Walk 2631 - printer friendly version

Martindale High-level Circuit Walk

Author - Andrew Wright

Length - 11.0 miles / 17.9 km

Ascent - 3600 feet / 1091 metres

Grade - mod/hard

Start - OS grid reference NY435191
Lat 54.563958 + Long -2.8752953
Postcode CA10 2NF (approx. location only)

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!

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