Watendlath itself is a tiny hamlet lying at the end of a pretty valley which branches off Borrowdale at Ashness. I first visited it more than forty years ago, and it's hardly changed at all in the intervening years. Its major attraction is that it can be the half way point for a variety of walks, and you can sit in the small garden for a welcome cup of tea and feed the amazingly tame and rather plump chaffinches.
From Keswick you have a choice of approach routes:
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Take the launch to Ashness and walk up the road to Ashness Bridge. Continue along the metalled road, pausing at Surprise View for one of the best views of Derwentwater.
Turn off the road to the right at the earliest opportunity and follow the path through the woods to High Lodore.
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Take the launch to Lodore. Walk back along the road towards the Lodore Hotel, and take the path to the right just before a farmhouse. The climb to High Lodore is steep and slippery in places, but preferable to the long slog up the metalled road from Ashness. The only drawback is that you don't get the view from Surprise View.
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Via Walla Crag (see Walk 2). Either descend to Ashness Bridge, or do the entire ridge of Bleaberry Fell, High Seat and High Tove.
The walk from High Lodore to Watendlath is one of the easiest in the Lakes, but to my mind one of the nicest. The narrow green valley, with the beck meandering through it, is framed by Grange Fells on one side and the High Seat ridge on the other.
After your cup of tea, you have another choice to make, namely the return route to Borrowdale.
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The quickest and easiest is to re-trace your footsteps to Ashness, but I don't like returning the same way unless there's a very good reason for it.
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The second easiest is to take the path which climbs over Puddingstone Bank and descends to Rosthwaite.
There are good views of Borrowdale from the top of the rise.
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The most energetic choice is to take the path which heads south for Dock Tarn.
In its latter stages it's not the easiest of paths to follow in bad conditions. On our first attempt to find Dock Tarn we had to battle against driving rain and gale force winds. The path looked like streams, and the streams like paths, and we eventually ended up following a stream along the little vally between Great Crag and Heron Crag before stumbling across the path down Willygrass Gill.
In good weather it's well worth a visit, however, and there are even stepping stones across the worst of the bog. The descent from Lingy End to Stonethwaite via Willygrass Gill is steep and tedious, and slippery in places under the trees, but eventually the level valley floor is reached and you can enjoy a pleasant walk to Rosthwaite alongside Stonethwaite Beck.
Having reached Rosthwaite the next objective is Grange. You can walk back along the road, but a far more pleasant alternative is to cross the river and take the 'Allerdale Ramble', which leads to Hollows Farm and thence to Grange. When I was a child, all roads led to Grange. My friend and I would spend hours playing and swimming in the river before enjoying a lunch of beans on toast at the cafe. The cafe is still there, and we usually drop in for another cup of tea.
From Grange you can follow the main road to Lodore, or preferably take the path through Manesty Park to Brandlehow to catch the clockwise launch back to Keswick. If you have the time and enery, however, the walk through Fawe Park to Nichol End is very pleasant and can be continued via Portinscale back to Keswick.