Rannerdale Knotts
Walk date – 18th March 2026
Distance – 3.2 miles
Weather – overcast and cloudy start, brighter later, no breeze, mild
Buttermere is a pretty little village which we prefer to visit during the off-season as the limited parking available there is always at a premium during the holiday season, just like everywhere else is. Its expensive too. As the forecast was for a sunny and wind free day we decided to drive over and pay a visit to Rannerdale Knotts. The last time we were there was in 2014 so a return visit was well overdue. We set off reasonably early but got caught up in a long queue of traffic (roadworks again) which delayed our arrival in Buttermere. We had decided to begin our walk from the path opposite the National Trust car park on the hill above the village and when we arrived we were happy to find only a handful of vehicles already parked there. We were even happier when we found that the parking meter wasn’t working and therefore we couldn’t pay the amount the National Trust required.
Route
National Trust Car Park, Buttermere, out and back mostly but with occasional variations
The view opposite the entrance to the NT car park. The old quarry area is specifically for coaches and the yellow lines in the space opposite indicate that the space is reserved for disabled parking. The gate, with the red notice, just above the disabled parking area is the one we were heading for.
The shadowy view at the head of Buttermere, the water not the village, from the path leading from the gate up to High House Crag. According to the forecast it should be sunny by now.
From the same viewpoint a look over Buttermere village towards the Red Pike, High Stile, High Crag ridge. Our view of Red Pike, on the right, was partially obscured by the little summit of Dodd but the white water of Sourmilk Gill was clear to see. We haven’t walked the ridge across there since 2016 so that’s another item on the ‘to do’ list involving a visit to Buttermere. The weather will decide when that will happen, but in any case it will be after the Easter holidays. We’ll be happy to leave Buttermere to its visitors during that holiday period and go somewhere quieter instead.
High Snockrigg looks a bit gloomy too and that’s only just across from us. We aren’t high enough up the path yet to have a view of Robinson although we do have a view of some cars already parked beside the road from Newlands Hause down into Buttermere.
Looking across to the Rannerdale Knotts ridge line with Whiteless Pike putting in an appearance, on the right, behind the ridge. I think the group of trees below the ridge line is probably Grassgarth Coppice.
The path begins to get steeper so during a pause I took a look across to Knott Rigg silhouetted against the skyline. We last went up there and over to Ard Crags in 2022 and had a great walk during an inversion and seeing a large amount of Brocken spectres. There are a number of false summits to be dealt with before walkers reach the actual summit.
The view to the west as we walked along. The little ‘pimple’ on the skyline is Floutern Cop and to the left of it, as you look at the shot, are Great Borne and Gale Fell, and to the right of it are Hen Comb and Mellbreak.
Much the same view as the previous one but now including just a smidge of Crummock Water …..
….. and as we climb higher the ‘smidge’ turns into a full blown stretch of water, Floutern Cop gets a splash of sunlight and so do we.
From Grassgarth Coppice, below us on the right of the shot, the path becomes very much steeper and we just had to stop and remove our jackets. The two walkers on the path below us were doing the same. Patches of sunlight kept forcing their way through the stubborn cloud which was refusing to break up completely.
By the time we reached the ridge we had also removed our mid-layers so we were down to t-shirts and our winter weight trousers. We could have got away with summer weight trousers today.
A view across Rannerdale to Whiteless Pike and Grasmoor. The green fields below Grasmoor are where the bluebells grow but its a little too early for any display of them at the moment. They usually bloom any time from mid-April until mid- May, with the weather defining the actual blossoming period. Yet another reason to avoid Buttermere during the bluebell season as the sight of them attracts hundreds, and possibly thousands of visitors.
Three walkers silhouetted against the skyline were slowly making their way up Whiteless Breast before tackling the steep climb up to the summit of Whiteless Pike. Another one we haven’t been to since 2016, the list of re-visits seems to be getting longer.
Some of Rannerdale’s ‘knotts’ as we walked along the ridge …..
….. and another one appeared a few minutes later.
Reaching the top of the preceding hump brought just a sliver of Loweswater into view just beyond the northern section of Crummock Water.
Towards the centre of the skyline are Herdus and Great Borne followed by the long sweep over to Starling Dodd which was just beginning to put in an appearance behind Gale Fell, over on the left.
A look back towards the head of Buttermere flanked by Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks. Behind them are Grey Knotts, Brandreth, Green Gable, Windy Gap, Great Gable and Kirk Fell. Over on the extreme right of the shot is High Crag. The cloud was still stubbornly refusing to break to allow a few rays of sunlight through and brighten the scene a little.
Well, at least Robinson has put in an appearance behind High Snockrigg by way of compensation for the low light.
A lone Herdwick ewe perched on the edge of one of the ‘knotts’ looking down the Rannerdale valley. Perhaps she had spotted something down in the valley that took her interest, she certainly wasn’t contemplating Whiteless Pike just across from her.
One of Rannerdale’s ‘knotts’ which contains a ‘bad step’. It involves some mild scrambling but doesn’t require ropes, pitons or carabiners, so even a ‘shorty’ like myself can tackle it. We paused at the bottom of the ‘bad step’ to let a couple of walkers complete their descent unhindered and then had a chat with them. We remarked on the cloudy weather and the lady of the pair replied that it was difficult to know what to do for the best. If you arrive early then you get a parking space but not the weather, which often brightens up towards lunchtime or just after, if you wait for the day to brighten up then you can’t get a parking spot. We wholeheartedly agreed with that reasoning,
Grasmoor and the Lad Hows route. We remembered descending the Lad Hows route on a sunny day in October 2016 and meeting two young lads who were sweating heavily and looking upwards, rather despondently, and contemplating what they still had to climb.
Whiteless Pike again and behind it, to the left, is Whiteless Edge which leads up to the Wandope path, plus the path to Grasmoor.
We’ve reached the ‘summit’ cairn which isn’t placed on the highest point but is situated on the somewhat flatter and most convenient area of the top. The shot above is looking westward and shows the skyline view of Starling Dodd (L), then Gale Fell (C) followed by Great Borne (R). The little pimple of Floutern Cop to the right of Great Borne is also just visible.
J, now back to wearing his mid-layer, is sitting below another ‘knott’ while I have a scout around for good views. The sky was still full of cloud so it all looks a bit dour but at least we had a view of Loweswater, Crummock Water, Mellbreak on the left and the Fellbarrow, Low Fell and Darling Fell group of fells which are part of the Loweswater fells.
From the top of Rannerdale Knotts we now have a clear view of Red Pike and part of the ridge walk over to High Stile and High Crag.
Dropping down a little for a better view of Crummock Water and a partial one of Loweswater.
We decided to drop down a little further and take a few shots from below the various ‘knotts’. I’m assuming that this rough section from the summit was once a stone pitched path but isn’t any longer. The stones are now at awkward angles and present more of an obstacle course than a path.
Looking up at one of the summit ‘knotts’ from the badly eroded path.
A few paces further down I managed to get this shot of three of the ‘knotts’ after which we returned back up the steep slope to the summit area. This is the end section of the path which starts at Hause Point and which climbs steeply and continuously. Having taken a few shots we re-traced our steps back up to the summit area.
Lo and behold, the sun had come out when we were back at the summit area so I took the above shot which shows Rannerdale Beck making its way down into Crummock Water between Grasmoor and the Lad Hows route, and Whiteless Edge and Whiteless Pike.
Blue sky and sunshine appears above Grasmoor. After a refreshment break back at the summit area we went back along the ridge heading for Buttermere.
J making his way down the ‘bad step’. Being a little short in the leg department I mostly made my way using my fifth point of contact.
The view back up the ‘bad step’ section.
Robinson and High Snockrigg come back into view and over on the right Black Star and Fleetwith Pike have also put in an appearance.
Another look over to Whiteless Pike and the long sweep over to Whiteless Breast.
We’ve had gloomy views since we started out but typically, as we returned along the ridge the cloud broke up and the sun came pouring through the gaps. Nice to see a sunny Grasmoor again.
We had a small off path diversion over to the derelict sheepfold before returning to the path again.
The path down to Buttermere although the village itself is largely hidden by the trees.
Mellbreak, Rannerdale Knotts and Grassgarth Coppice from the last few yards of the path before we crossed the road back into the car park, which was now completely full and with people still turning into it and hoping to find a space. The quarry space opposite the car park entrance which is supposed to be reserved for coaches was now occupied by a camper van, and beside it, two cars were parked in the disabled car parking spaces, which didn’t look like the sort of cars which typically have disabled drivers or passengers. This was mid-week and out of season so is it any wonder that we avoid Buttermere, and all the other ‘honeypots’ during the holiday season? It will probably be mid September before we get around to our ‘time for a re-visit’ list!