one of many shots down over Hard Knott
a zoomed in shot on the Hard Knott fort - I think they
threw their rubbish on the Eskdale side
the Furness Fells
It was mostly overcast, but with bits of blue sky breaking through now and again, also pleasantly warm - no big coats required. It's fairly knobbly up here with plenty of little crags to go up and around or over, with the grass in between fairly moist underfoot - a function of groundwater settling between the knobbly bits. I knew why Wainwright chose this one straightaway as behind us the views over Eskdale to the Scafells were superb. The cloudbase was mercifully above England's highest mountain and as we got higher up the slopes to the summit we had a great panorama of hills to stare at. To the north were the Scafells, Eskdale, Bow Fell and the Crinkle Crags, whilst to the south was the Dunnerdale Fells and Morecambe Bay. To the east lay the Furness Fells of Coniston Old Man, Wetherlam and Grey Friar. To the west the views took in the valleys flowing down to the coast at Ravenglass. Most impressive was the views down over Hard Knott Roman Fort - Mediobogdvm - but there's nothing mediocre or toilet like about this place. It's situated on a spur high above the River Esk with commanding views down to the coast, and we had a birds eye view of the lay out from the summit of Harter Fell. The summit itself has two rocky tops, so we climbed up both to be sure of the high point. After a quick snack, it started to get a bit chilly in the breeze, so we didn't hang about and made our way back down the path in a direct line for the car.
the view from Harter Fell looking north
Hard Knott fort
the view to the coast beyond Dunnerdale
Paul on the summit of Harter Fell
looking over to Hard Knott, with Eskdale lit up
and the Scafells beyond
the view along Wrynose Bottom from Hard Knott
It didn't take long back down to the car where we dumped our back packs and sauntered up to Hard Knott, a very short diversion away from the road. It's probably one of the easiest ascents to a Wainwright that I've made so far. Just a 20 minute walk up to the top from the car. The views were similar to those from Harter Fell, but obviously that much nearer to the big boys. In the middle of the path on the way up is the most useles stile I've seen for a while - no fence either side - ok for sitting on. The views over to the Old Man of Coniston weren't inspiring - not it's best aspect that's for sure. We didn't hang about as we had the Langdale Pikes to consider for the morning and an early appointment with a pint of Jennings - cheers. We took the short cut back to Langdale via Blea Tarn, and oh what a view - definitely one of my favourites of all time - looking down the length of Mickelden.
the summit of Hard Knott ahead
looking back at our route up Hard Knott
Swirl How is the pointy one
a very tired 'brucie' on the summit of Hard Knott
The Scafells from Hard Knott - note the Great Moss -
nice and flat
looking over to Grey Friar
beyond Harter Fell is the Dunnerdale Fells
and the award for completely useless stile......not a
bad seat actually
looking along Wrynose Pass
on our way back down
from Hard Knott
looking up to the
Wrynose Pass
looking back along
Wrynose bottom to the Hard Knott pass in the distance
One of my favourite
views - you can always spot the Pike of Stickle from a long
way
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