Hawkshead to Wray Castle

Ride by Esthwaite Water, one of the smallest lakes in the Lake District, and Windermere which is the largest. Take in the views of the high fells across Windermere on a traffic – free path by the lake shore and visit the glorious mock gothic Wray Castle, or Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top, a 17th century farmhouse in Near Sawrey.

Grade: Strenuousness 1, Navigation 1, Technicality 2 Start/Finish: Hawkshead Distance: Approx. 12.5 miles (20km) Time: 1.5 - 3 hours Terrain: Quiet country lanes and well graded cycle tracks Maps: OS Landranger 90 & 97, OS Explorer OL 7,

1. From Hawkshead Post Office in the centre of the village, head South past the Sun Inn to a T- Junction. Go straight on signed Newby Bridge. 2. Just before the start of a steep hill turn Left, go through a gaet onto a Bridleway signed ‘Cunsey.’ Go through the woods and a shallow ford and alongside Cunsey Beck. Where the track divides for left. 3. Turn left onto a surfaced road, follow this road through Cunsey. Bear left signed ‘Sawrey.’ 4. Turn right in Far Sawrey (or turn left for Beatrix Potter’s Hilltop, then retrace), and descend to the lake shore 5. Where the main road bears right, go straight ahead, signed ‘The Lake Shore’. Continue by the Lake shore onto a well- surfaced track. Bear right at red nab car park, signed ‘Wray Castle’. The track eventually climbs away from the lake to meet a road, with Wray Castle on the right. 6. Turn left to High Wray and then Colthouse. Turn right, signed ‘Hawkshead’ to return to Hawkshead.