Last updated 10:19, Thursday, 07 August 2008

Take an evening stroll through Ellen Valley – if you don’t mind the cattle!

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Outline of the route

MAP: OS Explorer map OL4.

START: The walk starts from All Saints’ Church near Fletchertown (GR NY197424). There is roadside parking opposite the church, but please avoid this when services are scheduled.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Bus 39/39A runs through Blennerhasset, Baggrow and Fletchertown four days a week (telephone 0871 200 2233).

REFRESHMENTS: The Grey Goat Inn in Baggrow (not open lunchtimes).

DISTANCE: 3.6 miles

TOTAL ASCENT: 200ft

TIME: About 90 minutes

GRADE: Easy

OVERVIEW: With daylight hours stretching far into the evening, this short walk through the valley of the River Ellen near Aspatria makes for a lovely stroll at the end of the day. Taking in the village of Blennerhasset about half-way through the route, it includes little-walked paths across open fields, beside the river and along farm tracks and quiet lanes.

As always on farmland, keep dogs on a lead, leave all gates as you find them and try not to damage any crops in the fields. Be warned – if you don’t like cattle, you might not enjoy this walk. The last time I did it, I had to walk through a couple of herds with calves and chunky-looking bulls in tow. They didn’t seem anywhere near as bothered by my presence as I was by theirs!

THE WALK: From the church, cross the road and turn right. Turn down the lane on the left, towards Leesrigg Farm. Having passed a couple of bungalows along the way, you reach the farm buildings. Continue straight ahead – between a shed on your right and two huge tanks on your left – to pass through two gates in quick succession. After the second one, turn left to walk with the fence on your immediate left for a few yards. Then go through the gap in the fence and another gate (0.3 miles from the start).

Turn right at the fingerpost, towards Harbybrow. A grassy track between two fences leads to another gate, beyond which you swing half-right (SW), as indicated by the signpost. Keep fairly close to the small group of horse chestnut trees on your right at first, but, as these peter out, swing down the field towards the line of woodland to your left. As you reach this denser area of trees, walk with the fence on your left and then cross Dow Beck via a small, wooden footbridge (0.6 miles from the start).

Swing half-right (SW) across the next field. There is no path on the ground – simply aim for the right of the building about 350 yards away. As you reach a corner of a wall, go through the small kissing-gate and turn right along the driveway.

At the track junction, you can continue straight ahead for a short detour to see the ruined peel tower at Harbybrow, but the main route goes left, across the river. Once over the bridge, turn right through a kissing-gate (signpost reads: “Public footpath Blennerhasset”). The first, short section of the path alongside the River Ellen is very overgrown, but things get a lot better after you cross a stile into a small meadow.

Head towards a small gate to the left of a solitary tree (WSW). Once through this, turn right and follow the fence to another gate. Head straight across the next field (WNW) – in the general direction of Baggrow in the distance. You should reach the other side of the field near to a kink in the boundary – just to the left of a power line pole. Ignore the gap in the hedge on the right here; instead, make for the gated gap about 50 yards straight ahead. Go through this and continue with the hedge on your right. You should now be able to see the wind farm near Bothel over to your left.

When faced with a choice of two gates, choose the right-hand one. As you walk with the hedge on your left, the building over to the right is Blennerhasset Mill (see “points of interest” later). At the next pair of gates, go through the left-hand one.

This rough lane leads into Blennerhasset. Turn right at the road (1.95 miles from the start). If you want to visit the pub, continue on the road, but for a short stroll along the River Ellen, bear left immediately after the bridge. This riverside path soon leads to a wide track, along which you turn right. Turn left at the road and then, in 120 yards, swing right along a quiet lane (2.35 miles from the start).

You pass a number of buildings, including Station Villa, indicating that a railway once passed through Baggrow (see “points of interest” later). In fact, you might just be able to make out the route of the old line through the hedge on your right.

The lane soon becomes little more than a rough track which you follow to its end, ignoring one track off to the left and another to the right. After about half-a-mile, you’ll be able to see across to Skiddaw and the Northern Fells through the occasional gaps in the hedges to your right.

When you eventually reach the road (3.1 miles from the start), turn right and the church is just under half-a-mile away.

POINTS OF INTEREST: Baggrow Railway Station was a stop on the Bolton loop of the Carlisle and Maryport Railway. It served the village’s Brayton Knowle Colliery, which was owned by the Allerdale Coal Company and employed about 160 people at the height of production in the 1910s. The pit ceased operations in 1918 and the station closed in 1930.

The old sandstone flour mill at Blennerhasset dates from 1647. It used the power of the River Ellen to grind local corn, which helped feed the population of Blennerhasset and Baggrow.

For more short walks, try Vivienne Crow’s new books, Easy Rambles Around Keswick and Borrowdale and Easy Rambles Around Ambleside and Grasmere (published by Questa, price £3.99 each). Available in bookshops.