Arnside Knott

Today's walk takes in the three highest peaks in England, Scafell, Skiddaw and Helvellyn, all in the space of an hour or so. Well almost...the view from Arnside Knott is about as good as it gets, and whilst the low cloud prevented us from seeing many of the lakeland peaks this afternoon, the panorama on a clear day is amazing, and you can see all of these peaks.

Our walk started at the National Trust car park on Arnside Knott. From the car park we headed almost directly up the steep slope to the stone walled viewpoint. From there, we continued onwards, through a gate, into woodland and a good track which led to the left and continued up the hill to another viewpoint and a bench.

The hilltop provided a chance for some ball throwing before we headed onwards and through another gate diagonally downhill through open pastures. There were a few cattle gazing here but the dog, and the cattle, were pretty disinterested in each other.

Once we reached the far wall we followed the path right, alongside the edge of the pasture, with the wall on our left. A gate in the corner of the pasture led us back in to the woods and down a fairly steep and slippery (when wet) path.

In sight of the road, we bore right and passed beneath the steep limestone screes before continuing onwards, through several more gates, and back to the car park.

This is a great walk, of about 2 miles. If we'd have stayed in the woods rather than cut through the pastures, the entire walk would have been off-lead. As it was, the dog was on the lead for a short while past the cattle. The only down side from the dogs point of view was the absence of a stream or river.


If you wanted to extend the walk a little, and give your dog a paddle, you could start from Arnside promenade.


Doggy rating 8/10 (Would have made a 9 if the dog had found somewhere to swim!)