November the 15th today, so a long time since I posted.
This was my last trip to the Lakes - a magnificent walk up the Riggindale Ridge from Haweswater taking in 5 Wainwrights.
Mardale Head is a magnificent place at the top of Haweswater reservoir with stunning views of the surrounding fells. It is also a sad place as the remains of the dry stone walls of the old village of Mardale can still be seen in the shallows of the water.
Even though I got there early (before 8 AM having got up at stupid o clock) there were some campervans already there.....maybe that will be me next year !
The navigation was excellent thanks mainly to 'Walk the Lakes'. I have started using their guides on these walks and they are excellent at picking out the details of vague paths - particularly the one near the start that rose through the bracken to get on the ridge.
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| View of the car park from my climb to the ridge |
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| Haweswater Res |
The other sadness was the notice down in the car park that the resident Golden Eagle was no longer there ( a solitary male who had been gracing the skies around this ridge for over a decade). The stomp across the ridge was superb...just as I was getting to the last pull up to the High Street ridge the clouds dropped making the final climb look like a stairway to heaven.
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| Stairway to Heaven |
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| Blea Water |
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| Looking back to Rough Crag |
Eventually, I arrived on the high ground. High Street visited for the second time around (that list is growing). From there in wispy hill fog which finally cleared I walked along to Rampsgill Head enjoying the magnificent views down Riggindale Valley.
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| Rampsgill Head |
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| Riggindale |
From Rampsgill Head I had a look at the map and backtracked west to 'bag' the Knott, where I had a chat with one of the few walkers I saw this day. Then back to Rampsgill Head and north to High Raise , where I had a well deserved rest and bite to eat, enjoying the views and silence.....I love this place !
From High Raise the path descended towards Rampsgill Head but then veered off to the left towards Kidsty Pike, my final Wainwright of the day.
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| Knott Summit |
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| Kidsty Pike from the Riggindale ridge |
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| High Raise Summit |
From the summit of Kidsty Pike I followed the path down to Haweswater, over the Rigg and back to the car park.
What can I say, that I haven't said before...a rough, tough walk with stunning , magnificent views.
OS OL5 around 9.5 Miles
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