Date: Sunday 12th October 2025
Company: Myself and Ann-Marie
Distance: 14.4km, Ascent: 773m
Time: 4Hrs 50Mins
We parked at the Haweswater reservoir car park this morning for an ascent of four of my remaining Wainwrights, Kidsty Pike, Rampsgill Head, The Knott and High Raise. The forecast for this morning was 'Fog', and the temperature as we drove towards Haweswater reservoir was only 4C, I was therefore hopeful for some cloud inversion.
From the car park, we made our way round towards The Rigg for an ascent of Kidsty Pike via Kidsty Howes. As we progressed along the track, the sound of rutting stags filled the air.
Route:
Once beyond the boggy section at the base of the ridge, it was a pleasant ascent via a grassy path between areas of withering bracken.
Ascent towards Kidsty Howes:
As we progressed towards Kidsty Howes we were indeed treated to cloud inversion
.Cloud inversion over Haweswater reservoir:
Cloud inversion over Haweswater reservoir:
Ann-Marie appearing above the cloud inversion:
Cloud inversion over Haweswater reservoir:
Path repair work is currently underway at Kidsty Howes. The sections already complete are excellent.
Throughout the walk there wasn't a breath of wind.
Ascent towards Kidsty Pike:
On reaching the summit of Kidsty Pike, we were treated to nice views of High Street, a Wainwright I have ascended twice previously.
View towards High Street from the summit of Kidsty Pike:
View from summit of Kidsty Pike:
From Kidsty Pike, we then made our way towards Rampsgill Head. It didn't take long to also summit this Wainwright which is only a few hundred metres from Kidsty Pike with minimal ascent.
Cloud inversion:
From Rampsgill Head, as well as being treated to cloud inversion above Haweswater reservoir, we could now see that the inversion extended a good distance to the north.
Cloud inversion from the summit of Rampsgill Head:
From Rampsgill Head, we next made our way towards The Knott. Again, this Wainwright was only a few hundred metres away from Rampsgill Head with minimal ascent to reach its summit.
Heading towards The Knott:
At the summit of The Knott:
At the summit of The Knott:
From the summit of The Knott, we returned to Rampsgill Head and then followed the nice grassy track out to our fourth, highest and final Wainwright of the day, High Raise.
Cloud inversion from the summit of High Raise:
View from the summit of High Raise:
While at the summit of High Raise, I had a quick look at the map to work out how to descend. We could have returned to Kidsty Pike and then descended via our route of ascent, however instead I opted to continue towards Low Raise and then descend via its SE ridge. While there was no path marked on the map, the contours looking ok for a descent.
During the descent we passed an ATV that someone has managed to tip over.
Someone has tipped over an ATV:
Beyond the ATV we had around a dozen red deer run across the hill in front of us.
Red deer running across the hillside:
The descent wasn't wonderful. There is no path marked on the map because there is no path. Before long, I was wishing that we had returned to Kidsty Pike before descending.
Descent towards Randale Beck:
Ruin passed during descent:
With some relief, we reached the Haweswater reservoir track which we then followed back to the car park.
Back onto the Haweswater reservoir track:
Haweswater reservoir:
188/214 now complete. 26 Wainwrights, and 26 Munro Tops, remaining to complete both lists.