Grike, Crag Fell & Lank Rigg

Saturday 22nd February 2020

Grike, Crag Fell & Lank Rigg.

A reasonably easy walk today - I had planned to do a St Sunday Crag walk, but when I arrived at Ullswater heading for Patterdale, the lakeside road had become part of the lake, with waves hitting the far side of the road ! a few cars had stopped - No way was I going to risk it, so I turned the car round and thought of fells that I hadn't been to for a while and were at a higher starting point. I chose the Ennerdale area, and set off for an extra 30mins of driving.

The weather today was not pleasant at all, strong winds - so strong that when I was putting my boots on my size 12 trainers got blown away !! The walk was also punctuated by wicked hail storms that fell like dart points piercing the exposed skin. Fortunately, I was well wrapped up and only small areas of my face were exposed to the sharp bullets.

I still managed to really enjoy the walk and also ticked off a path that I had never walked before, so although not a classic, I still returned home pleased to have got a walk in - when I could quite as easily stayed at home having seen the forecast.

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Distance: 9.4 miles

Duration: 4:15 hours

Ascent: 2700 ft

Difficulty: Moderate

Weather: Very Windy

Wainwrights Visited

Crag Fell Grike Lank Rigg

3D outline of route

Parking

Always an easy place to find a spot to park on the Cold Fell Road - a couple of miles out of Ennerdale Bridge near Blakeley Moss

Setting off - and already 700ft above sea level

Taking the left turn and following the bridleway towards Crag Fell.

Only 30mins of walking and Grike is nearing

Looking across to Lank Rigg - I'll be over there soon

Grike summit

Crag Fell summit and views over Ennerdale. It was so windy up here I was struggling to hold my mobile and take photos.

Starting the descent of Crag Fell and a hail storm was soon to engulf this area - a real battle ensued, than goodness I had goggles or I would have found it very difficult to see.

After the storm - on top of Whoap with Lank Rigg ahead, unfortunately there is a significant 'down and up' to come.

Approaching Lank Rigg - feeling out of condition, that was harder than it should have been. A cold & little walking recently, has had its effect.

Lank Rigg summit

Heading down from Lank Rigg, I decided to take a different route back to the car and head for Lankrigg Moss. After all the rain we have had, this may not have been a wise idea ('Moss' is usually a bad sign for a dry path). But I'd never gone across here before and I'm not a fan of 'out and backs', so I went for it.... It was the right choice