High Rigg
Walk date – 16th November 2025
Distance – 4.6 miles
Weather – dry with a mix of sunny spells and cloud cover, mild with very little breeze
A short walk over High Rigg today based on various weather forecasts for a dry, cold but sunny day with ‘excellent’ visibility. Well, it did stay dry so they got that right at least, but it wasn’t cold and and the periods of extensive cloud cover lasted longer than the sunny spells.. Cloud cover wasn’t even mentioned and it still wasn’t showing up on the Met office cloud cover map when I checked it again at 10 pm tonight (Sunday). You would think that with all the equipment, which has cost millions of £££s, they would be able to spot approaching cloud cover and show it on their maps. Makes one wonder if their equipment is duff or the people interpreting its information are simply incompetent? End of rant about weather forecasts! We had set off to drive over to Swindale on Friday because, after Thursday’s all day downpour, we thought that the Forces Falls would be quite spectacular. We got as far as Shap but, at the beginning of the road over to Rosgill, we hit the ‘Road Closed’ barriers. Reaching Swindale via Bampton was also a non-starter as the road was closed in that direction too. Grrr! Anyway, back to today’s walk, it was really nice to see some sunshine and blue skies at last after what seemed like endless days of dark cloud and low light, plenty of rain, lots of flooding and no sun. High Rigg is one of the ‘stand alone’ fells and of lowly height (1171’/357m) but nevertheless it still ‘packs a punch’ given its undulating nature. Its very name indicates what to expect, the word Rigg is an old English word meaning ‘bumpy’ so anything with Rigg attached to it indicates a lot of ups and downs which High Rigg has in spades.
Route
Out and back by same route
Legburthwaite off road parking – Wren Crag – Long Band – Cowrake Head – Mart Crag – Yew Crag – Moss Crag – High Rigg south top – High Rigg north top
We started out in sunshine as we passed through the muddy area around the broken gate (and its accompanying and broken ladder stile) and began our climb up to Wren Crag with plenty of fallen trees to negotiate on the way. I took the first shot of the walk when we reached this clearing where we had a view of Bleaberry Fell (R) and the tree plantations across the fields of Smaithwaite.
Looking ahead to the Scots Pines on Wren Crag across the bronzed remains of bracken and the trunks of Silver Birch trees lit up by the sunlight.
This tree was uprooted in a gale, many years ago, fell across the established path and left a large hole which has since filled with water. As no-one has ever attempted to remove the tree it has become a permanent feature and a path around the obstruction has become established.
When we paused to allow a walking party of about a dozen folk to pass by us I noticed that Raven Crag was nicely illuminated in the morning sunshine.
When we reached the top of Wren Crag we found that only one of the two remaining Scots Pines was still standing. When we came up here on our 11th December 2024 walk I took a shot of the two that were still standing, now there is only one still standing so I suppose future gales will see that one off too. The fallen tree had straddled the path and I guess that will become a permanent feature too. It wasn’t difficult to step over it although tall folk might have to bend a little to avoid the branches. The sunshine has now been replaced by cloud cover …..
….. and the low light results in a very dull view of Blencathra. As mentioned in the intro nobody mentioned anything about cloud yet here it is!
Looking back at the track from Wren Crag down to the wall leading to the ‘mini’ scramble on the other side …..
….. and the view looking down from the top of the ‘mini’ scramble towards the buildings of Fornside below Clough Head. To be strictly accurate the buildings are below Calfhow Pike rather than Clough Head but that’s the general direction.
One of many pools of water we came across today, this one was below Long Band. The path went straight through the muddy section on the right so we skirted to the left to avoid it.
A slightly more cheerful view of Blencathra as some sunlight managed to penetrate the cloud layer which looked as though it was about to break up.
We arrived at the fence line between Mart Crag and Cowrake Head. The latter was out of shot on the right. The stile across the fence was completely broken with its bits and pieces lying on the ground. Fortunately the wooden stumps on which the stile had been sited were still in place so ‘shorties’ like me could step on them and cross over that way. Folks with longer legs, i.e. J, would be able to push the top wire (not barbed wire) down and stride over. Mart Crag is in view at the top right of the shot.
Passing one of Mart Crag’s crags as we walked up the path from the non-existent stile.
At the path junction we followed the left hand path to avoid the very wet area which the path on the right leads over to. After all the rain we’ve had lately we thought using the right hand path might lead us into a quagmire.
A sunny view of Clough Head and Calfhow Pike as we began to follow the left hand path from the junction. The cloud had sufficiently broken to let the sunlight through again and we had a sunny spell for a while.
The view down to the un-named tarn below Mart Crag where looks can be deceiving. It looks as though the area around the tarn is solid ground, it isn’t!
J leads the way as we carry on across Mart Crag with a view of the Skiddaw group and Lonscale Fell over on the left, Great Calva is the little pimple in the centre distance, with part of Blencathra over on the right. In between are the ups and downs of High Rigg which is a visual reminder of the ‘packs a punch’ phrase used in the intro. As soon as you have descended one bump another one appears right in front of you and you have to start all over again! To the left of J, in the distance, is a wall with a path beside it. Where the path has a kink in it there is a path going off to the left which also avoids a very soggy area which will have to be contended with if walkers keep straight on up the hill.
Another view of the tarn as we made our way along plus a good view of Clough Head, Calfhow Pike and Great Dodd on the other side of St John’s in the Vale. There might be a lot of cloud around but at least its high at the moment and not creating clag around the fell tops.
The view ahead as the path diverts down the western side of Mart Crag …..
….. and eventually onto this path leading down to the ladder stile below Moss Crag. The area around the ladder stile on both sides was extremely muddy as you can no doubt imagine. From the stile we walked up the hill to the path junction where we turned left to walk around Moss Crag to avoid the very wettest section just below it on its northern side.
Looking back to Moss Crag from the path leading up to the summit of the South Top. The area below Moss Crag on the north side is always very wet but by taking the path around Moss Crag we avoided the very worst of it and only had to walk through a very short section of squidge before we were back on a dry path again. See our 2014 and 2019 walks for details of the very wet section.
On the South Top now at 1125’/343m where the words High Rigg are printed on our route map. This is one of the Birkett fells but isn’t the highest point, that honour goes to the top which has a cairn and reaches the dizzy height of 1171’/357m. Birkett named that summit Naddle Fell. There were some people on the top having a natter so we waited until they departed before going up. In the meantime I took the above shot looking towards Bass Lake and its surrounding fells, generally known as the Lord’s Seat fells.
Now on the summit of the south top and looking beyond Latrigg, the long, low bracken covered fell across the middle foreground, towards the Skiddaw group and Lonscale Fell. The humps and bumps between are part of High Rigg.
Looking south towards Great Howe, the tree covered pudding shape in the centre, beside the glinting waters of Thirlmere.
Looking south east where the Clough Head to the Helvellyn group are dominating the skyline. Apologies for the lack detail for which the brightness of the sky was responsible.
The skies began to cloud over again but there was enough light to show Clough Head, Calfhow Pike, Great Dodd and Stybarrow Dodd on the eastern skyline.
Amid the gloom which had once again smothered almost everything in sight a ray of sunlight managed to land on the north top, the one with the cairn, and lit it up beautifully. The contrast with Blencathra behind it was quite striking.
Down off the south top now and making our way over to the north top passing another small pool on the way.
J making his way down the descent path as we head over to the north top. When we reached it there was quite a crowd so we decided to have a coffee break before going up to the summit area.
The summit area was still crowded when we walked across to it after our coffee break so I just took a few shots and then we left to begin the return leg. The cloud cover was back with a vengeance so the shots are on the gloomy side. Above is the summit cairn area with the Skiddaw group and Lonscale Fell in the background …..
….. on the left skyline is Bleaberry Fell, the pointy bit below it is Dodd Crag, and from Dodd Crag on the right skyline are High Spy, Hindscarth and Robinson …..
….. across the middle foreground is Pike which marks the end of Bleaberry Fell, while on the skyline behind are some of the fells to the west of us – Wandope, Sail, Crag Hill, Hobcarton Crag, Grisedale Pike and Hobcarton End, to name just a few of them …..
….. looking towards Bass Lake and a murky view of the Lord’s Seat fells …..
….. the Skiddaw group and Lonscale Fell …..
….. and finally, a parting shot of Blencathra. From the summit on the north top we took the same route back across the ridge. As the day had been forecast to be sunny and having seen so little sunlight lately we had decided to walk back along the top and take advantage of the sunshine rather than walk down to St John’s Church and take the valley path. It didn’t work out that way at all thanks to the cloud cover.
Here we’re back on the south top and I didn’t take many more shots on the return leg. As can be seen the brighter skies had headed south and Thirlmere had lost its previous highlights so it was quite a dull walk back.
Dropping down to Moss Crag and avoiding the marshy area as we did previously.
Re-joining the path down to the ladder stile with Cowrake Head (L) and Mart Crag (R) in view. A walking party was just passing the junction as we arrived at it and they all looked quite glum to me. As they kept on the main path they would have possibly looked even glummer when they got to the top of it and looked down to see the quagmire which awaited them. Once over the ladder stile we took the right hand path around Mart Crag and again avoided the wet area between the two crags.
Approaching Wren Crag again and the skies are still cloudy.
Typical! We were almost back down before the sun made another appearance. However it did make Castle Rock sparkle quite a bit as the sunlight landed on its exposed rock faces.
The final shot of our walk shows Castle Rock and its immediate surroundings. The little hamlet of Legburthwaite sits below it, Mill Gill is to the left of it, as you look at the photo, with Great Dodd on the left skyline and Watson’s Dodd over on the right. When we were finally back on the road we were amazed to see just how many cars had been parked up in the couple or so hours that we’d been out. Well we’ve had a mixed bag of sunshine and cloud but in the end ‘It turned out nice again’ to quote George Formby who, I would guess, many folks will never have heard of unless they were born, as George was, in and around Wigan in Lancashire. I’ll end this report with a little song from George, and his ukelele, which might entertain you –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS679He080M&list=RDtS679He080M&start_radio=1