This year, Remembrance Sunday falls on 10th November and it marks 101 years since Armistice Day. Each year, we use this day to officially commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts.
This year, we’ve designed a special 2-night Remembrance Sunday break at the Borrowdale Hotel to mark the occasion, which includes a guided walk up local fell, Castle Crag, to mark the annual two-minute silence that is held at 11am.
The walk will be led by the Hotel’s General Manager, George Smith, who holds this day close to his heart as a former member of the Royal Navy. The walk itself takes approximately 1 hours 30 minutes – 2 hours to reach the summit and the Wainwright has much military history of its own.
This special remembrance event has been specially designed to honour those who heroically sacrificed themselves to secure and protect the freedom that Britain has today. We will make sure that no-one is forgotten.
Remembrance Sunday Break
Friday 8th & Saturday 9th November
Stay with us at the Borrowdale Hotel for two nights dinner, bed & breakfast on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th November and enjoy a late check-out on Sunday 10th.
Guests will gather together early on Sunday morning as we embark on our guided walk from the hotel to Castle Cragg, where a two-minute silence will be held to remember those who lost their lives fighting for our country.
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After the silence enjoy a steaming mug of hot chocolate before making your way back to hotel for a traditional Sunday lunch with all the trimmings.
PLEASE NOTE: the walk is of moderate difficulty, however the terrain can be quite loose and uneven at the top, so do make sure you pack appropriate walking boots. If you do not own any boots, all hotel residents receive free walking boot hire from George Fisher. There’s always the likelihood of it being windy and/or cold at the top, so also be sure to come wrapped up.
Remembrance Sunday Break includes:
• Two nights dinner, bed & breakfast
• Tea & hot buttered crumpets on arrival
• Guided walk up Castle Crag on the Sunday morning followed by a steaming mug of hot chocolate
• 4-course Sunday lunch back at the hotel before heading home
• Late check-out at 1pm
Prices for this special remembrance package start from £399. To book please call 0800 840 1244 or click here.
Not staying with us? Don’t worry…
If you are in the area but not staying with us, you can still honour our fallen heroes with us as we also invite non-residents to attend our guided walk.
For just £28.95 per person, you will join us as we make our ascent up Castle Crag where we will hold our two-minute silence, receive refreshments afterwards plus enjoy a traditional Sunday lunch upon returning to the Borrowdale Hotel.
To book as a non-resident, please call 0800 840 1244 or email leah@lakedistricthotels.net
The Castle Crag Walk
Distance from Borrowdale Hotel: 6.9 miles (11.1km)
Height Gain: 1120ft (342m)
Grade: Moderate
Terrain: Lakeside meadows, woodland trails, riverside path and some road walking; one short, steep climb on loose slate
Time: Approx. 3½-4 hours
Requirements: Strong footwear and appropriate clothing
Castle Crag Overview
Castle Crag is the tiny, steep-sided fell that sits in the Jaws of Borrowdale. Small it may be, but it commands an excellent position within the valley, one that has been used by armies for centuries and is now enjoyed by fell-walkers.
This walk heads out across the meadows at the southern end of Derwentwater and then into the woods near Grange before mounting an assault on the summit fort. It’s a short climb, but it’s steep – using a loose path through a quarry spoil heap to get to the top.
The summit area is believed to have once been an ancient Iron Age hill fort. The top of Castle Cragg was gifted to the National Trust by Sir William Hamer in 1920 in memory of his son and 10 men from Borrowdale who had been killed during World War One. There is a slate war memorial at the summit, and Sir William’s wife Agnes erected a memorial seat to her husband on the lower slopes in 1939.
The Remembrance Walk
From leaving the hotel, we will carefully cross the road and turn right. After about 0.3 miles, we will go through the large gate on your left – signposted Manesty.
A good path leads across the wetlands at the southern end of Derwentwater and across the bridge over the River Derwent. Beyond the gate at the end of the boardwalk, we’ll follow the constructed path for a further 80 yards and then turn left along a path beside some oak trees. Using another section of boardwalk, the path reaches a gate. We’ll go through this and then through a kissing-gate, which takes us on a good path leading to a minor road near Manesty. Here we will turn left and walk along the asphalt for about 0.6 miles.
Just after passing Grange’s tiny Holy Trinity Church on the left, we turn right down a narrow, surfaced lane – signposted Rosthwaite and Seatoller. When the lane splits, we’ll bear left. This track passes to the right of the campsite field. At the next fork, we keep left, with the wall, and pass beyond a barrier to reach the river bank. Follow the River Derwent upstream. There are two bridges to help us cross tributary streams should we need them.
After the second bridge, turn right along a broad path heading uphill – signposted Seatoller and Honister. There is a small beck on the right at first, we will cross it via a narrow plank bridge. Climbing gently, leaving the woods via a gate and entering a shattered landscape of quarry waste and boulders thrown down from the crags of Low Scawdel.
It’s not a particularly difficult climb at this stage, but we will stop occasionally to turn around and enjoy the fantastic views of Derwentwater and Skiddaw behind.
About 400 yards beyond the gate, at a brief lull in the ascent, we turn left up what is at first a faint, grassy path, but soon becomes a clearer, stony trail doubling back on itself. Here we pass through a gap in a drystone wall, passing a memorial bench to Sir William Hamer on the right. Once through a small gate, walk beside the fence on the right. At the fence corner, we’ll keep left and follow the steep trail up to a cairn at the bottom of some quarry workings. From here we follow the zig-zag path steeply up through the spoil heap. The slate is relatively stable, but it gets slippery in wet weather. You’ll be glad to hear that this section of the climb is quickly over and you emerge on a flat area with superb views of Borrowdale. A path to the left explores the cliffs exposed by the quarrymen, but our route continues straight ahead, uphill through some trees and on to the top of Castle Crag.
Here a two-minute silence will be held at 11am on Sunday, paying tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives fighting for their country. Afterwards a steaming mug of hot chocolate will be served before we retrace our steps to the bottom of the spoil heap. Ignoring the trail that we followed earlier, instead we keep straight ahead, towards a wall corner. From here we cross this and head downhill on the path – grassy at first, but pitched lower down.
Once through a small gate in a wall, the route becomes steep and loose in places.
Having crossed a stile next to a gate at the bottom of the drop, we turn left. A kissing-gate leads into the woods around the base of Castle Crag. The clear, easy-going path winds its way through the trees, passing beneath small crags and piles of moss-covered boulders. There are caves here too – the legacy of old quarrying operations. Soon after one such quarrying area, the path splits. Here we bear right and keep right again at a fingerpost a few strides further on – signposted Grange. The woodland path later drops to the River Derwent.
Beyond the next gate, we descend to a junction of paths close to where Broadslack Gill enters the river. Retracing our steps from earlier in the walk, we cross the footbridge here, followed quickly by a second one. After passing the barrier, we’ll keep right at a fork and then turn right along a surfaced lane to retrace our earlier route across the meadows at the southern end of Derwentwater. Having passed through another two gates, we’ll reach more open ground, before bearing right here and then right again along a clear path that soon re-crosses the footbridge over the River Derwent. From reaching the road, we turn right for the Borrowdale Hotel.
