Weekend Walk: Braithwaite
Last updated 15:25, Friday, 21 March 2008
A colourful weekend ramble – and that’s just the purple house
Map: OS Explorer map OL4.
Parking: Tiny, disused quarry at Rigg Beck on the Newlands road (GR NY229201).
Public transport: None.
Refreshments: Swinside Inn, near Braithwaite.
Distance: 5.3 miles
Total ascent: 1,750ft
Time: 3-3.5 hours
Grade: Intermediate
Overview: Ard Crags (1,906ft) and Knott Rigg (1,824ft) form a lovely ridge that sits inconspicuously between the fells of the Newlands Round and those of the Coledale Horseshoe. Overshadowed by its popular neighbours, it’s an area of the fells that most walkers tend not even to notice. But their loss is our gain because, climbing up from Rigg Beck, we are likely to have these delightful heather-clad slopes to ourselves. It is a steep climb though – not to be underestimated. The return is via an even quieter ridge that drops down to Keskadale Farm. We then cross marshy ground and farmland to Little Town before returning to the parking area via a quiet road.
The Walk: From the parking area, walk up the narrow valley as indicated by the low fingerpost - with Rigg Beck on your left. After just under half-a-mile, the wall/fence down in the valley bottom ends. Where it does so, drop down the slope to your left to ford the beck. Climb the embankment on the other side and then pick up the path that veers half-right (SW). It crosses some damp ground early on and then climbs at a steady angle across bracken-covered slopes. You encounter a couple of grassy tracks cutting across your path on the way up; ignore these and simply keep heading uphill until you reach the ridge, where you swing right (0.75 miles from the start).
Don’t be tempted by any paths off to the right here; stick to the ridge. As the bracken gives way to heather, the ascent gets a lot steeper. There is no scrambling involved, but the constant pounding of walkers’ boots has left some of the rock exposed and this can get a little slippery in places.
There is a brief respite from the climb as you reach Aikin Knott, but then the ascent continues on a narrow path through thick heather. The worst of the climb finally ends when you reach a tiny cairn just to the right of the path. Stretching ahead of you now is a beautiful ridge that leads easily up to Ard Crags, the highest point on the walk. The summit is marked by a small pile of stones (1.55 miles from the start).
The fells across the valley to your right here are Sail and Crag Hill, which form part of the Coledale Horseshoe; ahead, in the distance, is the High Stile group, including Red Pike; and the Newlands Round is to your left.
The ridge path drops gently into a saddle before climbing again on to Knott Rigg. Continue SW from the first top for another 300 yards until you reach the true summit (2.4 miles from the start). Now look to your left and you will see a subsidiary ridge heading east from the main ridge. To gain this, head ESE. There is no path, but if you make for the two small fenced areas, you will pick up a faint path running between them.
You now follow the ridge downhill, descending through thick heather at times. When you stand directly above Keskadale Farm at the end of the ridge, the ground drops away more steeply. The path swings right and then left for the last few knee-crunching yards to a fence. It now swings left, down to a stile in a fence corner (3.15 miles from the start). Cross this to walk with a fence on your right. Cross a second stile near the farm buildings and then drop down the rough, stony slope to the road below. Turn left along the road.
You now have a choice: you can either follow the road all the way back to the parking area about 1.5 miles away or you can go through the next metal gate on your right to set off across farmland. Be warned though – the latter will almost definitely result in very muddy boots.
If you choose the farmland route, head down the track, through the next gate and then across the beck. Go through the gate on the other side and then turn left to cross a wooden footbridge. Now bear left to make your way over to a clear track rising between a few trees. From the top of the bank, head ENE towards a large tree. Cross the stile and footbridge to the left of this and then cross some boggy ground, keeping close to the fence on your right.
About 300 yards beyond the tree, cross a stile in the fence on your right. Your progress is now impeded by some very muddy ground. The best way round it is to veer left and walk with the fence on your left for a few yards and then turn sharp right up a faint path between the hawthorns. As soon as you reach drier ground, swing half-left (E) and cross the next stile you come to. You now cross a series of fields – via stiles – in a generally ESE direction.
Turn left at the surfaced lane (4.2 miles from the start) and follow it down past the tiny chapel at Little Town and out on to a quiet road. Turn left here and then right at the next T-junction. The parking area is just after the bridge over Rigg Beck.
Points of Interest: The distinctive purple house close to the parking area, also called Rigg Beck, is associated with several famous actors and writers.
The wooden house, built in the 1880s by a Canadian and originally a hotel, was bought by artist Varya Vergauwen in the 1950s for a rumoured £500. Visitors to her home included actors such as Bob Hoskins and Tom Courtenay. Comedienne Victoria Wood was also reputed to have come to Rigg Beck and poet Ted Hughes stayed there on a number of occasions.
The building, which is now in a state of disrepair and will have to be demolished, was sold at auction last year for £470,000. The buyer was a management consultant from Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey. There is outline planning consent for two houses on the site once Rigg Beck is knocked down.
For more walks in the Lake District, try Vivienne Crow’s Walk! The Lake District (North) published by Discovery Walking Guides. Now available in bookshops.
