Broom Fell

A tall, well built cairn marks Broom Fell on the ridge between Graystones and Lord's Seat. Beside it, a wall climbs from Aiken Beck and stops dead at the summit. It joins no other wall and nobody knows what it was for. Part of it has been rebuilt as a small wind shelter.

Most rounds start at the Forestry Commission's Scawgill car park on the western side of the Whinlatter Pass road. Walk Lakes suggests the second parking patch, by the forestry gate opposite Darling How. From there you climb Graystones, cross Widow Hause and go steeply up to Broom Fell, then carry on over Lord's Seat and back down through the forest, about 10.7km with 520m of ascent. A shorter line goes up Aiken Beck and tackles the southern slopes directly. From the north, an old path crosses Wythop Moss from Wythop Mill on the drier ground and then climbs onto the ridge at Widow Hause. The Whinlatter visitor centre is another start, about 4.3km over Ullister Hill and Lord's Seat.

The climbs are steep grass, and the ground between the tops is wet. Forest tracks make the return easy. There is no scrambling, though some of the step stiles have no way through for dogs.

South, the view takes in the Whiteside and Grisedale Pike ridge with Grasmoor behind. North-west, past Cockermouth and Workington, the Solway Firth and Criffel in Scotland show on clear days. Lord's Seat sits to the east with the Skiddaw fells behind it.

Spout Force, a waterfall on Aiken Beck hidden in the Darling How plantation, is a short detour from the car park.