Walkhighlands

Only one day on this visit back to West Cumbria free for walking, and having travelled down by train, my hill options were limited by my parents having recently sold their second car that I'd previously been able to borrow. It maybe worked out well ...there was only one Wainwright within walking distance of the house that I hadn't done before, so this pushed me to finally get round to doing it; Lank Rigg. And the timing was perfect ... for one reason as it's a notoriously boggy route from the west and requires a couple of beck crossings (and there has been no rain for the last 6 days according to my dad, so as dry as things tend to get in West Cumbria) and for another, it was a bank holiday weekend in dry weather and in an ultra busy Lake District (so the ideal time to do one of the less visited Wainwrights AND all by foot so no parking required).

Thanks to Pointless Parasite's summary of routes up this often overlooked hill, I did the first route option just with a longer (MUCH longer) walk in.

Set off from Whitehaven mid-morning and it was pavement walking all the way through Keekle and Cleator Moor, to Wath Brow and over the bridge over the Ehen, then right, heading up Nannycatch lane. The tarmac ends where people park to take forestry trails up and around Dent, but I continued on the well worn path running between Flat Fell and Dent, with Lank Rigg already visible ahead. Hadn't been along Nannycatch since I did Flat Fell and Dent from the house, but it's a nice walk, and the bit at the end where there's a junction of paths is quite a scenic spot.



Today I headed through the gate to the right, then after crossing the stream on the small footbridge, immediately turned left, went over a stile and headed up the path cut through the bracken on the steep slope ahead. at the top, 'Private' signs kept me from straying away from the public right of way as I headed up and across farmland of the Standing Stones Farm (they were actually quite useful rather than hindering me, I was wanting to stay on the right of way marked on my map.

On reaching the road, it was a short distance to the start of the track for the Lank Rigg route proper; I'd expected 1 or 2 cars, but was surprised to see 7 parked along the road. Not busy by the standards of the Lake District just now, but busy for this route up Lank Rigg and neighbours I suspect!

It was a nice walk along the path, and the week of no rain paid off with easy crossings of Stinking Gill and the Calder itself, easy to keep dry feet by crossing on stones. The irony was that after getting across the Calder, I was ankle deep in bog 2 minutes later and had soaked feet after all. Oh well!


The path is easy to follow and then at the end of the valley, heads more steeply up the end wall to come out at the dip between Whoap and Lank Rigg. Well worn paths go in either direction, so I took the right one and after another short, straightforward steep uphill stretch, arrived at the summit.





More cloudy than I'd expected to the east, I was glad I'd stuck with a lower hill.

For the walk back, I just took the same route as it saved my knees the steep gradient of the more direct descent off Lank Rigg.

Wow, that's a seriously long walk in going all the way from Whitehaven. Interesting route up from Nannycatch as well. I've been down there lots of times but never investigated the right of way up to Standing Stones. The owner of the farmhouse nearby was a really eccentric gynaecologist, but he died a few years ago and I don't know who the new owners are.

Don't think my long walk in from Whitehaven is quite as impressive as your recent report on tackling Dom!