Knott Rigg and Ard Crags and a Birthday

It's Husband's Birthday today. I doubt he's had many on such a glorious day.

Off we head to Newlands for a shortish walk. We really are not fell fit at the moment so we are picking our walks with that in mind!

We start out up Rigg Beck. It is immediately obvious this is our kind of valley

Quiet and isolated. The only sound is the beck tumbling down alongside us. That's Ard Crags ahead. We will be up there later and although at this point this wasn't the plan, we will walk back along the tree line you can see on the ridge

Gradually it gets steeper so we pause to admire the view, The Eastern fells are showing signs of the snowfall we had yesterday

It's warm and Breeze finds a nice watering hole

It starts to get quite a bit steeper as we approach the watershed between Ard Crags and Sail

Looking back at The Dodds

When we reach the water shed we find a nice sunny spot for lunch! The High Stile Ridge on the far side of Buttermere is the predominant view to the west

Our original plan was to head straight up onto Ard crags and then walk along to Knot Rigg before dropping down to Keskadale and following the road back to the car at Birkrigg. Somewhere round here we decided to change that a bit.

We made our way up the steep slope but instead of going straight to Ard Crags, we went off piste and cut over onto Knott Rigg first

Some of us go up and down hill easier than others!

Once we arrive on Knott Rigg, we do something we normally never do - Turn around! 

Now we head over Ard Crags

And then over Aiken Knott

Time to put the lead on as we get down to the road

And return to the car at the Purple House

A really stunning day. The route up was idyllic. we saw just one fell runner until we reached the ridge between Ard Craggs and Knott Rigg, and then only saw another two couples.
We had only walked a little over 5 miles but that left plenty of time to get ready for this evenings Birthday celebrations - meeting up with a crowd of pals for an Indian. We know how to live you know ;-)