

 Every now and then the sun would peep out from behind the clouds and light up the hills, showing off all their colours and contours.

 The path continued to climb upwards towards the highest point on Claife Heights, High Blind How. Although the scenery all around is undeniably beautiful, the scale of deforestation in this area gave it a depressing air. Hopefully the area will be replanted with native tree species, rather than the ubiquitous conifers that have been removed.

 Stickle Pike and Harrison Stickle loomed over the pine woods below, while the foot of the Lake stretched into the distance, with Morecambe Bay glinting on the horizon.

Up we went through the pine trees, where we heard the hooting of a Tawny Owl, to the trig point on High Blind How, 886 feet above sea level.
A Raven gave us a bit of a talking to from the top of a nearby tree, he wasn't impressed with our disturbing his peace.

Now we came to the small and slightly overgrown and frozen Brownstone Tarn.

From here we followed a forest road and then a bridleway, until we came in view of the third tarn on the walk, High Moss Tarn. This particular tarn was extremely overgrown, in fact it was difficult to see any water at all so I didn't manage to take a decent photo.
Continuing along the bridleway we now came out into open countryside, with tarns four and five in close proximity to each other. First was Scale Head Tarn, which has a stone dam at one end.

 A short distance away was Wise Een Tarn, which was so tranquil and calm and had such a fantastic backdrop in the Lakeland Fells, that it was easily my favourite spot on the entire walk.

 Not too far away was the sixth and final tarn on this walk, Moss Eccles Tarn. This picturesque tarn was owned by Beatrix Potter who donated it to the National Trust when she died.

 From here it was a short walk to Far Sawrey, where you can visit Beatrix Potters home, Hill Top, which is open to the public as a museum.

We made our way back to Claife Station for one last look at the view.

As we watched several Swans on their way to roost, we spotted a low flying Hercules plane heading towards us. This was one of several planes and jets which had passed overhead througout the day, as the area is often used for military training purposes. The plane flew right over our heads and provided a thrilling end to our day.

Click here....   to see a short video clip of the Hercules.

Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you've enjoyed the photos.