Orrest Head

I woke up this morning from a reasonably restful sleep after my hike up Loughrigg Fell yesterday. I tested my legs and was pleased to find they were still attached, functioning, and in no pain.

I still hadn’t decided what I would do today. After my somewhat strenuous afternoon yesterday, I had a choice. Should I do another walk today, or rest? I compromised. Rather than choose the “or rest” option, I walked up Orrest Head.

(“Orrest” versus “or rest.” See what I did there? Sickeningly inane and mundane, right? Sorry about that.)

Once I decided to take a walk, Orrest was an easy choice. At breakfast, I opened up my TripAdvisor app. Orrest Head was listed as the number one attraction in Windermere.

Apple Maps offered three walking routes: 1 hour, 29 minutes; 1 hour, 24 minutes; and 1 hour, 18 minutes.

It recommended the longest, not the fastest route. I don’t know why. I’m convinced it was judgmental. It probably consulted with my Fitbit and determined that my decrepit body could benefit from the extra exercise. I might be wrong about the explanation, but I took Apple Maps’ suggestion.

Orrest Head is the summit of a high hill, or maybe a low mountain, but I was able to cheat on the elevation. My hotel is a piece up that hill. I didn’t have to descend first and then go back up again to get to the trailhead. So I got a head start on the climb.

The Walk to Orrest Head

All three routes covered generally the same geography, along the normal streets of Windermere. The route I followed took me through central Windermere, which they call Windermere Village. I hadn’t been to it before. The central business area I’d been through on my previous days here was Bowness-on-Windermere, not Windermere. I didn’t know that the first day, but I learned it by the second.

Windermere Village is a fair piece back from and above the lake. Central Bowness, on the other hand, is almost right beside the lake and farther from my hotel, which is in a residential district of Windermere. As I explained on my first day in Windermere, Bowness and Windermere are adjacent towns. There’s no way, as far as I can tell, for a non-local to tell where one ends and the other begins.

Windermere Village is quaint. The buildings are all low-rise. Several are constructed of stone. Others are stucco-covered with whitewash or muted colours. The buildings contain lots of shops, cafes and restaurants. It’s a little busy with traffic, or, rather, it was this Saturday morning, but nowhere near the point of having traffic jams. It was quite lovely.

A walk of just a couple of blocks past Windermere Village brought me to the trailhead for the walk up to Orrest Head. The trail was quite civilized. The slope was gentle and the path well-groomed.

The walk along the trail was through a very pleasing forest.

After a short stroll along the trail, it split into three onward paths. One is irrelevant at this point, but I’ll mention it on the downward portion of this entry.

A post stood at the intersection of the other two trails. Two small circular signs were mounted on the post. One had a red background with a yellow arrow at its centre pointing to one of the paths. Around the edge of the circle were the words, “Orrest Head.”

The other identical-sized sign had a blue background, a white arrow pointing to the other path, and the words “Orrest Head – miles without stiles.”

I looked at the start of the former trail and saw a long, seemingly endless series of steep stairs.

I looked at the latter trail and saw a continuation of the civilized, gently sloping, well-groomed path.

If there’s a high place I want to go to that offers no option other than a rough climb that doesn’t get too close to death-defying, I’ll tackle it. (If it’s too close to being a path that a successful walk on would be called “death-defying,” um, no. Usually not. That high place will probably remain unvisited by the likes of me.) But, even if I think I can successfully traverse the difficult route, if there’s an easier path of which I’m not ignorant, that route will typically get my custom.

That notwithstanding, for a few moments, I did consider taking the more difficult trail for the challenge of it. I paused to consult my legs. I asked them, “Well, guys, it looks like a lot of steep steps. I don’t know how many there are past what I can see, or if there’s a portion requiring a rough climb without the benefit of stairs. Do you think you can make it?”

My legs responded, “Give us a second while we check with our knees. They’re the parts we’re most worried will give us trouble.”

After a minute or two, my legs responded, “Okay, we think there’s a good chance we can make it.”

I exclaimed, “Good chance? Good chance?!! Can you give me a percentage probability? 60%? 75%? 90%? 99%?”

My legs sighed and said, “I don’t know.”

My choice was made.

After a bit of a walk on the miles-without-stiles trail, the two paths intersected again. There was a clearing at that point. In the clearing were some large, whimsical, wooden statues of woodland creatures. There was also a large information panel about Orrest Head and another large panel with a map. From the latter, I saw that the two trails intersected at a few points. The miles-without-stiles path meandered somewhat. The other was more direct.

Text on the map said that there were some steep sections on the rugged path, some with stairs and some without. Needless to say, I stayed on the miles-without-stiles trail all the way to the summit.

At points, there were openings in the tree cover that afforded beautiful views of the Lake District.

The summit of Orrest Head is very civilized. There’s a large, reasonably flat area with lots of benches. The 360° views of the hills, trees, and lake are gorgeous.

Orrest Head was quite popular today. I think a lot of people weekend in the Lake District, not to mention local people getting out and enjoying nature on their days off. Today is Saturday. I don’t know if it is as busy during the week. Probably not.

The rugged path up Orrest Head enters the summit at a slightly different point than the miles-without-stiles trail. It looked quite craggy and steep at that point. Nevertheless, while I was there, more people, including some clumps that looked like guided hiking groups, came up that route than the easier one. Foolish gluttons for punishment.

After spending a while up top, taking in the views, and sitting for a spell, I headed back down Orrest Head.

When I reached the intersecting trail I mentioned and glossed over above, I explored it. It’s called the “Wildlife Sculpture Trail.” After a very short walk past the juncture, the trail makes a V-shaped turn into an open area with a few wooden wildlife sculptures, more serious and less whimsical than the ones I mentioned above. I saw some rodents in a tree, a bird of prey of some sort, and a rabbit.

Just beyond the rabbit, there was a short boardwalk. Beside and in front of the boardwalk, there was a sign that said, “UNDER CONSTRUCTION; Please exercise extreme caution if walking over this boardwalk.”

You don’t need to tell me twice. I felt that the best way to exercise extreme caution was not to venture onto the boardwalk at all. So I didn’t. Hence, I don’t know if there were more sculptures on the other side of it.

I’ve included pictures below of the sculptures I saw.

I then doubled back the short way to the main trail and continued back into Windermere Village. There, I had a light lunch to cap off my morning.