Salt Spring

The walk up to Salt Spring rewards you with one of the Lake District's most satisfying views without demanding serious fell-walking credentials. It's a modest climb from Keswick - twenty minutes or so if you know where you're going - and the payoff is a proper panorama across Derwentwater with Catbells and Borrowdale stretching out below you.

What you're actually looking at is a natural spring that emerges from the hillside, though honestly the water itself is less interesting than the vantage point. This is a viewpoint first, geological curiosity second. The view opens up suddenly as you reach the right elevation, and on a clear day it's the kind of spot where you'll spend longer than you expected just standing about with a thermos.

Walkers will appreciate it most - it's not a destination in itself but rather a clever way to bag decent scenery without committing to a full mountain day. Families with older kids can manage it; younger ones might find the steep sections tedious. Avoid wet weather when the path gets properly slippery.

If you're based at Castlerigg Hall or the Keswick Camping and Caravanning Club site, it slots perfectly into a morning before heading south towards Borrowdale or east towards Helvellyn. It's the sort of thing you'd do on a day when the big peaks are clouded in but the lower slopes are clear. Not a must-do, but if you're in Keswick and the weather's decent, it's worth the half-hour detour.