Walkhighlands

A little gem this one and happily not nearly as well known as it deserves to be. It's a half dome with a spectacular sheer face which towers over Thirlmere Dam. Most people drive blithely past on the A591 and barely notice it..
We parked up in pleasant countryside near Thirlmere dam. You can either go straight up or take a forest track which takes a bit of the sting out of the gradient. We opted for the latter. Eventually you have to leave the forest track and head steeply up through the trees. The path is well made and the trees are sparse enough to let in a lot of sunlight. There are a few boggy patches but the path is well made with steps and boardwalks. Eventually you pop out into the clearing at the summit. Drop down a bit to a small rocky promontory and a magnificent view of Thirlmere emerges.. . After a leisurely lunch spent drinking in the views, we headed back down the path. There is a fort at the col. We took a forestry road that winds down around the hill to the north which (perhaps presumptuously to Scottish ears) is called The Benn. The Benn forms one side of a great little valley called Shoulthwaite Gill which has impressive and little-known crags on both sides.
All in all one of the best of the smaller hills.

Looks an impressive cliff face. I thought it would be much smaller than El Capitan but was surprised it is only half the size (did I say only!). I just expected the one across the pond to be much more when I looked up it's stats.

Another walk to save for a clear day I think.

Fantastic first pic that - the others are good too! I might add my few pics to your post sometime as I doubt I'll be writing a report on it...

Hi Dan, we did this in June last year, we actually climbed Lingmoor Fell first then drove up and parked by the dam, before it was fenced around as we noticed recently. Its a lovely little climb through the forest,particularly where its really dark The summit views are great, even AW drew himself here, only downside for us was it was midge time Great report, thanks

Thanks for complements. I was very lucky with the light to get the picture of the face. When we came back after the end of the walk it had completely flattened out. I like Susan's picture in the woods - I don't remember it being that dark!. Maybe for the full Yosemite effect, they should release a few bears.

Perhaps the falsh gives that effect,as for the bears,it would certainly speed up the ascent, and do they eat midges or just us walkers

Cool - it does look a bit like El Cap

Adding my pics (hope you don't mind) as I mentioned above...

Cheers MC

At least you got Thirlmere with some water in it!

Yeah, that's the one thing about all these reservoirs - they look better full - gets rid of that horrid looking tidemark around the edge!

Nice little report on an equally nice little fell. Castle Crag with its path spiralling to its summit came as a surprise.

Hope you don't mind I've added my pics from Raven Crag too, saves me writing a report .




Cheers Simon.

Nice photos. This is fast becoming the definitive Raven Crag web page!