Knott Rigg and Ard Crags

Knott Rigg 1790'(6.19 FRCC 153) and Ard Crags 1860'(6.17 FRCC 143)
Wainwright No's 13 & 14 .
Sunday 27th January 2003.

Weather :- In cloud for the whole walk, very windy with driving rain at times.

Accompanied by :- Sarah and Mike M.

Total Distance 4 miles there and back, total height ascended 1050 Feet, time taken 1 1/4 Hours.

 

After our last walk on the 12th January Sarah had a bit of catching up to do. Two Wainwright summits behind myself and John. As it was John's birthday and a friend had arranged a night out in Liverpool for him, John had decided not to come due to possible hangover considerations ! So today was the perfect opportunity to get Sarah up to the same number as us. I had not managed to get a panoramic photo from the summit of Ard Crags, so I did not mind retracing my steps at all (How kind of me is that then !)
At this point I feel that I have to make a statement about commitment. When undertaking a task such as we have, you have to be prepared for times when not all members of the terrible trio are available. There are bound to be unavoidable instances of illness (hence Sarah's absence last time), holidays, decorating duties (see I told you it would be finished before christmas !) and other non avoidable things like christmas party's and shopping duties. John had a choice, a walk in the Lake District in lousy weather over a route he had done recently, or a great night out at a Lap Dancing bar in Liverpool, a beer in hand and in a nice warm and dry environment with lovely views !. You can imagine the choice can't you. So John chose the latter ( I'm not jealous .....really, I am NOT jealous !) There's commitment for you, I'm just not sure what to!
So with a new guinea pig, sorry, walking companion, Mike M who has been on numerous camping trips with us, and even succeeded in climbing Jack's Rake with us, had decided to come along with us. The only choice, as we traveled up the M6, was which local economy should we help out with our customary breakfast today. Would it be Kendal and McDonalds, or Keswick and a cafe? The Keswick cafe won, but being in no rush (the weather forecast said the rain would clear by lunch time, Ha, Ha, Ha !) we took the scenic route past Kendal and drove up by Thirlemere to Keswick instead of the A66 from Penrith. After parking in Keswick we found a nice little cafe called the Keswickian Tea Rooms in the market square. I should have known by the name that I was going to be treated like an American tourist and charged through the nose. Don't get me wrong, the breakfast was really tasty, but at £4.95 and an extra £1.60 for a coffee there is no doubt that the Kendal economy needs my £1.99 for a Sausage and Egg Mc Muffin,WITH a Hash Brown AND Coffee far greater than the Keswick economy needs my support!
Enough of this, it's time for the walk.

Moss Force from Newlands Hause Looking towards Knott Rigg
Arriving at Newlands Hause we were met by rain. Not to worry because the weather forecast said it would clear up, right! After waiting a few minutes and admiring the view, we got kitted up and decided that there was no time like the present and set of.
The locals out for a stroll On the steep initial pull
Due to the cloud and rain we could not see very far upwards, so we just followed the faint path up the steep initial pull. Some of the local sheep looked on in interest, obviously wondering what on earth we were doing on their patch in this sort of weather!
Further up the hill The rocky outcrop at the end of the initial part
This first part of the walk was as steep as I remember, but at least this time I did not have John running of into the distance, in fact this time we took quite a gentle pace as Sarah could not really see where she was going due to her hat, hood and general face down into the wind stance making sight difficult!
Rocky outcrop........ Were the wind begins
As we reached the beginning of the ridge the fun began. The wind really made it's presence felt, with occasional gusts that made walking in a straight line difficult, Sarah especially had difficulty due to her lack of beer belly to aid stability in high winds!
The start of the ridge towards Knott Rigg summit Further along the ridge
Walking along the ridge was again fun, as this time the visibility was really bad, the sense of walking on a steep sided ridge was enhanced. With only limited visibility and driving rain you had to concentrate on staying upright, like I said, fun!
Knott Rigg summit appearing out of the mist Sarah and Mike on Knott Rigg summit
As the ridge made its way up to the summit plateau the rain continued to soak us and the wind blew us about. Unlike last time I had put on full waterproof clothes and was still quite dry, much better than waiting a bit and then putting them on when it is too late.
Sarah leaving Knott Rigg summit Sarah being totally blown away by the views......not
What is it about the summit of Knott Rigg that makes it so damn windy? Even the snowman that was here on my last visit had had enough and gone somewhere else! Maybe because of its position between the higher mountains of Robinson and the Wandope-Sail range, funnels the wind, whatever. But I can tell you it is one of the windiest places that I have been to in the Lake District.
and again...... and again..!
Sarah was having great fun trying to stand upright, without much success, she was been blown all over the place and soon involuntary left the summit. As she was being blown in the right direction we soon followed her towards the col between Knott Rigg and Ard Crags.
No ice skating today ! The path from the col towards Ard Crags
The pool at the col was totally defrosted today, so there was to be no ice skating today. Due to the continuing rain we decided to push on towards Ard Crags instead of stopping in the shelter of the col, not that there is any shelter there, but it is usually low enough to provide a break in the wind, not today !
Further along the path And looking back from the same point
Last time we were able to see the full length of the path up to Ard Crags, this time the cloud cover meant that very little could be seen. But it's a great path and we quickly made our way upwards.
A bit further up, it's not far now! The ridge approaching Ard Crags summit
Again as you get higher up, the ridge narrows and gives that impression of exposure. If I ever come up to this ridge in good weather and actually get to see the views it will probably not have that feeling, It would probably be disappointing. But in limited visibility and strong winds it is a fantastic place to be!
The head of Ard Gill Ard Crags summit
Passing the head of Ard Gill we soon reached the summit. Again no views and strong wind, but still a nice place. after a quick photo session we discussed the possibilities of our return journey. Carry on the ridge down to Rigg Beck and return by the road, Scramble down Ard Gill or retrace our steps.
Well, there are enough silly pictures of Sarah and John on this site, so I thought that I would make an effort! Sarah and Mike on Ard Crags summit
The return by road put us of, Ard Gill looked a little too steep to descend safely, still looks good for a scramble up though, so the return via Knott Rigg it was.
The head of Ard Gill looking from the summit Retracing our steps back to Knott Rigg
Walking back this way the head of Ard Gill looks very impressive, again allowances for the limited visibility must be made, but it still looks inviting.As we descended to the col the cloud lifted slightly and we got a brief glimpse down to the valley floor. Up the steep shoulder to Knott Rigg and I mentioned that this was to be my 4th time on Knott Rigg's summit in the last two weeks. Due to retracing our steps it is visited twice on each traverse of the ridge. this must be what AW did repeatedly, returning time and again to enable him to complete drawings and panorama's. After two visits I am moving on to other summits, who knows how many times I will have to return to get a view from Ard Crags!
  Descending of the ridge of Knott Rigg (again)
After reaching Knott Rigg again and descending on the ridge the wind had changed direction and was no trying to blow us of the other side of the ridge, like I say ....great fun!
Sarah, stuck and not feeling very secure on the slippy rock (hence the laugh and smile!) The head of Keskadale coming into view
Once the rocky outcrops were reached Sarah had fun trying to pick her way along without slipping along the rock. this was difficult as it was slippy, and the wind was still playing games with her! When she did get down the cloud base started to lift slightly and we started to get some views for the first time today.
Looking down towards Buttermere Newlands Hause appearing below the cloud
The wind was really coming in and the cloud raced across the ridge making us realize just how fast the wind was blowing. Soon we were able to see Newlands Hause and the car, but then Sarah lost sight of it and became confused about it, this is the beauty of a convex slope above a concave slope, one minute you can see the valley and the next you can't.
Sarah struggling to see. "It's behind you!" I can see the car from here !
With the car in view again we descended back down. By this time the discussion started to turn towards waterproof clothing, or rather the lack of waterproofing in certain areas, this needed to be sorted out, but then again we were mainly dry and still smiling so I suppose it wasn't that bad. After getting changed and drying out we ate our lunch in the car. The Packhorse Inn in Keswick seemed like a good idea so of we set of via the scenic route over Honister pass back to Keswick. At the bottom of Newlands pass I stopped outside the small church of St James in Buttermere and being a Sunday went inside to pay my respects to AW. I am sure that the others felt that I had come over all religious or something, but all I wanted to do was to see the memorial stone.
The memorial to AW in the church A lovely warm fire in the Packhorse Inn, just what the doctor ordered!
T his done we retired back to Keswick. In the Cotswold Outdoor shop we had a nice discussion with a very helpful member of staff about waterproofing material. We had been doing it wrong! You are not supposed to wash waterproof garments in normal detergent, this reduces the effectiveness of the waterproofing, so all those washes to remove mud and grass stains had obviously caused our problems. I had even re waterproofed everything over christmas, without much success. So resigned to spending money on new waterproof clothing we went to the Packhorse Inn to contemplate such actions. The pub was full today with returning walkers, all in various states of wetness, but still with smiling faces. We managed to claim the seats by the fire and after a couple of drinks set of back home.

This is a map of the area that those nice people at the Ordnance Survey have put together for me.
Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland .

To see an aerial photograph with map overlay of the area just click

Now that the terrible trio have all completed Knott Rigg and Ard Crag I have a few thinks to say about this walk. On both occasions we had poor weather, not much in the way of views and we all got soaking wet. None the less it is great, every body had fun, smiling faces and laughter accompanied us on this walk. It's not long, not very taxing, and you can't get lost (always a good thing) , but it is great fun. Hopefully we will return one day and see the views from Ard Crag.