Hard Knott

A very dull day with the cloud base around 400m and drizzly rain on and off. We had a later start today not setting off from Jubilee Bridge at the foot of the Hard Knott pass just before midday. It was a refreshing walk up Eskdale along the river Esk, with it's small waterfalls, to the picturesque Lingcove bridge where we had a bite to eat.

Slightly concerned about traversing Hard Knott fell in the mist and no paths marked on the map, we ascended up the right hand bank of Lingcove beck  following the path skirting between the beck and the small crag immediately above us. The gradient flattened and we continued, now in the mist  keeping the beck down on our left. Looking for some sort of path to head up towards Yew Bank we found it and although not marked, it was this path we were able to follow up the Hard Knott Summit and then descend back to the road at the top of the pass. Occasionally the path disappeared but a bit of compass work soon got us back on track without problems.

Unfortunately there would be no opportunities to see the Eskdale needle today.4

 Back to the car down the road, we discounted the path via the Roman fort because of the bog underfoot.

 

Time 5 hrs

Grade Excellent

Memories 

• Beautiful Eskdale, even with the tops in cloud
• Navigating across Hard Knott in mist
• The Herdwick sheep

Completed 188 To go  26

Robinson and Hindscarth

Again, as so often recently, we were lucky enough to get the last parking spot in the small car park, this time at Little Town in the Newlands Valley

Today our walk took us up Robinson and then on to Hindscarth before descending back to the valley. We would leave Dale Head for another day.

The ascent of Robinson was interesting with the well documented 3 rocky steps, They have been described and 'no problem' to  'a bit of a scramble'. We fall into the latter group. The first and third were indeed 'no problem' but we had difficulty on the middle one as Elspeth was unable to stretch her legs high enough to scramble up the short rock face, However we found an alternative route bypassing the section finding a small path circumventing it down on the left hand side.

We reached the summit easily after this and then descended to Littledale Edge to get out the the cool wind, for lunch. The view across the Buttermere valley and Honister were magnificent.  The high fell of Pillar and the Gables coming in and out of thick cloud, the lower tops of Haystacks, Fleetwith Pike etc easily identified.

Next stop  was Hindscarth with again magnificent, if not better, views whichever way you looked.

The descent north down the ridge of Hindscarth was a delight. Some concentration needed initially and very much so at the end when the gradient increased but overall wonderful with the views up the Newlands valley and the heather, not quite out yet, carpeting both sides of the path.

Time 6 hrs 30 mns

Grade Excellent

Memories

• Rocky step number 2
• 360 degree panoramic views
• Delightful descent off Hindscarth

Completed 187  To go 27

The three rock step on ascent of Robinson

Robinson (R)  and Hindscarth (centre)