customer careline complaints & lost property 77/77A StagePath 0871 200 22 33 head office the family way to walk Stagecoach North West 2nd Floor Broadacre House 16-20 Lowther Street Carlisle CA3 8DA Ride and Stride with the Honister nationwide rail enquiries 08457 48 49 50 Rambler bus The ultimate green travel experience www. stagecoachbus.com Calls from BT landlines cost 10p. Call from other service providers may vary. Concept, words and pictures © 2011 Mark Richards authour of the Cicerone Lakeland Fellranger series Design and Print - Badger Press: 015394 45399 terrace path on Catbells. Spectacular stuff, all within the 777/ 7S7tAag SetPagaetPha th et hfea mfaimlyi lyw waya yt oto wwaallk capacity of any normally fit person with only a very basic understanding of maps and route finding. The only Ride and Stride with the Honister Rambler bus section where you are remote from the road is the mountain trail stage from Gatesgarth (near the eastern end of Buttermere lake) to the Honister Mine on Honister Pass, this short section can be omitted – the bus journey is every bit as exciting as the walk. It should also be pointed out that one needs to request or hail the bus to stop at Gatesgarth, as it is not a schelduled bus stop . The walk can also be studied in greater detail on-line by visiting www.markrichards.info clicking on Ride & Stride StagePaths > 77 StagePath. 77/77A StagePath The ultimate green travel experience. STAGE 1 3 miles 1¼ hours Keswick | Braithwaite Lakeland’s finest scenery combined with superb walking and all for the price of the regular bus fare - STAGE 2 3¼ miles 2 hours free if you hold a bus pass. This is the third StagePath Braithwaite | Whinlatter Forest Park walking guide leading you from bus stop to bus stop through the essential heart of Lakeland - following on STAGE 3 3¾ miles 2 hours from the 555 StagePath (Windermere to Keswick and Whinlatter Forest Park | High Lorton the 108 StagePath (Penrith to Patterdale). STAGE 4 8 miles 3½ hours From Easter to the end of October the 77 and 77A High Lorton | Buttermere services form one of the most remarkable regular bus journeys in Britain. The service efficiently transporting a STAGE 5 2¼ miles I¼ hours walker from the midst of Keswick right into the heart of Buttermere | Gatesgarth Farm Whinlatter Forest Park, Buttermere or Borrowdale, with buses orbiting the North-Western Fells via Honister and STAGE 6 3 miles 2¼ hours Whinlatter Passes, both clockwise and anti-clockwise. Gatesgarth Farm | Honister Pass You only have to step onto a bus, travel to one of eight stage starting points then alight and stride confidently STAGE 7 2 miles 1 hour and directly along the StagePath, walking piece-meal the Honister Pass | Seatoller nine stages of this 34-mile long, largely low-level route, in harmony with the bus. With this guide in your hand you STAGE 8 3¼ miles 1½ hours can now more than double your pleasure of the journey Seatoller|Grange-in-Borrowdale and witness scenes only fleetingly imagined from the bus. Stagecoach brought two super new buses into service in STAGE 9 5½ miles 2¾ hours 2010 radically improving both the quality of the Grange-in-Borrowdale|Keswick experience and passenger capacity. The walk includes Portinscale, Braithwaite, Whinlatter ALWAYS check the timetable – usually displayed at each Forest Park, the Lorton Vale, Crummock Water, bus stop – to confirm bus times for the beginning and Rannerdale, Buttermere village and lake, Warnscale with end of each walk stage. its handsome view of Haystacks, the old quarryman’s track and incline to Honister Mine, the old road to You can also phone TRAVELINE 08712 002 233 or Seatoller and downstream with the River Derwent visit www.stagecoachbus.com for advance planning. through the Jaws of Borrowdale to Grange and along the The StagePath in this booklet has been carefully western shore of Derwent Water, with the option of a researched and described for clarity of route finding. The maps on the other hand are very basic. There is no Window-gazers can reflect on the walk and mountain substitute for carrying and referring to the Ordnance scenery with the aid of ‘From A to B to SEE’, the unique Survey Explorer Map OL4 and/or the handy Harvey Maps Honister Rambler guide to the ride leaflet. Lake District Outdoor Atlas before you start. Map Key The route from Keswick to Portinscale and from there Black line – Journey of the 77 and 77A bus service back to Keswick is replicated at the beginning and end of the StagePath. While you can walk the StagePath in either Green line – StagePath walking route orbit, the best scenic odyssey is anti-clockwise hence that (dashes indicate alternative sections) is the following description: High Lorton Whinlatter Forest Park STAGE 1 3 miles 1¼ hours Braithwaite Keswick > Braithwaite Keswick The gentlest introduction to country walking, leading through meadowland and beside becks via Portinscale. The nine walking stages of the 1 From the Booths bus stop: walk out to the junction Crummock and along the pavement of Tithebarn Street. At the Water Honister Rambler mini-roundabout turn left along the left-hand pavement StagePath beside Main Street to cross Greta Bridge over the the River Derwent Water Derwent, whereupon turn left into the side road footpath N signed ‘Portinscale’. From a hand-gate embark upon a Buttermere Grange-in- metalled footpath beside a hedge in meadowland, Borrowdale stepping over flood defence embankment advance to a further hand-gate Buttermere Gatesgarth Braithwaite from where Keswick Honister Pass the path is 4 2 confined Portinscale 1 Seatoller between fences. Reaching a third 3 Path from Buttermere Hause heading to Buttermere (Stage 4) hand-gate stride into the cul-de-sac road, turn left to cross the River Derwent footbridge. Enter Portinscale by the Derwentwater Hotel to reach the main street (tea-room situated to the left). 77 bus at the Keswick terminal The path to Ullock Farm backed by Causey Pike and Barrow 2 Turn right, up the rising street then left into Rickerby Lane, footpath signed ‘Newlands Valley’. Shortly after Rickerby Grange the road becomes a confined footpath leading down to a wicket-gate into a back lane. Turn left and after Little Ellers, quickly right down a hedge-lined footpath to cross a footbridge go through the wicket-gate into meadowland. The popular path leads directly forward with the wooded Swinside and scree-scarred Barrow prominent ahead. Advance via a gateway and by a fence. After a hand-gate the path is hemmed in by a fence Grisedale Pike from the Greta Bridge in Keswick, Main Street beside Yew Tree Cottage garden to reach wicket-gate to emerge onto the minor road. Beech-hedge lined path leaving Portinscale 3 Turn right follow the road passing beyond Ullock Farm to the road junction, turn right, road-sign ‘Braithwaite’. Cross the new road-bridge spanning Newlands Beck, constructed after the damage caused by the floods of November 2009. Entering the hamlet of Little Braithwaite bear right, keep to the top side of the barn, this is a permissive path variant to the footpath signed from the grass triangle. From a gate step down to join the farm-track, follow the beck downstream to a ford (footbridge due to be re-instated at time of writing) - if not in place and you do not fancy wading, then backtrack to Little Braithwaite and follow the narrow road right, to Braithwaite. Once over Coledale Beck follow the raised path upstream, by stiles alongside the Scotgate Caravan and Camping Park to join the road in Braithwaite. Turn left and come by the road-bridge, Cumberland County with the general store on the Council sign at the heart far side. of Braithwaite STAGE 2 3¼ miles 2 hours Braithwaite > Whinlatter Forest Park Trees, without the crowd. A steady ascent on quiet woodland and forest paths and tracks. 4 From the road-bridge adjacent to the general store go west along the Whinlatter village lane signposted Forest Park 5 ‘Whinlatter Pass, Lorton 7 5¾’. Go first left by the green-painted Ivy House 6 Hotel to join the Whinlatter 4 Road. Follow this as far as the kissing-gate/footpath sign before the rising Braithwaite right-hand bend. Go through and follow the footpath passing a walled trough and the Hope Camp building. Keep on the left-hand bias path with successive footpath signs directing to ‘Hallgarth’. This leads to a gate, a woodland way to a hand-gate, and subsequent Coledale footbridge. After two hand-gates the path runs along the top edge of pasture close by the bank woodland fence. Turn left to junction post 49, then turn up right, now in Following a kissing-gate the path lies on the woodland mature conifers. This track rises and merges with a track side of the fence, coming by a further hand-gate weave acutely arriving from the left, junction post 45. Continue through the woodland to reach a kissing-gate into a lane forward down to the Revelin Moss forest car park. at a junction of lanes above Hallgarth. 6 To reach the Honister Rambler bus stop descend 5 Turn left ascending the confined bridleway. Though onto the Whinlatter Pass road following this left over deeply rutted, the flood damaged track does not hamper Comb Bridge, walking up to the Whinlatter Forest Park walkers’ progress, climbing to meet the Whinlatter Road. entrance, the bus stop is immediately to the right – with Go left and quickly right passing the barrier rising with the the visitor centre and Siskin Café on the bank above the green partial woodland way.