Knott Rigg and Ard Crags

Saturday 2nd January 2010

My main aim on this day was to get home as soon as possible. I'd just about had enough of snow and ice, so I wanted to quickly get away from it all, plus I wasn't confident in public transport being reliable, though as it turned out by taking the first train or bus that was going in the right direction I got home with no problems. I still wanted to do a decent walk on the way so after leaving the youth hostel in Buttermere I walked up the snow covered road to Newlands Hause. Despite being a road this felt like I was walking along a farmer's track on the side of a hill. The deep snow gave it a really isolated and bleak feel; you certainly couldn’t drive over the pass, and judging by the animal tracks in the snow no one had tried. Eventually I reached the top of the pass where I found a stunning view of the surrounding fells as the weather gave me a special final treat to see me off with beautiful, clear views of all the fells around me. From Newlands Hause I set off straight up the snow covered slope to the ridge of Knott Rigg. This was an enjoyable walk as the snow under foot seemed almost a pleasure to walk upon under good weather and with stunning views around me. After a lovely walk along the top of the narrow ridge I reached the summit of Knott Rigg but I hardly paused as I continued along the ridge to Ard Crags. I had been along this ridge only once before on a windy bank holiday Monday, and it had thrilled me then just as much as now with the snow.

At the end of the ridge the wind picked up as I descended a steep heather slope onto a bracken covered hillside that took me down to Rigg Beck which I crossed before joining the Rigg Beck path. This path forms an important route through the mountains from Buttermere to the Newlands valley and would have been my bad weather route. Fortunately I hadn't needed it on this walk, though I probably should have taken it to get to Buttermere earlier in the week. Following the path to its end at a road I turned left and followed the road north until I could find a way over the Newlands valley. Unfortunately the recent floods had washed away all of the bridges in the valley. Every road I passed was marked 'Road Closed Ahead' and the footpaths were marked 'Bridge Missing'.

I had to walk along the road all the way to Braithwaite before crossing Newlands Beck Bridge on the main road before finally getting back to Keswick. Despite the diversion I got to Keswick by lunch time and had plenty of time left to get home. This was not a vintage week in the Lake District; in fact it was a very challenging holiday that had saw me venture into some quite wintry conditions that were not to my liking. As the week progressed I was able to practice lots of special ways of walking in snow, e.g. kicking into the snow and edging with my boot, but it wasn’t really for me. By exercising prudence and care (plus a pair of walking poles) I survived the snow and I didn’t slip over at any time during the week. However, without crampons I was limited in what I could do, but I’m not keen on getting any. Most of the time they weren’t necessary (and in fact they would have been useless), and if I’d had them I may have been encouraged to venture into areas that would have been really dangerous. For now I’ll be staying far away from snow-covered mountains.