Angletarn Pikes, The Knott, High Street and Threshwaite Cove; Circular

Park opposite the Patterdale Hotel, £5 per day (Aug 2021).

(S/E) From the parking walk to the road, cross over and turn right. Walk along the path to pass the school, look out for a signpost to Side Farm.

(1) Cross back over the road to the (George Sankey) climbing hut and take the farm track on its left hand side, cross a bridge and continue along the track to Side Farm.

(2) Go through the farm and turn right to take the track which passes a small cottage, arrive at a gate.

(3) Turn left and go through a smaller gate to take a path which crosses a stream and ascends leftwards. Soon there is a turning on the right. Take this right turn to head southeast. The path now ascends steadily passing behind the gardens of the larger houses to where it splits.

(4) Take the right hand split which continues with trees on the right until it starts to ascend the fell to the southern end of Boredale Hause, look out for a stone walled sheep pen on the right.

(5) Take a right hand split in the path to cross Stonebarrow Gill just above the sheep pen. The path is less well defined here but is still easy to follow. It leads up into a small grassy ravine with Rake Crag on the right. The path then leads on to pass beneath Angletarn Pikes. Towards the end of the first (northernmost) pike you can either zig-zag your way up the grass and rocky fellside to the top or follow the path a little further to where another path on the left cuts back to top.

(6) From the northernmost pike descend a little and follow a grassy path over a bogy area to ascend the southernmost pike (great views of Angletarn). Descend the southernmost pike back to the path and continue; passing Angletarn. The path then starts to ascend gradually again to pass close to the edge of Buck Crag. It is worth taking a small detour to get the view down Bannerdale.

(7) Continue along the path to pass between a crossing of stone walls, the path passes next to Satura Crag with the wall on the right. Where it starts to veer leftwards away from the wall, look out for a split and take the right hand path leading back to the wall which becomes a fence line. (The left hand path will take you to the top of the grassy Rest Dodd, you could easily include this in the walk as a small diversion). Arrive at the junction between the fence line and a wall running up to Rest Dodd.

(8) Turn right and follow the fence to contour the fellside, the path then starts to ascent The Knott. It is joined on the right by a track ascending from Hayeswater, the path then steepens and ascends with a stone wall on the right to the junction with a stone wall coming across from Rest Dodd. (If you take the Rest Dodd diversion you will re-join this route here).

(9) Ignore the path that goes straight ahead as this leads around the back of The Knott, instead turn right and follow the path beside the collapsing stone wall to the top of The Knott (cairn), then take the path down to the col between The Knott and Rampsgill Head. Turn right and follow the broad path onto the Straits of Riggingdale (great views). Keep on walking, where the path splits take the left hand path as it offers better views (the right path is the old Roman route), this leads gradually up High Street to the trig point at Racecourse Hill.

(10) This is a good place to eat your butties, there is a collapsing stone wall to sit on and some shelter from the wind. The views are great. Continue and gently descend with good views of Froswick and Ill Bell, and with opening views of Windermere to the south. Then the path curves to the right and starts to gently ascend to The Beacon at Thornthwaite Crag.

(11) From the Beacon head northeast and descend steeply down a path with loose stone (take care) to Threshthwaite Mouth. Look out for the grassy path leading down into Threshthwaite Cove (Stony Cove Pike is directly ahead of you).

(12) At Threshthwaite Mouth lookout for a faint path on the opposite side of the collapsed stone wall on the right (you should have spotted this on your descent), take this path which soon becomes more obvious. It starts to descend more steeply and in places the National Park Authority has repaired the path with stone steps to prevent erosion. You will pass some newly planted thorn tree saplings where the National Park Authority is reintroducing native tree species back into the environment. The path descends into Threshthwaite Cove to pass beneath the steep Raven Crag on the left. Continue to descend more gently along Pasture Bottom to pass through a gate. Just beyond this, where Pasture Beck and the stream from Hayeswater meet there is the ruin of an old lead mine (Myers Head Mine). You can still see the pit for the wheel and the stone buttresses that would have supported the flue. Continue through another gate and along a track to a third gate.

(13) At this point, there is a path on the left that goes up to Hartsop Dodd, instead turn right, go through the gate and follow the path to cross a bridge and up to a junction with another track. Turn left and go through a gate to the car park (voluntary donation in the honesty box for Patterdale School) pass through the car park and lookout for a signpost and path on the right just after you pass the first house on the left.

(14) Take the path uphill to a track with concrete treads this ascends and curves to the right to contour the fellside above Hartsop. The track ends and take the footpath into the light woodland (Calf Close). The footpath continues to pass Angletarn Beck via a footbridge where it descends to join a track from Dubhow. Follow this track in the same northerly direction to where a path slants up the hillside to Boredale Hause on the right.

(15) Continue on the left hand track to pass through Beckstones farm and then Crookabeck with its farm wool shop. Continue following the track in a northerly direction to a tarmac road at Rooking.

(16) Turn left and follow the tarmac road to a bridge over the river and a junction with the main valley road.

(17) Turn right and follow the footpath back into Patterdale. The footpath runs out next to the White Lion and continues on the other side. Cross carefully and continue past the Patterdale Hotel until opposite the entrance to the car park. Cross over and back to your car.(S/E)

There are no built shelters on this walk but you will always find some shelter from the wind by using the dry stone walls.

Take your own water or if using water from the streams remember to purify or filter it. (Whist doing this walk we passed a dead sheep in one of the streams running into the beck at Pasture Bottom)

In dry spells this walk will present you with few boggy sections. I would recommend wearing boots for ankle support particularly on the descent to Threshthwaite Mouth.

As you walk up to Angletarn Pikes look down towards Brothers Water. The land to the north is being reshaped to recreate the original meandering watercourse. Previously the course of the river from Brothers Water had been straightened out to create fields but with global warming and flood events it has become necessary to reinstate the original course of the river in order to slow down the flow of water and provide a flood plain.

Remember to look over the the Helvellyn range as you will get great views of the valleys and mountains.

Great views of Angletarn from the south top of Angletarn Pikes (worth the small climb) and great views from the The Knott, the Straits of Riggingdale and Thornthwaite Crag.

Information on the old lead mine at Hartsop can be found here: https://www.mindat.org/loc-4753.html