THE AREA around Keswick is splendid walking country sandwiched between Bassenthwaite Lake and Derwentwater and overlooked by Skiddaw mountain.

I reached the town from Bolton via the M6, turning off at Junction 40 and following the A66. Snow was covering the hills and Keswick was almost deserted which is a complete contrast to the summer when it is a heaving mass of people and parking is a problem.

I was in search of a good long walk around the pair of lakes so I started early. I did this because I also wanted to visit the Cumberland Pencil Museum near the town centre which is open throughout the year. Amenities which open in the cold months of the year deserve to succeed. The next time you use a pencil spare more than a though for the history of this amazing piece of engineering! The lead in a pencil is not in fact a lead at all but is a pure form of carbon known as graphite. It was produced millions of years ago by a combination of pressure and volcanic heat.

It is said that in around 1500AD shepherds in the Keswick Hills near Borrowdale were sheltering from a storm inside a cave when they found slabs of graphite which they thought was coral. When they tried to burn it the stuff would not light but it was so hard to wash off that they used it to mark their sheep.

The word Graphite comes from the Greek word meaning to write and it was soon in great demand for writing. The Italians used graphite to make pencils but it did not take the Europeans long to realise that Keswick graphite was the best in the world by far. Graphite was also found useful to line the moulds to make cannon balls and in 1751 the government placed a tax on it. Any local lad tempted to smuggle graphite was transported to the colonies!

Soon pencils of various grades were needed to do different jobs. Draughtsmen, carpenters, stone masons, artists and ordinary folks like thee and me all had different requirements.

Pencils were graded from 1B to 9B (meaning soft and black) and from 1H to 9H meaning hard grey. In this case pure graphite was mixed with grey. Most of us choose to use a mixture of the two and this is the origin of the HB pencil.

The wood used to enclose the pencil comes from an American tree called the Florida Cedar which is in fact not a cedar but related to the Giant Redwoods. Its scientific name is Juniperus Virginiana and its timber gives a smooth finish which does not splinter. In recent years the company has produced more and more coloured pencils (more than 120 shades) and these are of such quality and consistency that they are used by film animators. The next time you watch the film 'The Snowman' remember that it was coloured using pencils from this factory. The telephone number of the museum is 07687 72116.

Although all the Cumbrian graphite mines have now been worked out the factory has such expertise that it imports raw materials and is working at full capacity.

You should take a whole day over this trip, buy yourself a set of pencils and try your hand at sketching the scenery and wildlife around Bassenthwaite Lake and Derwentwater.

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