Stone Arthur, Great Rigg, Heron Pike, Nab Scar Circular from The Swan Pub (A591)


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By Gaflatlast on 21/09/21 at 9:17pm


Decided on a lone adventure this time and thought setting off early would be the order of the day. So got up at 4am, had some porridge and checked I had everything and set off at 4.30am. The drive was uneventful until I hit Windemere where fog and mist slowed me down to about 10-15mph. I decided to park in the roadside area 200m past The Swan Pub on the A591 in Grasmere. I took the route up the lane at the side of the pub.

Follow this lane and take the 2nd right which is signposted. (apologies for the moisture on the lens)

Follow the path until you get to the National Trust gate. Go through and turn left for Stone Arthur. If you go straight ahead you will follow the Alcock Tarn route.

The path immediately starts to climb the stepped ascent following the wall.

Keep going but don't go through this gap in the wall.

Take this path to the right of the gap in the wall.

After starting my walk in darkness and fog, I was treated to the sun hitting the peaks of distant hilltops.

Eventually the fellside opens up in front of you and you can see your route across the fell towards the lone tree top right of picture.

You cross a small beck that after rain could be more hazardous than this morning.

On reaching the lone tree I grabbed this pic showing the route behind me.

A few metres past the tree the route takes a left turn and ploughs on up the fellside. Stone Arthur now in view.

I've read several reports that recommend taking the right fork rather than the left one by the wall so thats the way I went. It's a relatively straight forward climb and you are mostly continually ascending which you'll need to pace yourself for, to avoid blowing a gasket before reaching the top.

Arriving just below Stone Arthur you hit another fork and I took the one to the left which turns right and heads for the front of the outcrop just out of shot.

Upon reaching the base of the rocks you can either go left or right or straight up the middle. They all seemed about the same difficulty. I went up the middle and found it wasn't as difficult as it looks.

I managed to grab a quick pic of Alcock Tarn with the sun drenched flanks of Loughrigg Fell behind. The pic also shows some of the path and route that you would take to Alcock Tarn had you gone straight ahead at the National Trust gate earlier at the beginning of the fell.

Just above Stone Arthur you can see every valley visible was inverted this morning and I grabbed this pic before the morning sun burnt them all away. Morecambe Power Station is just visible left of centre. (it is there I promise. Maybe have to zoom in a touch)

Quick pic looking back to Stone Arthur in the centre.

Onwards and upwards and the clearly used path is a straight forward slog all the way up to Great Rigg.

Just had to share this majestic view of some of The Lakes best offerings.

Another quick pic showing Rydal Beck meandering its way down the valley.

That was Stone Arthur and Great Rigg bagged. I had reached my highest elevation for today and it was here that a tour group arrived a few minutes behind me having ascended from Nab Scar. I opted to drop down away from the summit for an early and peaceful lunch of plant based sausage and bean casserole with couple of slices of seeded bread and an oat coffee. The view for lunch was stunning and without a doubt, one of the best locations I've ever had lunch at. Anyway lunch over and so back to work. The pic shows my route down to Heron Pike.

You see some strange and amazing sights when walking in The Lakes and today was no exception. Topless hikers was on the menu today. :o:lol::)

Looking across the valley you have to be in awe of the workers who built the walls. Amazing skills.

What would a walk report be without a picture of one of its hooved residents having a bit of lunch.

The summit cairn of Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell) seems to be the end of a wall.

Heron Pike summit can easily be missed if you aren't paying attention. Its just a small unassuming clump of rock sticking out of the ground.

Heading down to Nab Scar and many photo opportunities presented themselves but I liked these two best. Rydal Water with Loughrigg Fell behind showing cavern entrance below left of centre and Grasmere, still and mirrorlike.

Nab Scar next and its basically the large cairn to the right of the remains of a wall just before the large wall with stile. It commands some breathtaking views and has to be visited to enjoy them. The wall with stile that marks the start of the way down and back to civilisation.

Pictures showing the style of steps you'll be descending and another stile lower down the path.

A quick pic half way down showing Windemere.

At the end of the path you'll go through a gate and down the driveway of the adjacent house before accessing the lane that takes you past the Rydal Mount & Gardens Tea Room.

At the side of the Tea Room entrance is the signposted Coffin Route that takes you back to Grasmere.

The Coffin Route has dozens of fallen trees along its flanks and many lightning damaged trees too. It also has some of the largest oldest trees I've ever seen. These ancient trees have probably been here for hundreds and hundreds of years. There are several benches dotted along the route to sit and rest your weary bones or just to sit and enjoy the views. After what seemed like forever I arrived back at the A591 and a quick 1mile or so march back to car. A thoroughly enjoyable hike that had some of the best scenic views available anywhere. The whole walk was about 8.1 mile. Once the sun came up I had it all day. The walk should take about 4 hours, but, I'm not as young as I used to be, I'm still relatively new to this, I don't rush, I take lots of pics, I have many rest and slurp stops, I usually take about 30 mins for lunch, I stop and enjoy the views a lot and I can talk for England if you don't just walk past me. These are some of the many reasons it took me 7 or so hours. Well worth every minute of it though. My highest ascent to date and as knackered as I feel I'm feeling really pleased with myself. I know every hill has amazing views but this walk seems to be better placed than most and lots of the views throughout are incredible. I absolutely recommend this walk to anyone.



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