Culture & Heritage Place Description
Orrest Head is on the eastern shores of Windermere. It is the subject of a chapter in Wainwright’s The Outlying Fells of Lakeland, and the first fell he climbed. He describes it as “our first ascent in Lakeland, our first sight of mountains in tumultuous array across glittering waters, our awakening to beauty” and as “a fitting finale, too, to a life made happy by fell wandering“.
On the summit is a panorama naming the key visible fells which include the Old Man of Coniston, Scafell Pike, Great Gable, Fairfield and the Langdale Pikes.
Orrest Head is typically climbed directly from the town of Windermere near the Information centre. Access is made via a road which reaches most of the way to the summit.