High Street

Saturday 17th April 2004

This was the last day of my holiday in 2004 and I felt rather sad about it as I walked over the fells for the last time on this holiday literally walking out of the Lake District. Even though this was only my third ever trip to the Lake District I had already developed such a love for the Lakes that I regretted having to leave. I had a deadline on this walk because of a bus I had to catch at the end of the day that I mustn't miss, so on parts of the walk I went very quickly to ensure I wasn’t stranded. I left Patterdale as early as I could and after heading over the river I walked south along the eastern side of the valley until eventually I reached Hartsop. From the car park on the far side of Hartsop I made a hard slog up the north ridge of Hartsop Dodd, but was rewarded with tremendous views of the surrounding hills and after passing over the top I had a rather uneventful, but relaxing, walk beside a wall across the broadening ridge that led me onto Caudale Moor and the summit of Stony Cove Pike.

Turning left I enjoyed a fun scramble down the rocks to Threshthwaite Mouth and then climbed up the scree slope beyond to the prominent beacon on Thornthwaite Crag. The area around Threshwaite Mouth is fabulous with shattered rock in abundance in an area that is otherwise sparse on scrambly ground. From Thornthwaite Crag I descended slightly to join the bridlepath that heads north following the course of an old Roman road called High Street. This heads gently uphill onto a broad grassy ridge keeping to the western slopes, so in order to reach the top of the hill I veered away from the path aiming for the summit of Racecourse Hill. The name of this fell is usually given by the Roman road that has its highest point on the fell and after lunch at the summit I headed north from High Street down the narrowing ridge to the Straits of Riggindale. Bearing right just after the col I followed the Roman road, High Street, up to Rampsgill Head and around the top of the valley to High Raise.

After a pause at the summit cairn of High Raise I headed in what I assumed was the right direction, but when I saw another ridge on the left I realised that I should have been on that one! Maybe sometimes a compass should be used even in clear weather! On reaching the correct path I followed it at a quickening pace over easy ground with the bus times ever in my mind while the tops of Raven Howe, Red Crag, Wether Hill and Loadpot Hill passed beneath my feet. These are not very interesting hills as the terrain has gradually changed on this far eastern edge of the Lake District from the rugged Borrowdale Volcanic Group, so typical of Lakeland, to the Carboniferous Limestone of the Pennines. Fortunately the good weather that I had enjoyed the day before this walk continued and I remember a thoroughly enjoyable walk in warm sunshine along the ridge all the way to Loadpot Hill.

From Loadpot Hill I continued to follow the route of High Street as it makes its hilltop way towards the fort of Brocavum at Brougham, near Penrith, downhill all the way bypassing the two Wainwrights of Bonscale Pike and Arthur’s Pike to cross Moor Divock. By this point Lakeland geology had been left behind and shake holes, typical of limestone country, started to appear across the flat moorland. High Street is very indistinct at this point and on the ground it was even more chaotic with many paths seemingly going in all directions but many going nowhere. The map indicates that there is a clear path straight across Moor Divock, but this was not the case on the ground. With time quickly passing before my bus soon arrived in Askham, and potentially left without me, I frantically tried to determine where my destination was using my map & compass and desperately headed in that general direction. Once again I found that a compass is necessary even in clear weather.

I made it to Askham in plenty of time for the bus and so I was able to begin my journey home. As I settled onto the train from Penrith I felt very satisfied with my week in the Lake District. I felt that I had come of age on this holiday as I had finally been able to overcome my problems with inadequate equipment and lack of experience to walk in any weather that I encountered, including torrential rain when I successfully walked all the way from Ennerdale to Grasmere. I felt that I would now be able to move on to bigger and more challenging country. Just as two years earlier I had graduated from the Brecon Beacons to the Lake District, and now later in this year I graduated to the Highlands of Scotland. However, I never wanted to abandon the Lake District and I remember thinking that I would be happy to keep coming back to the Lake District every Easter, and more often than not that is what I’ve done.