Today’s walk had been planned for a good few weeks & for one I was looking forward to it  increasingly, for today I was to be on my favourite summit of them all ‘High Street’ with good friend & long distance walker Stuart Greig. High Street holds dear to us both as a favourite summit and as Stuart is in training for his reverse Coast To Coast next month what better way to spend a Saturday out on the fells.

Wainwright Guidebook

Most of the high places in Lakeland have no mention in history books, and, until comparatively recent times when enlightened men were inspired to climb upon them for pleasure and exercise, it was fashionable to regard them as objects of awe and terror, and there summits were rarely visited. Not so much High Street, which has been known and trodden, down through the ages, by a miscellany of travellers on an odd variety of missions: by marching soldiers, marauding brigands, carousing shepherds, officials of the Governments, and now by modern hikers. Its summit has been in turn a highway and a sports arena and a racecourse, as well as, as it is today, a grazing ground for sheep.

Grey Crag from from just outside the hamlet of Hartsop.

We’d just sat out a brief rain shower in the car, big splashes on the windscreen with hardly a rain cloud in sight that kind of thing! The sun seemed to be shining in every direction trying its best to be seen through the thick grey clouds high above, we sat for around about five minutes chit chatting as you do then  & as if by some wondrous telepathic thought the pair of us opened the car doors at the same time rain or not we were kitting up.

Looking towards Pasture Bottom, Threshthwaite Cove & Pasture Beck, luckily the rain had stopped leaving a still muggy air, that was the last we was to see of the rain until the moment we set foot back in the car when the walk was over.

The path follows the Hayeswater Gill right up to Hayeswater. The Knott seen on the left was the first fell of the day & thoughts of a steep climb up from the shoreline were deeply rooted.

The Knott & Hayeswater, there’s two ways up from here, you can either follow a grassy path that takes most of the gradient out of the climb or follow the path as we did just off the left from the stone wall.

Looking back on the Eastern fells from our ascent up The Knott, a vast amount of fells in this photo, with Brothers Water centre we have:  L to R: Hartsop Above How, Dove Crag, Hart Crag, Fairfeild, Seat Sandal, St Sunday Crag, Helvellyn, Catstyecam & finally Whiteside.

In the same direction & a little further round are Brock Crags & Angle Tarn Pike.

Stuart saw movement & was lucky enough to spot these wild deer grazing at the foot of Rest Dodd.

Rest Dodd & The Nabb, without the zoom, the deer are on the grassy plateau just  to the right, you have to trust me on this one!

From the summit cairn of The Knott, The Straights Of Riggindale & High Street.

Stuart making his way over the straights.

Looking down into Riggindale with Kidsty Pike to the left & the High Street Ridge’s to the right, ahead a glimpse of Haweswater & Mardale Head.

High Street & a personal best view from this point.

High Street’s summit trig point coming into view, it was here we stopped to put our Jackets on, was it or wasn’t going to pour down? with spots of rain hitting us we thought best not to take the risk, the rain held but the winds got stronger & colder so the Jackets stayed on from here.

High Street summit  & trig point.

Keeping with the Roman Road as we head for Thornthwaite Beacon.

Looking over Grey Crag & the Eastern Fells.

And looking south in the direction of Yoke, III Bell & Froswick.

Together with Windermere in the far distance.

The ever impressive slightly leaning Thornthwaite Beacon.

Making our way down the steep scree path to Threshthwaite Mouth, the fell leading off to the right is our final fell of the day but there’s two more summits & a bit more ascent before all that.

Looking at a distant Troutbeck Tongue from Threshthwaite Mouth.

And the little scramble up Threshthwaite Crags.

The III Bell ridge from the top of Threshthwaite Crags.

Ahead is our next fell of the day, Caudale Moor with Caudale Tarn, but we decided to head slightly left of the summit a pay a visit to John Bell’s Banner & the monument perched there.

The Mark Atkinsons Monument on John Bell’s Banner.

Red Screes & Middle Dodd as we leave John Bell’s Banner and head for the summit just a few yards away.

Caudale Moor summit cairn.

From here on in we felt the change in the atmosphere, for one it got increasingly muggier, the wind had died down, from here on in it was only a matter of time before the heavens opened.

Now making our way down to Hartsop Dodd with views over towards Place Fell, Angle Tarn Pikes & Ullswater.

Early lead mining activity on the slopes of Caudale Moor.

Marked by this wooden post, the true summit of Hartsop Dodd with Rest Dodd, The Knott & Grey Crag in the background.

Brock Crags & the Angle Tarn Pikes ahead as we make for the sharp steep descent from Hartsop Dodd.

Views over towards Place Fell, Ullswater & Hartsop & with what appears to be ‘the end’ of the ridge, the path continues down to Hartsop down & along  some very tight zig zag gravel paths, these I remarked worn in on the route up Hartsop Dodd & not down, Stuart & I both agreed that this path had to be up there in being one of the steepest ascent/descents in the Lakedistrict.

With our toes now where they should be (thanks to numerous heal kicking!) and pumping in sweat due to the high humidity we now find ourselves back in the beautiful hamlet of Hartsop & one extremely full car park.

Next: Down came the heavens!! good timing or what