In none of my many visits to the Lake District had I ever walked up Cat Bells. I don’t think I ever consciously decided to not set foot on this fell. It’s more likely that an underlying desire to avoid crowded mountains meant that walking up the incredibly popular Cat Bells never occurred to me. Yet, it’s the very things that make Cat Bells well-liked that are the reasons I chose it as the first Lake District fell for my son to climb.

The popularity of Cat Bells probably comes from its being accessible, in a fantastic location, and an all-round good walk. Cat Bells is three miles from the busy tourist town of Keswick in the North of the Lake District National Park. It’s a shapely ridge that has Derwent Water on one side and the pretty Newlands valley on the other. From its slopes there are stunning views of the valleys of Borrowdale and Newlands, the rounded mountains of Skiddaw and Blencathra, Keswick, and, in the distance, Bassenthwaite Lake. The classic circular walk that takes the North ridge to the summit was voted the fourth best walk in Britain in a survey of 8,000 walkers organised by the Ordnance Survey and The Ramblers; the results of which were presented in an ITV programme in 2018. Cat Bells was also apparently a favourite of Beatrix Potter’s, who made it in the home of her character Mrs Tiggy-Winkle.

It’s easy to see why the walk to the top of Cat Bells is a favourite with so many people. In addition to the good views, the North ridge has a Goldilocks gradient (steep enough at times to make you feel like you are doing something worthwhile, while not so steep that many people might find it off-putting), is not too long (one mile to the summit, with an ETA of one-hour), and several rocky sections to make the route feel a bit more adventurous. 

These are the features that made me for the first time consider Cat Bells as a destination. I was thinking of where to take my ten-year-old son for his introduction to Lakeland fells. To make his first fell walk as enjoyable and memorable an experience as possible, I needed a walk that wasn’t too long, had some interest along the way, and had some classic Lake District views. When I put the idea of climbing Cat Bells to him, my son said that he trusted me to choose a good walk (which was nice). However, he expressed disappointment that the cats were long gone from the fell (the name Cat Bells is thought to come from Cat Bields, which means a shelter for wild cats). 

It was a glorious day for a walk. There was a cold wind and a sky of broken cloud, which let down pools of golden light on the warm oranges, browns, and reds of the trees. The intermittent rain that was forecast never arrived. It was a glorious day that Leo and I shared with a lot of people on Cat Bells. The numbers of people were what I would expect on a summer weekend on a Lake District fell, not a weekday in early November. Large groups of walkers passed us as we slowly made our way up the well-maintained path.

Leo took a while to warm-up, and we stopped frequently for him to rest. I enjoyed the fantastic views and wondered if there is an age at which great scenery starts to motivate young people to climb mountains. However, he livened-up when we got to the first rocky section. Leo confidently scrambled up this while calling for me to keep up.

He climbed past a memorial plaque made of dark stone attached to the rock. This celebrates the life of Thomas Arthur Leonard, who pioneered outdoor holidays for working people in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Leonard was the founder of the Co-operative Holidays Association and the Holiday Fellowship, as well as being involved in setting up the Youth Hostels Association and the Ramblers’ Association.

It was at the top of this rocky section that we walked into a photo shoot. A man and a woman in new-looking outdoor gear stood waiting for their cue from a photography crew further along the ridge. I apologised for interrupting them, and the woman smiled and said it wasn’t a problem. We then carried on along the ridge, which gently rises and falls before steepening for the section leading to the summit.

It was on this section that I noticed irregularly shaped mounds next to shallow holes at intervals along the sides of the path. Each mound looked like it had been made by removing the turf from a section of ground, digging a hole, putting most of the earth from this hole into a mound, and then covering the lot with the turf. It was a clever way of reducing trail widening by subtly making walking alongside the path a bit harder. I think this is the first time I’ve seen a nudge used to control erosion.

Leo soldiered on up the steep final rocky section to the summit. The panoramic views from the top were glorious, and they help to explain why the climb up this fell is so popular. The passage of all those walking boots has polished the rock of the summit almost to a shine and worn off all its hard edges. After enjoying the views for a few minutes, we headed off to find a lunch spot away from the crowded summit.

Eating lunch had an amazingly restorative effect on Leo and he asked if he could run around for a bit while I restored my energy levels with some coffee. We then walked down to the saddle between Cat Bells and Maiden Moor, and took a sharp right to descend a stone-pitched path past Hause Gate. The crowds we were walking with took a left after a few minutes to follow the classic loop to traverse the side of Cat Bells, while Leo and I carried on straight to meet up with the road to Grange. 

The energy Leo had gained from lunch had worn off at about this point. He asked me to take his hand and I pulled him up a rise to the entrance to Manesty Woods. I was surprised to see a post box set into the wall just by the gate into the woods. It seemed like an out of the way place for it to be.

We walked through the woods until we reached Derwent Water, and then picked up the lakeside path. The trees had lovely autumn colours on, and the views across the lake to the fells were fantastic. We stopped for a few minutes to watch a deer gently stepping through the wilted bracken near Hawes End Outdoor Centre. Leo excitedly asked me to take a photo of it, and I did, but my camera was nowhere near good enough do the deer justice. After a few minutes walking along roads and the edge of a wood, we arrived back where we had begun.

I asked Leo what he had thought about our day. He told me that it was a good walk. I was pleased that he had a positive time climbing his first Lakeland fell, and hoped that I will be able to encourage him up more fells in future.