Last updated 10:12, Thursday, 04 September 2008

Charming Pooley Bridge is the hub of this delightful and easy river walk

Keeping you in suspense: The bridge over the River Eamont

MAP: OS Explorer map OL5.

START: Dunmallard pay and display car park, Pooley Bridge (GR NY469244).

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: 108, Penrith to Patterdale bus (telephone 0871 200 2233).

REFRESHMENTS: Variety of pubs and cafes in Pooley Bridge.

DISTANCE: 3.5 miles

TOTAL ASCENT: 353ft

TIME: Approximately 90 minutes

GRADE: Easy

OVERVIEW: The River Eamont flows from Ullswater to the River Eden, just a few miles away to the east of Penrith. It’s not a long journey, but even in its upper reaches, it’s quite an impressive body of water, flowing fast at most times of the year and frequently bursting its banks in the winter. Our short walk follows the east bank via farm and riverside paths as far as Pooley Mill and then returns to Pooley Bridge via a short section of road walking and meadows. The walk starts with a brief circuit through the pleasant woodland at the base of Dunmallard Hill. The top of this tiny, steep-sided hill was once crowned by an Iron Age hill fort. If you choose to miss out this section of the walk, the route is reduced to just 2.6 miles.

THE WALK: As you leave the car park via the main entrance, look to the right and you will see a small gate in the fence. Go through this and turn left through the woods. As the notice at the start of the path indicates, you are now on a permissive circular route around Dunmallard Hill. This is not a right of way, so the landowner has the right to close this path at any time.

After about 250 yards, the path forks. Bear right here, heading uphill. There is a permissive route on to the top, but the views are severely restricted by the trees and there is no obvious evidence of the Iron Age fort, so it’s hardly worth the effort. Ignore all routes off and simply keep to the main path as it circumnavigates the small, wooded hill. Eventually you will return to the car park (0.9 miles from starting the walk).

Now turn left to cross the road bridge. Walk through the village until you reach the Sun Inn. As soon as you pass the building, you will see a gap between the pub and its car park. Turn left here and aim for the gate straight ahead. (It is on the other side of the yard near some caravans.)

Beyond the gate, you pick up a clear track, which leads to a wastewater treatment works. Continue with the plant enclosure on your left. The track is fainter now, but it soon leads to a gate at the river’s edge. The path continues up through the trees. Beyond the next gate, climb the grassy slope straight ahead and, just before reaching the caravan park, turn left through a small, green gate (1.5 miles from the start).

You are now in a yard between some buildings. You pass a large house and then a small cottage on your left. Keep straight ahead here; the path isn’t signposted, but it first heads to the left of a large farm shed and then, as you reach the front of the shed, goes through a gate.

Walk along the farm track heading NE. When it ends at the next gate, you need to keep heading in roughly the same direction for about 120 yards to reach a redundant stile. From here, walk with the fence on your left until you come to a gate in the field corner. Go through this and follow the fence on your right for 50 yards. Now go through the small gate on your right and turn left along a pleasant bridleway between the fields.

Go through one gate and keep close to the field boundary on your right until you go through the next gate. Now bear half-left (NNW) through the grass towards a line of hawthorn bushes. You cross through the bushes at a fingerpost near two old wooden fenceposts (signpost reads: “Public Bridleway Dacre via ford”).

The bridleway, which isn’t clear on the ground, now heads left (WSW). Once through the next gate, head straight towards the river bank. Just before you reach the ford gate, swing right to access the gated suspension bridge over the River Eamont (2.3 miles from the start). Like the path around Dunmallard Hill, use of this bridge is permissive – the actual right of way uses the ford.

Turn left and walk along the road for about a third of a mile. This is a reasonably busy road and the traffic moves pretty fast, so keep right in to the side. When the road bends right, turn left through the kissing-gate (signpost reads: “Public Footpath Pooley Bridge ¾ mile”).

Keep close to the fence on your left, following a narrow trail through the grass. Cross the stile next to the gate in the field corner and then make your way down to a kissing-gate, passing to the right of a small pond (2.9 miles from the start). Going through several kissing-gates and passing a small weir along the way, keep to the riverside path all the way back to the car park.

For more short walks in the Lake District, 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.