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Ascent of Barf and Lord's Seat

Map for Ascent of Barf and Lord's Seat This medium length walk starts with a steep climb in the woods before emerging onto the delightful summit of Barf. We then continue on the higher summit of Lord's Seat, before returning through Beckstones Plantation.

Ascent: 1,650ft
Length: 3.5 miles
Map: The English Lakes - North Western Area (OS Explorer Map Active)
Last Walked: Autumn 2011

We start at the small car park just to the north of the old Swan Hotel, on the back road that runs north from Braithwaite and Thornthwaite.

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Head out of the car park onto the road. Turn left, then after a very short distance turn right onto a side-road
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View from BarfJust before this road crosses Beckstones Gill and turns sharply to the left, a path branches off to the right. Follow this path into the woods, and past The Clerk and the The Bishop further up the scree slopes on Barf. Follow this path until it splits in two. One branch continues on along the eastern side of the beck, but we want the path that branches off to the left to cross the beck. We then cross the forest fence using a stile, before turning right onto a path that climbs quite steeply up through the trees.
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This path eventually brings us to a small crag that blocks the valley. A short scramble at the base of the crag brings us onto a clear path that cuts right across the rocks to reach more level ground beyond.
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Heather-covered BarfFollow this path as it curves around a bowl in the hill. It then joins a forest track for a short time, before turning back into a path which drops down to cross Beckstones Gill. After crossing the beck the path turns to the right to climb up towards the summit of Barf. At one point the path splits - continue on to the right.
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Lord's Seat from BarfA clear path leaves the summit, heading towards the ridge that runs north-east from Lord's Seat. Follow this path onto that ridge, then as is it climbs up onto the summit.
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Rear View of BarfA clear path heads down from the summit towards the forestry boundary fence (heading between south and south-west). On the far side of the fence the path improves dramatically in quality. Follow this path as it meanders across the fellside.
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Follow this path until it reaches a T-Junction. Turn left here and follow the path as it begins to drop down the fellside. Eventually it reaches the end of a forest track.
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We follow this track as it heads south along the fellside. A series of tracks join our track from the left-rear. Ignore the first of these tracks, then turn left onto the second one and follow it as it runs north back towards the valley of Beckstones Gill.
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At the end of this track a path continues on, joining up with the steep path we used earlier. Turn right and follow this path as it drops back down to the road. Turn left onto the side road, then the bigger road at the Swan and back to the car.

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