Thornthwaite Crag

A great day above Troutbeck today on the Troutbeck Skyline.

We set off from Trutbeck Church at 10am and climbed the gentle Garburn Track up to the Garburn Pass, turning north at the summit of the pass and following the path north alng the ridge, eventually climbing to the summit of Yoke.

From Yoke we continued north, following the ridge to the summit of Ill Bell. We stopped for lunch at the summit of Ill Bell before continuing north, as we descended Ill Bell a little cloud blew in so that as we crossed Froswick and climbed to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag we were in and out of the cloud.

We descended from Thornthwaite Crag south dropping down onto the Roman Road and dropped down to Hag Gill, following the track back to Troutbeck.

After meeting outside the Patterdale Hotel in the glorious sunshine we made our way across the fields and onto the track that traverses the hillside. After even just a short while of climbing we got some amazing views back down to Ullswater. We continued up the track to Boredale Hause from which we continued along to the summit of Angletarn Pikes. On this summit it was quite windy, and we could also see a larger band of cloud sweeping in. Within just a few minutes many of the highest summits in the area were covered with cloud, so we thought our views for the day were gone. We made our way past the lovely Angle Tarn and towards The Knott, a rounded summit that stands high above Hayeswater Reservoir. Fortunately by the time we had got here the cloud had once again blown through and we could see the summit of our next objective, High Street.

We enjoyed views down to Haweswater as we climbed the long and sustained slope up to the summit. On the summit we stopped for lunch and enjoyed extensive views right across the entire national park.

After our stop we descended and then climbed up to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag, which holds the large impressive beacon. From this summit we made our way back northwards over Gray Crags and back down to Hartsop. From here we followed the long track back along past the fields and into Patterdale.

The forecast said the weather for today would be the best to the east of Helvellyn, and that was exactly where we were heading onto High Street and the surrounding fells.

We started from the small village of Hartsop, and although there was some mist covering the tops we knew it would improve, and it was creating some quite dramatic views. We ascended on the good track up to the large Hayeswater Reservoir. We now climbed far more steeply up towards The Knott, from one side a large domed fell, and from the other side just a small pimple of a fell! We descended off The Knott and climbed the slopes up to Rampsgill Head. Just as we summited Rampsgill Head the mist cleared a little and provided us with some views of our next objective, High Raise. We descended and climbed the gentle slopes to the summit, and after a few pictures we turned and started to head back towards Kidsty Pike. We contoured around the head of Randale Beck and summited the fell. After our first little extention we were now heading for our main objective of the day, High Street. We walked around the Head of Riggindale Beck and across the top of Two Penny Crag before crossing the Straits of Riggindale. Now on our ascent up High Street and having already got 4 summits with no views we were really happy when the mist started to clear again. Firsly it cleared to provide views down in to Riggindale and to Haweswater in the distance, and then to our delight the summit of High Street emerged, and with it came some glorious sunshine. We reached the flat summit and thought it would be a great time to have some lunch. A mini inversion was happening as we found ourselves above most of the cloud, and the most impressive thing was that Helvellyn and its edges emerged out of the cloud, followed by Fairfield and St Sunday's Crag, a great lunchtime view! We descended to the south and then climbed again to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag, which hosts an impressive Roman Beacon. Doing well for time we thought we would extend the route once more and not descend over Gray Crag. We descended off the fell to Threshwaite Mouth and then climbed the rocky path to the summit of Stony Cove Pike. With another wall for assistance we followed it to the North towards Hartsop Dodd. On the way the cloud was breaking again to provide some more nice views. We summited our eigth and final fell and now just had a steep descent back down into Hartsop. On the way down we were treated with some lovely views of Brotehrs Water and Ullswater to the north.  Just before we reached the valley bottom we saw some old mine shafts which we went to see. We got back to the car having had a fantastic day out on a lovely group of fells.

A wonderful day above Troutbeck today, we set off at 10am and climbed by the Garburn Track to the Garburn Pass.

From the top of the pass we climbed in bright sunshine to the summit of Yoke, the views were great, south over Morecambe Bay and to the Yorkshire Dales and to the north and west across the Lake District, only the highest tops were in cloud.

We followed the ridge north climbing to the wonderful summit of Ill Bell and it's multiple cairns. There was a great view south over Windermere from the summit.

We continued north crossing the summit of Froswick and climbing to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag.

There was quite a cool breeze on the tops so we ducked behind a wall to eat our packed lunches with a good view over High Street and north towards Ullswater.

After lunch we descended west dropping down to Threshthwaite Mouth and followed the Trout Beck south descending to the valley and following the track back to Troutbeck.