HERE is Andrew Thomas' latest column.

I have been hiking in the Lake District most of my life but the area still has the capacity to reveal new routes previously not walked.

On a recent bright, autumnal Sunday, I ascended a path opposite the Clappersgate turning off the A593. This led to an airy path, which spiralled up the fellside past gorse, mountain ash, oak and birch trees.

At the top there were various path options and I was reminded of the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken. Incidentally this is, as Frost put it, a ‘tricky’ poem. Many people believe the fact the protagonist took the road ‘less travelled’ made a positive difference to his life but the poem can also be read to mean the exact opposite.

There are excellent views from here down Windermere, of the River Brathay and of the square foundations of the Roman fort Galava, which are located in a field near Waterhead. In the 2nd Century AD, the fort housed a cohort of 500 infantrymen. Fells in view from here include Wetherlam, Swirl How, Grey Friar and Bowfell.

My route continued to Lily Tarn, a lovely, tranquil spot where the blue sky and surrounding rust-coloured bracken were beautifully reflected on the surface.

The path then led to Tarn Crag, which offered panoramic views, including the Fairfield Horseshoe and Loughrigg. My route took me towards the latter but then I looped back and took a path which eventually led down to the Under Loughrigg Road and the arched Miller Bridge near Rothay Park at Ambleside.

Back at Clappersgate I took the opportunity to visit the imposing Holy Trinity Church at Brathay, which was consecrated on October 1, 1836.

The church stands in wonderful woodland surroundings and poet William Wordsworth, who lived nearby at Ryal and Grasmere, wrote: “There is no situation out of the Alps, nor among them, more beautiful than that where this building is placed.”

I like this column to highlight community events and I saw a notice stating that every Thursday, from 10am to noon, coffee and homemade cakes are for sale in the nearby Brathay Church Hall.