High Rigg
Walk date – 26th February 2021
Distance – 5.5 miles
Weather – sunny start, cloudy later, slight breeze
More days of rain since our last outing but today a dry and sunny day turned up so off we went for a short walk over High Rigg. Unsurprisingly, the ground remains saturated so it was soggy underfoot and even soggier around those areas which normally tend to be on the ‘boggy bits to avoid’ list. The weather pattern lately seems to be that the day begins bright and sunny and then gradually the cloud builds up and eventually takes over. I keep forgetting to say that we have been trying out the Dark Sky website for a couple of weeks and so far the forecasts on there have proved to be much more accurate than the ones we had been using, e.g. Met Office and the other popular ones. Thought I’d mention it so you can give it a try and see if it works for your area.
Route
Legburthwaite – Wren Crag – Long Band – Moss Crag – High Rigg summit – St John’s Church & Youth Centre – St John’s in the Vale footpath – Low Bridge End Farm – Legburthwaite
A view of Wren Crag from the deserted United Utilities car park at Legburthwaite on a lovely sunny morning.
Looking along St John’s in the Vale from one of the viewpoints. Isn’t it strange that, despite knowing that the initial stages of the climb are quite steep, it always seems to take your legs by surprise!
From the same viewpoint a view over to Clough Head …..
….. followed by a view of Castle Rock and …..
….. a look ahead for a view of Wren Crag. My jacket and jumper come off so I’m down to t-shirt level and J peels off a layer or two as well. Its warm work in full sun and with no wind to speak of.
The view down to the car park from Wren Crag. We can see our car down there and it looks like another one has parked beside us.
The two remaining Scots Pines on Wren Crag silhouetted against a very blue sky.
Making our way across Long Band with a sunny view of Blencathra all the way along.
A view along High Rigg with the Skiddaw group just peeping up behind it .
Descending from Cowrake Head and heading towards the scrambly bit on Mart Crag, nothing at all to get worried about because its not really that much of a scramble anyway.
A view of Clough Head as we pass through the gap in the wall.
A look back towards Great How and Thirlmere from the top of Mart Crag.
The ups and downs of the route ahead from Mart Crag.
Bleaberry Fell across the valley.
The Helvellyn range appears on the left skyline as we climb from the stile up the next incline.
This is one of those areas on the ‘boggy bits to avoid’ list. You can dodge all the wetness by taking the path over the outcrops on the left. Being brave, plucky, stupid (pick your own adjective) we decided on the lower route. Nowt like living dangerously is there?
The tarn doesn’t have a name as far as I know so we always just call it High Rigg Tarn, and although it isn’t the only tarn on High Rigg we know which one we mean. Lovely cloud reflections on the surface today and a good long distance view of a very sunny Lonscale Fell.
A look back to the stile we crossed following our descent from the tarn via the path over on the left. We have a little more breeze now so I put my jumper back on, its still not cool enough for a jacket though. We’re heading for the next one on the ‘boggy bits to avoid’ list …..
….. and here’s a look back at it. There’s really not much you can do to avoid all the wetness so its a matter of mitigation rather than avoidance. Let’s just say the extent and depth of the wetness has increased considerably and leave it at that.
Clough Head again as we head for the summit of High Rigg.
A little patch of sunlight lands on Latirgg which brightens things up a little. The Skiddaw group is dulled by the cloud cover.
The summit is in sight so its a straightforward ‘run for home’.
The summit cairn on High Rigg and the sunny spell is still favouring Latrigg. We could do with some of that over here now as the breeze becomes a little stronger. Our jackets went back on.
The Skiddaw group from the summit of High Rigg.
Also from High Rigg’s summit a look back towards the Helvellyn group on the left and a partial view of Thirlmere.
We dropped down out of the breeze to a sheltered spot just below the summit and had a refreshment break. Shame about the cloud dulling things down but here’s the view we had from there.
After our break we made our way back down. High Rigg stands alone so there’s no other option but to descend. There are however plenty of paths from which to choose for the descent route, today we opted for the shortest, but steepest, one straight down to the youth centre and the church with this slightly different view of Clough Head on the way.
Heading down to the youth centre and the church, the latter being hidden by the trees.
St John’s in the Vale church where the daffodils are beginning to show. Before much longer the flowers will be ‘fluttering and dancing in the breeze.’ (Wordsworth)
A short distance from the church a gate leads to this footpath which will take us all the way back along the valley to our start point.
A very full St John’s Beck meandering through the pretty valley landscape.
The view from further along the path which was more stream than path for most of the way along it. We aren’t getting many sunny spells now and those we do get are a bit weak and watery.
The view along the valley …..
….. and the view ahead as we pass through the forest section.
The path runs alongside a very full and fast flowing St John’s Beck near the end of the walk and …..
….. after a short uphill section the path levels out, turns a bend and here we are, back at the gate where we started our walk.
From the gate there’s only a short walk before we turn left onto this lane which leads us back to the car park. The sun seems to have taken its hat off and gone home so everything is quite dull now. I think we’ve had the best of the weather today, but better to have the dullness at the end of a walk then have the sun come out just as you get back to the car. So, that’s the end of today’s walk but before you go here’a couple of items which might be interesting –
I came across this a couple of days ago –
The reports of adverse effects have been updated and now give figures up to 14th February. Links for each updated vaccine analysis are below –
Unspecified brand – https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/964209/COVID-19_vaccine_brand_unspecified_analysis_print__1_.pdf
And finally, this article from someone who doesn’t pull their punches – https://russelldavidsmadworld.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-cruelty-of-this-government-is.html