High Stile Range

High Stile Range

Western Lake District

Route: High Stile Range

Area: Western Lake District

Date of walk: 16th October 2013

Walkers: Andrew

Distance: 8.6 miles

Ascent: 3,700 feet

I parked in the National Trust car park outside Buttermere and walked along the head of the lake to join a pitched path which leads steeply uphill. It’s all easy going (though relentlessly steep) until the last short section to the summit which is quite eroded and requires a determined effort to surmount

Once at the top of the first summit, Red Pike, the hard work is over and there follows a wonderful ridge walk to the high point of the range, High Stile

I then followed the ridge line to the final summit, High Crag. The weather had been poor all along – overcast, dull and very windy with gusts of 40mph – but on the way down it got worse when torrential rain arrived. I had to put the camera away, and it was a fairly miserable trudge down the very steep path on Gamlin End. I arrived back at the shore of Buttermere and from here it was an easy stroll back to the start

The adverse weather did its best to spoil this classic walk, but it’s the magnificent mountain scenery which I will remember, and not the weather

For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box

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