Windermere and Bowness

The route starts at the enterance to Green Hill.

Green Hill is a new native woodland that was planted in 1997. The 12 Hectare site was formally rough fell land with some scattered mature trees. It has been transformed into a young upland oakwood by a mixture of planting native trees and also providing suitable conditions to encourage naturally regenerated seedlings to grow.

The bridleway which runs through Green Hill starts as a Tarmacadam road but quickly progress into a stone track and then finishes on a grass section.

There are some lovely view towards the distant fells.

The bridelway ends at the junction with the Winster road. Proceed straight across onto Green Lane.

There is a relatively short stretch of the route on the N5284 Crook Road which can get quite busy at times.

The byway which quickly turns to a track runs the 3/4 mile to High Lickbarrow.

The Heathwaite Bridleway runs around the outskirts of Windermere.

The bridleway finishes at Thwaites Lane. Turn left and follow the road round and take the third right into Claife Avenue. Follow Claife Avenue to pass under the railway arch into Thwaites Road. There is a short steep unhill section to join the main Kendal - Windermere road.

Turn left and follow the road into Windermere.

The town of Windermere lies 1kilometer from Lake Windermere, the town itself dosn't touch the lake, and is sometimes confused with the older town of Bowness On Windermere, over the years both towns have grown in population and are sometimes mistaken as one.

Windermere has changed considerably over the past centaury or so, not only in it' s appearance but in name to. Windermere was once made up of three small hamlets called Birththwaite, Applethwaite and Heathwaite, the word ' thwaite' means a clearing in some trees, when the railway at Applethwaite arrived in 1857 bringing many wealthy mill owners from Lancashire, it was decided that visiting people to the area would recognise the location more if this small hamlet was renamed after the Lake (Windermere) so the three hamlets were renamed and became one. Most of the buildings in the Windermere location are of the Victorian era, and the town started to grow with the increase of visitors.

Bowness-on-Windermere is a sprawling tourist town on the shore of Windermere, about halfway along the 12 mile length of the lake between Waterhead at the North end, and Lakeside at the South end. It developed after the opening of the railway line from Oxenholme and Kendal to Windermere in 1847. Bowness was the nearest accessible point on the lake.

Bowness-on-Windermere is Cumbria’s most popular destination, with the town busy for much of the year.
The Victorian influence can be seen everywhere - in the late 19th century, wealthy businessmen from Lancashire built large residences overlooking the lake, and many of these have now been converted to hotels.

The final strech of the route is a fairly steep climb up to Ghyill Head and then back to the Start of the Green Hill Trail.