Branstree

Grass covers almost all of Branstree, and to the east a rough moor runs about five miles towards the Lowther valley. The fell feels more like the Pennines than the central Lakes. Walls and fences run up to the top from the passes on either side.

Walkers start from the car park at the end of the road at Mardale Head, beside the head of Haweswater. Go through the gate and follow the sign for Gatescarth Pass. This is an old packhorse track, rough, with steep zigzags and loose rock. At the top of the pass leave it and follow the fence up the slope to the summit, which has a small cairn and an OS trig station. The top is broad and flat, so higher fells to the west cut off much of the view, but you see out to the Pennines and the Howgill Fells.

The Walk Lakes round carries on north east. Artlecrag Pike, the north east top, has two tall cairns built from its own rock and a better view down Mardale. Further on, before High Howes, stands a stone and concrete survey pillar with a slot cut in its top for sighting. Engineers used it in the 1930s to lay out the tunnel for the Haweswater aqueduct, at the time the longest such pipeline in Britain. The route crosses the bog to Selside Pike and drops to the lake by the old Corpse Road, which funeral processions used until 1736. The lakeshore path takes you back to the car. Allow about 8.6 km and 550 m of ascent.

Mardale Green, the village at the head of the valley, went under the water when the reservoir was raised, and the old passes over to Longsleddale and Kentmere lost their trade.