HERE is the latest column written by Andrew Thomas. 

Which is your favourite viewpoint in the Lake District?

Our wonderful landscape offers many options and each person will have their own special places.

At the weekend I was in the Windermere area and climbed to Biskey Howe Viewpoint, where there is a tremendous view north up the lake. A few large trees block part of the view south and west but, a little further on, Post Knott can be reached via a short, steep climb.

The elevation is greater here and you get uninterrupted views of a large section of the lake. Looking over to Claife Heights the trees were like an impressionistic painting, all browns, yellows and ochres - and their colours will only deepen in the coming weeks.

There are many terrific viewpoints near England’s longest lake. Gummer’s How, at the southern end, affords magnificent vistas and you can spot lake steamers coming in and out of the terminal at Lakeside.

One of the most famous viewpoints is Orrest Head at Windermere.

In 1930 Alfred Wainwright, then 23, visited the Lake District from his home in Blackburn.

He climbed Orrest Head and later wrote in his autobiographical Ex-Fellwanderer: "...quite suddenly, we emerged from the trees and were on a bare headland, and, as though a curtain had dramatically been torn aside, beheld a truly magnificent view. ..."

It was a pivotal moment in his life. He later went on to write his famous Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland fells, so loved by fellwalkers.

Jenkin’s Crag near Ambleside offers another great outlook. From here you can see Latterbarrow, which is a modest 803 feet high, but from which you gain panoramic views of all the southern Lakeland fells.

There are views of a different kind when you are high on the major Lakeland fells. There you have the thrill of being in the heart of an epic landscape of peaks, craggy outcrops and steep ravines.

Of course, a viewpoint is not the be-all and end-all of walking in the Lakes. Equally important are the exercise and sense of achievement involved in reaching them and the companionship of the people with whom you are walking.

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