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Hewitts: Harrison Stickle, Pike o' Stickle, High Raise.
Date: 21/09/2023.
Distance: 15km.
Ascent: 1070m.
Time: 6 hours, 50 minutes.
Weather: Mild and mostly sunny. Cool breeze at times.
The somewhat grim forecast for the week had settled a bit as time went on - now Thursday and Saturday looked quite pleasant. We decided to head for something higher and a bit more classic - the Langdale Pikes fit the bill. We came up with a circuit that took some other bumps in as well. Starting at New Dungeon Ghyll, we dragged our way up Stickle Ghyll. Good path but steep going! Plenty of folk around but things were nowhere near as busy as our 2020 and 2021 visits to Langdale.
Entering Stickle Ghyll 
Higher up Stickle Ghyll 
Stickle Ghyll There was a fun crossing of the Ghyll about 3/4 of the way up, then suddenly we were at Stickle Tarn. Would we go for a dip? Well obviously! The only threatening weather of the walk appeared here but it actually seemed to dump its load over the Coniston Fells and we stayed dry.
Stickle Tarn and Pavey Ark 
Coniston Fells from Stickle Tarn 
Jackie swimming in Stickle Tarn 
Pavey Ark Jack's Rake or even Easy Gully would have been a quick way onto Pavey Ark but Jackie's scrambling mojo has disappeared without much use over the last 2 years so we opted for the 'easy' route round the back. It isn't difficult but it certainly isn't free of rock and steepness. The actual summit of Pavey Ark isn't immediately clear as there are higher bumps nearby. The listed summit has the best views though.
Bright Beck 
Fairfield from the Pavey Ark ascent 
Pavey Ark Ascent 
Helvellyn and Fairfield 
Langdale from Pavey Ark 
Jackie on Pavey Ark Then it was onto Harrison Stickle via a bit of a traverse. I strolled to the southern end of the summit area first for a great view down over Langdale. Quite a spot
.
Stickle Tarn from Harrison Stickle 
Langdale from Harrison Stickle 
Coniston Fells from Harrison Stickle 
Great End and Great Gable A network of paths (some steeper than others) took us over to Loft Crag, from where it was a nice stroll along to the final nub of Pike of Stickle. This has a flight of steps at the base which maroons you amongst a number of possible scrambly routes to the top. None difficult but none that follow through on the initial promise! From here we were looking directly down into Mickleden where we had walked yesterday.
Looking back to Harrison Stickle 
Pike of Stickle from Loft Crag 
Lingmoor Fell from Loft Crag 
Pike of Stickle 
Skiddaw from Pike of Stickle 
Glaramara from Pike of Stickle 
Loft Crag from Pike of Stickle 
Mickleden and Rossett Pike 
Grasmoor to the NW A short amount of slithering took us to the base of the Pike, after which we were into different terrain - grass with the occasional squelch of bog. At this point we had taken well over 3 hours to do around 5km, but from here onwards the going became much faster. We wandered over Thunacar Knott (not much to see from here) and onto High Raise. I have previously been a bit dismissive of High Raise as it looks fairly uninteresting compared to the Pikes, but it has fabulous views north to Borrowdale and Skiddaw - very pleasant on a day like today.
Bassenthwaite Lake and Skiddaw 
Borrowdale from High Raise From here we pushed on to Sergeant Man before diverting out to Blea Rigg, with glimpses of Grasmere and Codale Tarn (which I had never really noticed before). The area here is nice but Blea Rigg itself is one of those indistinct summits that isn't even the highest point. Jackie and I wandered across two contenders before discovering that we hadn't gone far enough east. This was for my benefit anyway (she had been up before) so I jogged the couple of minutes to the actual summit myself.
Blea Rigg from Sergeant Man 
Stickle Tarn from Blea Rigg 
Easedale Tarn from Blea Rigg Paths back towards Stickle Ghyll were less distinct than expected but it didn't take us too long to find an obvious route that dropped us back down to our ascent route again. This was steep but impressive, giving a good look across the Ghyll in the evening light. From there it was a short descent back to the car where we discovered we had just missed Jackie's parents (they had been at New Dungeon Ghyll but decided to walk back to Elterwater from there.
Pavey Ark and Stickle Tarn 
Dropping back into Stickle GhyllA tough choice, but this was definitely one of our two highlights of the week.
