Alcock Tarn
Area: The Southern Fells
Posted By: graham
Many of the great views in Lakeland are from the felltops, available only tothe hardened fellwalker carrying a day's rations and emergency
clothing. Here is one from a much more modest height, available to
anyone capable of a Sunday afternoon stroll in the country, yet which
still gives that feeling of standing on top of the world.
Turn left exiting the car park and continue along the road leaving Grasmere
village behind you. At the Town End mini-roundabout cross the main
Keswick/Kendal road (A591) and take the minor road behind Rose Cottage.
Pass Dove Cottage on your left and follow the road uphill to How Top
and a road junction. Bear left at this junction along the road
signposted "Public footpath to Alcock Tarn" and "no through road for
motor vehicles after ½ mile". After a further 70 yards (60 metres) bear
left along gravel path signposted "footpath to Alcock Tarn". After a
further 160 yards (150 metres) pass through a gate bearing the National
Trust emblem, marked Brackenfell, with a small notice by gatepost
saying "path to Alcock Tarn". Continue along the path, through an
unmarked gate and when a path comes in from the left bear right,
uphill. Much of the walk since leaving How Top has been through woods
of oak, ash, etc. but after passing a small tarn on the right the path
winds up the open fell with its sparser resident fir and may.
There is a rocky prominence ahead known as Grey Crag and after passing
through a gate with the National Trust emblem and marked Alcock Tarn
the path bears to the left of Grey Crag before circling up to its
summit. The view from here is magnificent with Windermere visible
in the south, Coniston in the southwest, the jagged peaks of the
western fells and Grasmere lake and village below, Helm Crag to the
northwest, and Skiddaw can be seen through the gap of Dunmail Raise to
the north northwest.
Continue along the path, through a gap in the wall to Alcock Tarn. Pass
by the tarn on your right to a fixed gate in the wall with a stile to
help you over it. Now walk carefully down the steep rocky path. To
the right Greenhead Gill runs down the valley with the shapely summit
of Greatrigg Man at its head. The path leads down towards a conifer
wood but bypasses it to the right then continues alongside the wall of
the conifer high above Greenhead Gill. Helm Crag is seen ahead,
silhouetted on the skyline. Follow the path with the wall on your left,
don't be tempted into the wood by the gate, and when the path reaches
Greenhead Gill continue along its left bank to a wooden footbridge.
Cross the beck by the footbridge, through the gate on the left and down
the metalled road. Turn left on reaching the T-junction and continue to
the A591 by the Swan Hotel.
Turn left at the A591 and walk alongside it before crossing it at a
pedestrian refuge just before Our Lady of the Wayside church. Ignore
first footpath on the right which has a metalled surface, continue
along the main road to a path signposted "Grasmere village 3/4 mile via
millennium bridge". Take this path. Go through a gate and follow the
path with a wall then a fence on your right to a kissing gate and
five-bar gate. Go through and diagonally right across the field. There
are a series of such gates to negotiate along this path, just keep
going until you reach the Millenium Bridge with its green-painted
supports.
Don't cross the bridge, go straight past it to a gate marked "Grasmere
C of E Primary School". Continue through schoolyard, it is a right of
way, to the main road. Turn left along road back to the car park.
Finally, as you enter the car park, look up to the horizon to spot
where you've been - on top of Grey Crag.
Route Grade Medium
Start Point Stock Lane Car Park, Grasmere
(Map Ref: NY 339072)
Finish Point
Stock Lane Car Park, Grasmere
(Map Ref: NY 339072)
Distance 3.4 miles
Approx Time 2 - 3 hours
Parking Stock Lane Car Park, Grasmere
