BASSENTHWAITE village has many characteristics that typify an English village, including a green, an inn, a school, a church and a stream running through it, writes JOHN EDMONDSON. It’s a good base for exploring the area north of Skiddaw where the fells are much quieter and greener than the popular stony massif. With place names like Little Cockup, Great Cockup and Trusmadoor, this is a walk you are unlikely to forget. Start from Bassenthwaite village (map reference NY 230 322, postcode CA12 4QR).

Information:

Distance: nine miles; ascent: 1,870 feet

Time: 4.5 hours

Terrain: grassy fell paths, boggy in parts.

Map: OS Explorer OL4

Route

1 From the village green walk past the bus stop at Back Hill, along The Narrows and past the Sun Inn. Cross the bridge, turn left then right onto The Rake, signed Robin Hood. Turn right after the last house through a farm gate and onto a footpath beside Robin Hood Wood. Go through a gate into Park Wood and part way up the slope bear right and descend to a junction of tracks. Keep left and follow the uphill track emerging into fields on the north side. Past the highest point of the field continue to a gate and turn left along the edge of the field. Go through the two gates in the corner and turn right, then around the left of gorse bushes to the left of Little Tarn and descend to cross a small beck. Cross a fence stile on the left and follow the footpath up to Orthwaite, meeting a road just to the right of a yellow coloured house. The pink coloured Orthwaite Hall on the left once belonged to William George Browne, who was famous for his travels to Africa, Egypt and Syria at the end of the 18th Century.

2 Turn right on the road and branch off to the left onto a bridleway signed Burn Tod. Turn left immediately after the gate and climb steeply beside the wall on the left. Follow the path round to the left, cross a beck and turn right where the wall bends left to go up a path through bracken towards Little Cockup. Branch off to the left for a short ascent to the summit. Return to the faint path and continue ascending Great Cockup. The first cairn is the better place for views but a second, smaller cairn locates the true summit. Looking back, views appear of Over Water, Binsey and across the Solway Firth to Scotland.

3 Follow the path left, descending into the pass of Trusmadoor. Turn sharp right down the narrow, steep sided Burntod Gill. Due to landslips it is best to repeatedly cross the Gill instead of attempting the earlier course of the path on the right. At the end of the valley turn right onto a grassy bridleway for 200 yards then left to cross the Gill at a farm track ford. Follow the track as it contours around White Hause to the left then go along the left side of a wall to trees behind Dash Farm. Continue alongside the fence-topped wall and across Whitehause Gill to a gate. Turn sharp right to head back and descend across the field to a gate in the bottom corner.

4 Follow the lane as it goes north-west then turns ninety degrees left to cross Dash Beck. Continue along the tarmacked lane to the road near Peter House Farm. Cross the road onto the footpath signed Bassenthwaite. Leave the farm track and head for the lower left corner of the field to a gate among trees. Keep straight on at the crossed fingerpost. The path now follows a hedge on the left until the village comes into view where it forks right to the middle of the field, crosses a stile and then proceeds into Bassenthwaite village.

NB: Restrictions on space mean that this article provides a general summary of the route. It is advisable for anyone who plans to follow the walk to take a copy of the relevant Ordnance Survey map.