Watch Hill, Setmurthy Common

10 March 2014

Participants: Just me
Where: Watch Hill, Setmurthy Common, 254m/833', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 89, NY 158318

At long last! A high pressure area had moved in- long time since we've seen one of them. The sky was blue, the sun was shining. The downside- I was terribly unfit. So it was some sub-2ks for me and there were some on the fringes of the Lake District that I had still to do that fitted the bill. But that meant that there was another downside- I couldn't take Ben as the Lake District Fells are full of sheep and I would have had to have kept him on his lead just in case. And neither of us would have liked that.

And the first hill on my list- Watch Hill- was really easy- just a small swelling in the landscape.....

I was heading for Cockermouth and Watch Hill is on the fringes of that town. It looked from the map as if there was a choice of routes up but I decided to approach it from the north-east near Iselgate bridge walking up through the forest and the across the fields. There was room for a few cars at the start of the track. After about a mile of forest walking I reached the fields and headed up to the ridge. It was then just a gentle stroll over short grass; this is looking to the summit.....

and this is looking back.....

The main view was to Skiddaw.....

The summit wasn't marked but is supposed to be just inside the field very close to the forest edge. I thought that there might be a higher point just into the forest so I had a look but it was dense in there so I couldn't be sure. Rather than go back down the same way, I carried on from the summit over a style into the trees and down a rough path to meet another forest road which I followed back to meet the one that I had come up on. It had been a pleasant, short walk- about 3 miles taking about 1 hour 30 minutes.