23/03/26 - Cockermouth

Good Beer Guide Pubs with Bad Opening Times and Lost Paths

Cockermouth is one of the few sizeable towns that we were yet to visit in the Lake District. It is right on the far northwestern fringes, just inside the 25K Lake District OS Map.

Home to 3 Good Beer Guide Pubs, a castle, a brewery (as marked on the map), a lengthy high street and a number of famous sons - not least William Wordsworth, who's house we see at the walk outset.

Wordsworth House

The planned walk intrigued me. On my elderly OS Map, it is almost completely on a Long Distance Path marked the "Allendale Ramble". This falls into the rare category of discontinued path. No longer marked on the ground or on the latest OS Maps. It appears as though it was a route devised in the 1970s by a certain Harry Appleyard. A pamphlet followed, which I am sure I could find on eBay.

Our circuit offered plenty of sheep fields - with some newborns - a fortified homestead to repel Scottish Invaders at Isel Hall, some views and some deep woodland. All of this good stuff negated by nasty stiles and a dog that doesn't like to be handled. Moral was lost until the sandwiches were consumed.

Over the Derwent on a footbridge at Cockermouth

First newborn lambs is always a pleasant day

The mostly hidden Isel Hall

Never far from an excellent view

We come back into town, just about talking. 

There are plenty of pubs in town but a look at the Good Beer Guide App showed that their three recommendations are 3pm, 3pm and 4pm on a Monday. 

Always look their most enticing when unavailable

That's the tourist dollar lost to Cockermouth.

Walk Details

Distance - 8.75 Miles

Geocaches - 3

Walk Inspiration - Jarrold Northwestern Lakes, Walk 17

22/03/26 - Stile End and Barrow from the Coledale Inn

My Round at the Coledale 

We had two walks planned from our base in Braithwaite. Both got us up on the fells. The classic "Coledale Round" looked a little beyond our newest recruit to mountain walking.

The ladies in my life - Mrs M and Daughter M

Instead, we went into the middle of the high ridge walk, with a couple of steep but less lofty peaks. 

Stile End, despite being distinctive and very steep, is not a Wainwright. We conquered this with some grumblings but I could not convince the party to attempt Outerside. A drop down and another stiff climb for what - and I quote - "Is exactly the same view". Outerside a Wainwright that doesn't get a tick this time.

We get involved in a mountain race - having no choice but to clog up the thin path to Barrow. This is a steady climb, with most of the height already gained. The views here are immense - the towns of Keswick and Braithwaite, along with Derwent Water and Bassenthwaite Lake.

Mountaineers - one and all

All downhill to the pub, via the only geocache of the day.

Mrs M with her thumb over the lens

I had a wonderful afternoon at the Coledale Inn 9 years ago. I'd completed day 2 of the Inn Way to the Lake District. The pub is the first place you hit as you come off the fells. The sun was shining and the beer garden has an elevated view over the town. I spent an afternoon drinking Yates beer and trying to convince other walkers not to pass on by.

Coledale Inn - 10/10 review on PubsGalore after a wonderful afternoon

Yates may have long gone but the pub is now in the Good Beer Guide. Three real ales on, all from the Lakes. I settled on Corby Blonde for my visit.

I needed more than one to settle my nerves, as I was in the chair for lunch. Steak and chips is now £35.

I had the significant women in my life hypnotised not to look at the "From the grill" section of the menu.

I should have extended the mind-tricks to the £10 puddings.

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - Jarrold, Northwest Lakes, Walk 13

20/03/26 - The Kirkstile Inn, Loweswater

Mellbreak-ing Bad

The Kirkstile Inn has to be one of the best pubs in the land. But you have to earn those pints of Loweswater Gold and boy, did we earn them.

This actually could have been a really pleasant walk - without the nausea and the relentless traipse up the side of a mountain on indistinct paths. With this route from the normally rather pedestrian Country Walking Magazine.

Starting from the pub, we walk the western flanks of Mellbreak - following the Mosedale Beck. It's a pleasant farm track, where the only other signs of life are sheep.

Easy Walking

To get that Wainwright Tick - we need to get to the top. My suspicions were aroused in plotting the walk - just before Mosedale Holly Tree (the only tree marked on an OS Map, fact-fans) there is an arrow straight minor path running straight up the side of the mountain. Of course, in reality, there is nothing there. A man in a blue jacket follows a similar marked path to the north but I can only imagine the terrain is equally as tough. All of us stop for regular breathers/the chance not to throw up.

You can ask Mrs M if Mellbreak was worth it

Honestly, the views at the bottom are just as impressive

The descent is better - and it simply leads us to the good path we previously left. 

Mappiman, relieved to have got us down to Black Beck

The return to the pub is as good as walking can get. We simply have to follow the shoreline of Crummock Water along soggy but excellent paths. The Grasmoor reflections in the still water are stunning. There is a little jut of land out in the water, Low Ling Crag, which brought me to tears on my last visit, 9 years ago. The emotion expressed was possibly as much to do with the liquid lunch at the Kirkstile Inn, as I was walking away from it on that day.

Low Ling Crag - an "island", as the end of a causeway

Looking down Crummock Water

The pub is the reward - and the Kirkstile is a special place. In a hamlet, with a small number of buildings and a church, this is a real walkers pub where you can come straight off the fells. If the weather is good - and it was - a lovely, sheltered beer garden is perfect. Most punters with maps out, playing i-Spy and naming the surrounding fells.

It's also the home of the aforementioned Loweswater Gold. A former Champion Beer of Britain. So good, Mrs M moved off from her regular fruit based drinks and declared it "inoffensive". High praise indeed.

Water chaser and the patient wait for fish-finger sandwiches

Export options are available.

Meet the gang

Walk Details

Distance - 6.5 Miles

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, May 2015, Walk 15

Geocaches - 0 

19/12/25 - The General Burgoyne, Great Urswick

What's in the Box?

Final day in Cumbria and we find out where the bad weather has really hit. This is a soggy, muddy walk where lakes are forming where there should be no lakes.

Lake District has a new lake

It's a tough slog across sheep fields. Some decent sea views and the main item of interest, the Bronze Age Stone Circle on Birkrigg Common. Of course Mrs M labels it "no Stonehenge".

Mrs M - no lover of piles of old rocks

The pile of old rocks

Only the pub can save the day. The General Burgoyne doesn't look as ancient as it actually is. The add-on conservatory making it not look out of place on a modern housing estate.

Robinsons Tied House

The guide book tells me to go looking for the beam, with the carved date 1631.

TW

The landlady noticed me mooching around and reveals its true hidden curiosity. The fine fireplace contains a cupboard dated from William III's time.  You'll never guess what it contains?

Dizzy Blonde, with the fireplace in the distance

What's in the Box, William?

Only a China-man's skull!

Questions need to be asked

Is it real? Yes!

How did it get there? Presented to a former customer in the 1930s on his retirement from the local munitions factory.

Does he always wear a hat? Yes, and it changes, dependent on season.

Only in British Pubs!

Walk Details

Distance - 7 Miles

Walk Inspiration - Best Pub Walks in the Lake District, Walk 24 

Geocaches - 1

18/12/25 - The Royal Oak, Bowness-on-Windermere

Stupid Spanish Sat Nav

We were meant to be walking from Ash Landing today. On the west side of Lake Windermere. If I had been more aware of my surroundings, I would have questioned why the SEAT was taking us up the eastern side of the water.

All is revealed as we reach Bowness-on-Windermere. Technology wants us to catch a ferry. No warning during programming, just selecting what it thinks is the best.

Having already paid for parking in the Lake District, I can only guess how much the ferry would cost.

Regardless. We can adapt on the fly. Komoot always provides routes wherever you are in the world and this is a cracker of a walk.

An up-and-over Brant Fell, with the excellent Dales Way taking us back to town. With a hardcore path, you wouldn't think that we had 24 hours of biblical rain yesterday.

The flooded Lake Windermere

Start of the Dales Way

Views from Brant Fell

Back on the Dales Way to return to town

I'd always dismissed Bowness as being a small hamlet during previous visits to Ambleside. I was wrong, if anything it's bigger. Certainly, if you use pub counts as a guide to size. 24 outlets, according to Pubsgalore. But only one is open at 11am on a Thursday. The Royal Oak wins the Mappiman dollar.

Budget Hotel, Pub

It's a simple affair, done well. A decent beer selection, with 5 hand pulls. With no other punters who are still breakfasting, I went conservative, with a perfectly conditioned Timothy Taylor Landlord to drown out the Christmas songs.

Landlord Tested. It passed.

Sorry Ambleside Best Western, with your spa facilities and comforts. I might be stopping here next time. There is plenty of pub ticking to be done.

Walk Details

Distance - 4.5 Miles

Walk Inspiration 

Geocaches - 10

16/12/25 - Ravenglass and Muncaster Castle

Ratty No More

When they are looking for a location for the next "28 days later" sequel, they could do a lot worse than pick Ravenglass. Talk about a ghost town. We don't see a living soul down the narrow main street. They even take pride in the repurposing of their pubs.

Never found a bad pub called "The Ship"

The lack of people doesn't mean there aren't things of interest. Not many places have three rivers - Mite, Irt and Esk - all meeting the sea. Not many places have Roman bath house ruins.

The muddy estuary of Ravenglass

Unsunken Bath House

The walk is a simple up and over to reach the incredibly impressive Muncaster Castle. The house has been owned by the Penningtons for 800 years and is known as the most haunted castle in Britain. We concentrated on the views - sea and fell - and made great use of the cafe facilities.

Sea Views

Fell Views

The Castle

A circuit of Miller Crag to Muncaster Mill and we are back in town looking for more refreshments.

The Good Beer Guide Tick - The Ratty Arms - is marked as "temporarily closed" on Google Maps. This is a shame, as it is a well known and much loved railway pub. Local Facebook pages suggest that it is down to lack of staff. The regulars we do meet in the pub that is open state that is simply not being run at a profit. Time will tell, and I hope it comes back to life.

The pub that is thankfully open on a Tuesday lunch time is the imaginatively named Inn at Ravenglass.

It doesn't look much from the outside but what a joyous place it is.

The Inn at Ravenglass

It's the menu that I am going to wax lyrical about. A handwritten chalk board with just two mains listed - a seafood chowder and a beef wellington. Complete with Dauphinoise. And a sprout jus.

We peaked too early at Muncaster Castle Cafe.

Ulverston Brewery Laughing Gravy

Walk Details

Distance - 5 Miles

Geocaches - 5

Walk Inspiration - Jarrold Lake District Walks, Walk 16

15/12/25 - Dunnerdale for the Newfield Inn

Ford the Waterfalls

More than 10" of rain over 24 hours in Seathwaite. Our only surprise, the rain stopped 24 hours earlier than predicted.

Whopping rainfall totals for the Lake District.

Not that far off 2 day record (although not sure if strange rules around 9-9am timings come into play)

Surprisingly few impacts, presumably as high totals are confined to uplands and catchment totals much lower. pic.twitter.com/ftpJgr35iu

— Dave Throup (@DaveThroup) December 15, 2025

This walk is a fine example of why I should carefully study both the route guide and the OS Map.

After spotting a little car park at Seathwaite - hopefully high enough above the River Duddon - we abandon the car journey. There is just no point risking "white van man" on these single track lanes. The Evri driver - for it was sure to be an Evri driver - nearly putting himself up a hedge half a mile back.

A safe place to start - The River Duddon

For a route from "Best Pub Walks" - this is a remote challenge of some beauty. "Not for the unadventurous or the lily-livered" is the opening line.

We follow Tarn Beck up the valley and past Tongue House. It's squelchy underfoot, with Mrs M occasionally disappearing up to her knees. For a border terrier, Ruby makes light work of it on her little legs.

The livestock at Tongue House Farm

We can see the torrent of waterfalls ahead - and it's after a careful look at the OS Map, I start to have concern, that I bravely keep to myself. No point in worrying Mrs M, still chuntering about "Trench Foot". The crossing of the rapids simply shows the path stopping and restarting on the other side. Where are those magic letters "FB"?

The guide book;

"You'll soon reach a point where Tarn Beck plunges from your right over a spectacular series of waterfalls and shoots..... I'll leave you to find your own way across"

   

I have never been so pleased to see a bridge. Truly a case of "The trail will provide".

Relief

Things soon revert to type - the path becomes indistinct and bares no resemblance to the OS Map. Unnecessary climbs and descents and complicated fences and stone walls to try and find a crossing. The forested area of Pike How Close a disaster area. I am not sure what you can call a forest where every single tree has fallen down in a previous storm.  It makes for a very difficult crossing.

Relief, as we emerge at the top of the valley, through the forest

The return is far more pleasant - through a Dunnerdale Forest on proper rides. Where there is a stream, there is a bridge. To the side of the gloriously named Wallowbarrow Crag and a debate about whether to try the pub.

Around Wallowbarrow Crag

Incredibly, for somewhere so remote, I have been to the Newfield Inn before. It formed part of the Inn Way to the Lake District. My notes declaring it the cheapest pint of the week at £3. See if you can guess the year, without clicking the link.

Negotiations ensue... I put up a good case for going, Mrs M declares - and I quote - she is soaked through to the gusset and would rather head home.

We both agree that the chances of it being open at 1pm on a Monday in winter are slim.

2nd Time around for Mappiman

The trail provides for the second time today. The outer door is ajar and to placate Mrs M and her damp pants, the log burner is set to "furnace".

We might be the only customers - but the barman is ready and waiting - looking resplendent in a tie and waistcoat combo. We express our surprise at his opening but in a phrase that will bring joy to the heart of pub tickers everywhere he states "you have to keep consistent hours".

Unexpected Keswick Gold

I really should have explored more and brought better internal photos but we were kept enrapt by conversions about everything from graphite mining (boo Keswick for stealing the glory!), Napoleon, Americans on sheep safaris and how poor Sealskinz gloves are in comparison to their socks.

I need to rethink Mrs M's Xmas present.

Although they might do pants.

Walk Details

Distance - 7 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration - Best Pub Walks in the Lake District - Walk 19 

13/12/25 - The Queens Head, Hawkshead

Hunting for the Girt Clog 

Hawkshead, the prettiest village in the Lake District, is all cobbled streets, narrow alley ways and little squares. Easy to get lost in somewhere so small. With Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter associations, its a tourist hotspot, with plenty of signs saying who did what where.

December is the time to come. If you can afford the car parking (when it's north of a London pint, you are in trouble). The tourist hoardes are away in shopping centres leaving space in the many cafes and pubs.

An Adventure Lab Cache shows us the historical places in town, but we concentrate on the "Doors Open" St Michael and All Angels Church. Norse origins, stunning internal arches, fenced off tombs, wall mounted paintings of biblical quotations and some fine windows.

Ruby and Mrs M on the hunt for ALC Clues

Church on the Hill

Arches built with no formal plans

A slightly inaccessible tomb

Our walk today is infinitely better than the pictures would suggest. Mainly, and this is surprising when you consider the rain, it is completely mud free. Even the grazing fields mainly have paths with a hardcore layer. We cannot believe our luck.

North to Outgate, past Blelham Tarn to Wray Castle, down to Windermere and a circuit of Latterbarrow - without finding the minor path to the summit.

Blelham Tarn

Look at the quality of that path!

Wray Castle Entry - with a cafe that would have added 2m to the walk

A brief view of Lake Windermere

Back to the village, where Mrs M wants to look for last minute Christmas presents. Leaving me the dilemma of which of the many pubs to test. The Red Lion looked a solid Robinsons. The Kings Arms had the best reviews on line. There is a newish little craft beer micro pub that could have offered something different. However, in the back of my mind, I remembered that the Guide Book I am following had recommended The Queens Head.  

I made my choice and I will stick with it.

Lets compare what they had to say in 1992 against what I found today;

"... Looks at first sight to be a sham. The black and white render exterior just that bit too symmetrical to be true, the render and stonework just that bit too regular to belong to centuries past"

It is indeed the oldest pub in the village, serving drovers and packhorse men from the C17th and possibly earlier - a fact confirmed once inside and you see how low the ceilings are. 

"The oldest artifact, however, is the enormous old shoe, known as the Girt Clog, mounted in a trophy case about the fireplace"

Apparently, this is a massive shoe that looked like a taxidermists attempt at a mis-shaped tench. It was made in the 1820s for a local mole catcher, who suffered from elephantiasis.

Moved from the Brown Cow to the Queens Head

Despite providing the name for the local mountaineering club, I don't think the aforementioned footwear is on display anymore.  Internally, its had a make over befitting of the type of punter they expect to lure in nowadays. I am not sure a memento of deformity would be in keeping.  

You don't get this sort of content from other bloggers, but even I have shied away from sending the pub a message to confirm its whereabouts.

However, if I returned, I am sure to ask.

"... offers quality food good enough to accompany the Hartley's XB"

Hartley's brewery was absorbed into Robinsons in 1962 and the brewery at Ulverston closed down. This is now a Robinson's tied house. I went for the Cumbria Way but with a twist.

Old Tom available as takeaway in bottles.

The clog should have been out of shot, to the right

I should have brought a dozen. We are predicted 8" of rain over the next 48 hours.

Walk Details

Distance - 7 Miles

Geocaches - 5

Walk Inspiration - Best Pub Walks in the Lake District - Walk 17