Lake District Walks
High Rigg
Date: 31st August 2015
Distance: 5.5 miles
Ascent: 1250 feet
Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
With: Liam
Start Grid Ref: NY318195
Walk Summary:
A ramble from Legburthwaite over some of the many bumps of High Rigg, a small fell with some big views, before returning via St John's in the Vale.
Route Summary: Legburthwaite - Wren Crag - Moss Crag - High Rigg - St. John's Church - Sosgill - Low End Bridge Farm - Legburthwaite.
Photos: Click on the photos below to enlarge.
Walk Detail: This was the final walk of three during a camping trip with my ten year old nephew Liam over the August Bank Holiday weekend. After almost 20 miles of walking and over 6,000ft of ascent over the previous two days it would have been understandable if Liam had wanted a rest from walking on our final day. On the contrary though he was keen to do another walk and add at least another summit to his burgeoning list of Wainwrights.
I chose this walk, partly because it was only a few minutes from where we were camping at Thirlspot, but also because after all the walking we'd done over the previous couple of days I wanted something a bit gentler for him to do.
Starting from the Legburthwaite car park we mainly followed the standard circular path on to High Rigg and back via St John's in the Vale. I say 'mainly' because between Wren Crag at the southern end of the fell and the summit of High Rigg itself we did make several detours on to some of the many bumps that make up this undulating little fell. I was convinced some of them would be Birketts but ironically, apart from Wren Crag, none of them were except the 343m spot height which we didn't visit!
After this enjoyable ramble along the length of the fell we finally arrived at the summit of High Rigg. It was a beautiful sunny day, by far the best of the weekend, and the views were superb especially northwards to Skiddaw, Lonscale Fell and Blencathra. Closer by, to the east, Clough Head also looked especially impressive.
From the summit we descended north to the hause with Low Rigg then, passing the pretty little church of St. Johns, we joined the bridleway that runs along the eastern base of the fell overlooking St. Johns in the Vale. The most notable feature of this section of the walk were the views of Wanthwaite Crags across the valley. I could clearly see the route of Fisher's Wife's Rake which runs up through the crags on to Clough Head which reminded me that it is one of those routes in the Lake District that is still very much on my to-do list.
When the bridleway left the base of the fell to head for Sosgill Bridge we kept on a path through some woods to eventually arrive at Low Bridge End Farm. Here I treated us both to some ice cream from the little cafe there and enjoyed a chat with the proprietor. From Low Bridge End it was then an easy walk back to the start. After the exertions of the previous two days I'd got this walk spot on and with the lovely views combined with the gorgeous weather it was the perfect end to our trip.
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