Sam Hooke

Cat Bells

All trips at this location:

Distance6.74 km / 4.19 miles
Elevation gain387 m / 1270 ft
Duration3h40m
Moving1h45m

First leg of ascent §

The ascent begins straight away, with a gravel path the zig-zags its way upwards.

A steep hillside with a gravel path sloping downwards.
Looking back from the first corner towards the car park.
Keswick in the distance with some woods in the foreground.
Looking towards Keswick from the first corner. We’ve only just begun and the view is already pretty good!
Rain falling over Derwent Water.
At the switchbacks and the rain is coming down over Derwent Water.
A happy sheep in the fern.
A happy sheep.
Looking down on a boat.
A distant launch on Derwant Water. Due to high water levels from all the rain, they were only doing scenic tours from Keswick, not stopping at Cat Bells. Otherwise this would have been how we reached Cat Bells.

The first leg ends with a scramble. The rocks were wet and slippery from the rain, so some people turned back, but the views are still good even from this early point. We found the handholds were good enough to carry on up, so made our way up the rocks to the next leg.

Looking up at some rough rocks and grass.

Second leg of ascent §

After the first scramble, the trail levels out and it’s easy going for a while.

A distant valley.
Top of the first scramble looking towards Bassenthwaite Lake.
A path along a shallow ridge top weaving towards a summit.
Looking ahead towards the summit of Cat Bells.
A group of people huddled on the top of a distant summit.
A peek at the distant summit of Cat Bells.

From here, it was high enough to be level with a kestrel. I had hoped to climb higher and get a photo of it from above, but the kestrel had moved on by the time I’d got up the second scramble.

A kestrel.
The kestrel banking into a new position.
A kestrel.
The kestrel preparing to hover.

As the easy-going path came to an end, the wind whipped up into quite something. The next scramble was due. Here the rocks were dryer. This scramble was no more difficult than the first, aside from being aware that it’s a much further fall if you slip to the side. It’s wide enough to just keep to the middle and feel relatively safe.

Looking up at some rough rocks and grass.
The second scramble.

Summit §

If we thought it was windy before, we were mistaken. On top of Cat Bells the wind would trick you into thinking it was calm, and then an almighty southwesterly would rocket across. A woman’s had was whipped away, which I caught just before it vanished down the hillside and returned it to her.

Looking down on Keswick.
From the windy summit of Cat Bells towards Keswick.
A sheep lying down in grass.
This sheep had the right idea, hunkering down on the leeward side in relative calm.

Descent §

We planned to continue anti-clockwise, but noticed a path that lead to a distant cave, so popped over to explore. The cave appeared to be an old mine which, due to the recent heavy rain, had a stream of water gushing out. The water level inside the cave was just a bit too deep to walk through, so we could only peer in from the outside. Nearby were the remains of an old building, and a fenced off mine shaft.

Sprawling hillside with a tiny cave in the distance.
Looking south from Cat Bells towards Maiden Moor. The cave is just visible on the scree slope to the right.
A cave entrance about the size of a person, with a stream of water coming out.
A peek in the cave with water gushing out.
The outline of an old building marked by a low wall of stones.
Some nearby ruins.
A black sheep.
Another sheep.

Returning from the cave, we made our way down the hillside. The path is made of stone steps all the way down, which zig-zag for a while before straightening out. At a junction near the bottom we turned left, then went down further and the path roughly followed the contour of the lower east side of Cat Balls back towards the car park.

A bright distant island surrounded by darkness.
St. Herbert’s Island, in Derwent Water, illuminated through a brief gap in the clouds.
Stone steps winding down the hillside.
The stone steps down.

Car parks §

Room for parking cars near Cat Bells is scarce. Following the contour on the lower east side of Cat Bells, we could see several parking bays on the side of the lane. We had parked nearer the base of the trail so carried on all the way back to the northern most point of Cat Bells.

A parking bay on the side of a road.
One of the parking bays on the road.
A tiny car park at the base of Cat Bells.
The car park we used, which had room for about twelve cars (or fourteen with some creativity).

We were lucky to get a space. It had been raining all morning, but we decided to head to Cat Bells regardless, and got there shortly after lunch. After parking the sun came out, and as we got ready to go up many more cars arrived but were unable to park. Instead of driving we would have arrived by launch from Kewsick, but due to high water levels from the heavy rain there was no service to Cat Bells that day.

All trips at this location: