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Martindale High-level Circuit

Lake District Walk

Nat Park - Lake District - Lake District Far Eastern Fells

Wainwrights - Beda Fell, High Raise, The Knott, Rest Dodd, Steel Knotts

County/Area - Cumbria

Author - Andrew Wright

Length - 11.0 miles / 17.9 km    Ascent - 3600 feet / 1091 metres

Time - 9 hours 10 minutes    Grade - mod/hard

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Walk Route Description

Photo from the walk - Martindale High-level Circuit
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We did this Lake District circular walk on Easter Bank Holiday Monday and thoroughly enjoyed the views and seclusion of a beautiful part of Lakeland. The route includes plenty of uphill walking but your efforts are rewarded by the constantly changing views which can be enjoyed in solitude.

Park the car at the new Martindale church (Grid ref. NY435191) and head up Pikeawassa, which is the name for the summit of Steel Knotts. Continue over Brownthwaite Crag and join the "Roman Road" or High Street. Turn right (south) onto this broad path and head up to Red Crag ( 711 metres).

From here continue on to the highest point of the walk, namely High Raise ( 802 metres). The day we walked the cloud cover was at about 2,400 feet so some of the higher points were in mist. On another day I'm sure the views would have been magnificent.

Descend from High Raise towards the Straits of Riggindale turning sharp right towards he Knott. The descend and cross the broad col before ascending Rest Dodd. An optional extra at this point is to 'bag' the Nab but time was not on our side. Instead we walked towards Angle Tarn before leaving the main path following the ridge route to Beda Fell and on to Beda Head.

Beautiful views all around of Ullswater, Brotherswater and Hayeswater. We could see the Helvellyn hills but the tops were shrouded in mist. Carry on to Winter Crag and then drop eastwards back into Martindale passing the old church on your way back to the car.

It is a fabulous walk and to cap it off we say 4 Eagles circling overhead. The entire walk took about 7 hours and includes about 3600 feet of climb. Well worth doing!

Other walks nearby

Walk 2039 Gowbarrow Fell circularmoderate3.5 miles
Walk 1230 Birks & Arnison Cragmoderate5.5 miles
Walk 1520 Helvellyn & Fairfield Horseshoe from Patterdalevery hard13.0 miles
Walk 2047 Place Fell from Patterdalemoderate7.5 miles
Walk 2425 Boredale Circular from Patterdalemod/hard11.5 miles
Walk 3670 Angle Tarn and Hayeswatermoderate8.3 miles
Walk 1156 Helvellyn via Striding Edgehard9.5 miles
Walk 1235 Red Tarn & Grisedalemoderate7.0 miles
Walk 1710 Glenridding, St. Sunday Crag & Helvellynhard11.5 miles
Walk 3232 Glenridding Dodd & Sheffield Pike easy/mod4.5 miles

Recommended Books & eBooks

Walking the Lake District Fells - Mardale and the Far East

Walking the Lake District Fells - Mardale and the Far EastPart of the Walking the Lake District Fells series, this guidebook covers a wide range of routes to 36 Lakeland summits that can be climbed from the Ullswater, Haweswater, Troutbeck, Kentmere and Longsleddale valleys, with highlights including High Street, Place Fell and the Kentmere fells. Suggestions for longer ridge routes are also included.
More information

Great Mountain Days in the Lake District

Great Mountain Days in the Lake DistrictAn inspirational guidebook to 50 challenging walks on the high fells of the Lake District. The graded circular routes, between 4 and 14 miles in length, cover classic Lakeland summits like Fairfield, Scafell Pike, Great Gable and Blencathra, to the lesser-known High Spy, King's How and Brund Fell.
More information

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