Mardale Head to High Street Circular
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 5.19 mi
- Elevation gain
- 1,900 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 1,900 ft
- Max elevation
- 2,904 ft
- TrailRank
- 38
- Min elevation
- 928 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 4 hours 34 minutes
- Coordinates
- 772
- Uploaded
- May 3, 2017
- Recorded
- May 2017
near Mardale, England (United Kingdom)
Viewed 435 times, downloaded 22 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
We had a beautiful, though very windy, day when we completed this 5 mile circular from the Mardale Head car park at the end of Haweswater. I'd rate it difficult because there was some steep parts on the ridge where caution was needed when traversing.
The path from the car park is well marked and we took the route signposted to Nan Bield Pass. This is a steady climb up to Small Water Tarn, which is a pleasant place to stop for an early coffee.
We went to the right around the tarn and continued the climb up to Nan Bield Pass. At the summit is a shelter where we stopped for another break.
From the shelter we turned right and headed up onto the old Roman road called High Street. Again, the path is very well marked and in good repair. The trig point on the top of High Street says 828m. High Street was a Roman route from Ambleside to Brougham, near Penrith. Also of interest is the fact that the trig point is on "Racecourse Hill". Apparently they held horse races there in the dim and distant past.
Soon after the trig point we turned right again heading to Riggingdale Ridge. This part was quite difficult as the initial descent is quite steep and rocky. Rather than carry on all the way down the ridge we dropped down to the dam on Blea Water tarn, then followed the path down the valley back to the car park.
The path from the car park is well marked and we took the route signposted to Nan Bield Pass. This is a steady climb up to Small Water Tarn, which is a pleasant place to stop for an early coffee.
We went to the right around the tarn and continued the climb up to Nan Bield Pass. At the summit is a shelter where we stopped for another break.
From the shelter we turned right and headed up onto the old Roman road called High Street. Again, the path is very well marked and in good repair. The trig point on the top of High Street says 828m. High Street was a Roman route from Ambleside to Brougham, near Penrith. Also of interest is the fact that the trig point is on "Racecourse Hill". Apparently they held horse races there in the dim and distant past.
Soon after the trig point we turned right again heading to Riggingdale Ridge. This part was quite difficult as the initial descent is quite steep and rocky. Rather than carry on all the way down the ridge we dropped down to the dam on Blea Water tarn, then followed the path down the valley back to the car park.
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