Harter Fell 649m and Hard Knott 549m, Lake District (Nuttall and Wainwright).
Summary
Today was meant to be a short leg stretch in a different area of the fells just to ease off on the legs a little bit and have some different scenery. The choice on this sky blue day was a walk around the Hardknott Pass area. If your not familiar with this pass it’s a single track road that links Ambleside to the West coast area of Cumbria and it has the acclaim for being the steepest road in England at 33%.
Parking at the bottom of the pass (sensible Welsh boy!) I walked up first to just below Hard Knott hill to what has to be one of the biggest and most remote Roman Forts or Castrum in the UK. This dramatically-sited fort was founded under Hadrian's rule in the 2nd century and the well preserved remains include the headquarters building, commandant's house and bath house. Even the site of the parade ground survives beside the fort. Great stuff!
Anyway after that was a little slog to the top of Hard Knott first which is a Wainwright and has great views of the Scafell group and then a happy bimble back down to the pass where oddly enough I was stopped by a motorist asking for directions?? After that it was another little slog up to Harter Fell where there were more dramatic views and a lovely stone trig point but the true summit was nearby and needed a bit of a scramble.
Parking: Lay-by at the bottom of the pass on the Eskdale side for about 10 cars and just a bit up the road over the cattle grid a free car park for about 6-8 cars.
Route: Good unmaintained footpaths in the main, some indistinct sections but very little. Good views on a sunny day. A great Roman Fort to see.
Route Statistics: The short leg stretch ended up as a 12km hike with a surprising 840m of height gain. All done in a sweaty 4 hours.
Info sheets
The walk up the road to the Roman Fort
The walk to Hardknott from the Roman Fort.
From Hardknott Pass to Harter Fell and the finish.