Explore with Amie

After buying a Raven Crag badge we decided that would be our next Wainwright. The next day, we headed across to Thirlmere reservoir for an 11km ramble through some boggy terrain to bag four new wainwrights.

Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 11.7km
Elevation: 523m
OS Map: OL4

Notable features: Thirlmere Reservoir, Raven Crag, High Seat, High Trove and Armboth Fell

There are two main car parks to choose from for this walk but, we opted for Armboth which has great views across the reservoir and handily, there are some public toilets there too. We spent a bit of time skimming stones on the reservoir (which I’m still awful at) before beginning the walk alongside the reservoir towards the second car park option and where the fun really begins. It is worth noting that Armboth is a cash only car park but Dam Triangle has card payment options. From Dam Triangle car park, it was across the road to join the path to climb Raven Crag.

Raven Crag is a popular wainwright as, if you park in Dam Triangle car park, you’re looking at 1km to the top and 1km back down. However, I was surprised to find that this was a very steep climb because of the short distance. The path winds its way between a track and is a little slippy in places due to the gravel surface. You gain around 250m in that short period. Because of the popularity, you will also find that the path does get quite busy so this may be a route to avoid during peak season/bank holidays. There are a few steps as you get towards the top before it opens out to incredible views across Thirlmere. It is a short effort for a big pay-off once you get to the top. Again, the peak does tend to be quite busy and because of that, it is quite muddy in places. I have seen others hike up here at sunrise too and have a great cloud inversion. It would be a good spot for something like that as you’re not too far from the car.

As a lot of people do, you could just turn back from here and head back to the car park but, we wanted to make a circular route out of it. This involves back tracking slightly down the steps and then heading down a track to the left alongside a wooded area. The landscape as we headed to the next wainwright felt very different. It felt much more barren and boggy which we hadn’t had in the Lakes for a while. This area isn’t as mountainous and is more of a gradual climb towards High Seat. High Seat is 610 metres making it the 37th tallest of the wainwrights. I found this to be a bit difficult as the boggy ground was hard going and there was nothing technically difficult to take your mind off trudging along.

Part of the reason for that could also have been that I was getting hungry. So, once we reached the peak of High Seat, we decided to stop for some lunch. That definitely helped! From there, it was onto High Tove which was much easier going. On the descent, there are stone slabs that make up the path that are easy to follow and you can avoid the bog. The path follows alongside a boundary on the climb to High Tove and you do have to cross the fence as you reach the peak to truly hit the top.

The fourth and final wainwright on this walk is Armboth fell and oddly, there seems to be two peaks on this one. We used maps.me (an offline map app) for this as we were a little confused which were the peaks as there are multiple rocky outcrops in the area that this could be. Armboth fell has two peaks, one labelled the summit and the other the wainwright which, apparently, is because the two heights are so similar and Arthur Wainwright may have been swayed by a small cairn on the top of one of them though many say that the other one is actually the highest. To save the bother, we walked to both!

The paths around here are a little harder to follow as most of the land looks the same so we retraced our steps to where we had descended High Tove and followed the most major path back down into the valley. Skirting a woodland, we made our way back down to the road. This path meets the road right opposite Armboth car park so we were in a great position to hop into the car and head off home.

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Start point: Armboth car park, Thirlmere

1. Head along the footpath alongside the reservoir until it meets another car park at the end of the reservoir (Dam Triangle car park).
2. At the car park, walk alongside the road. You should shortly see a footpath on the left hand side.
3. Follow the path. Soon it meets a gravel track. Ignore this and follow the path straight ahead.
4. Cross the track again, continuing the climb upwards.
5. Follow the path as it bend to the right, continuing through the trees.
6. Pass though the gate before turning right for the final ascent up Raven Crag.
7. Head up the stairs to the peak.
8. Retrace your steps back down to the gate. Here, turn left to follow the track alongside the woodland.
9. Take the path on the right as it leaves the track, through the gate.
10. Follow this path, bearing right to head towards High Seat.
11. Once you’ve reached High Seat, take the path on the left (a right angle to the ascent path) and descend towards the stone slab path.
12. Follow the path alongside the boundary fence until you reach High Tove. You may need to cross the fence to reach the summit.
13. At High Tove, looking down towards the valley on the left, the path forks. Take the middle fork towards Armboth fell. The official wainwright is to the right on the next rocky outcrop.
14. From Armboth fell, follow the path alongside the woodland, down into the valley to meet the road.
15. Cross the road to return to the car park.

End point: Armboth car park

Have you bagged these wainwrights?

Amie x