Hard Knott  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Before we went on holiday we were hoping for at least one really good day’s weather because we had identified a walk we really wanted to do on just such a day. Olivia is very interested in many aspects of history and when we told her of the Roman fort situated at Hard Knott she was keen to visit it. We planned a walk to firstly visit Upper Eskdale, a place we have walked just once before but were keen to return to. After this our walk would take us to the summit of Hard Knott followed by Border End, the southern end of the fell, where you get a fabulous view looking down on the Roman Fort.
As we were staying in Ambleside the quickest way to get to Eskdale was the route over the Wrynose and Hardknott Passes. This always makes for an interesting drive, particularly if the roads are busy, but we left fairly early to avoid this and, other than the smell of the brakes at the end of the drive, there were no causes for concern. Olivia had never quite experienced anything like the Hardknott Pass before and, although glad she wasn’t driving herself, thought it great fun to drive the steepest road in England.
We parked at the bottom of the Hardknott Pass and were soon booted up. I promised James, Olivia and Richard who were walking with us today that they would be impressed by today’s walk as Upper Eskdale has to be one of the most beautiful places to spend some time and, because it is harder to reach than most Lakeland valleys, was never likely to get too busy either.
We passed the old phone box at the bottom of the Hard Knott pass and checked it had a dialling tone which it did. The box itself seems to be in a very sorry state though, with several broken windows. The early part of the walk took us through Brotherilkeld Farm before carrying on up Eskdale. Very soon we were getting great views towards Bowfell as we walked beside the River Esk, and we also took several detours off the path down to the water’s edge to get photographs of the waterfalls. Just after I took a picture of the Tongue Pot pools a family jumped in for a swim and I had to admit to feeling very envious on seeing this.  Lingcove Bridge  Crinkle Crags ahead
On reaching Lingcove Bridge I decided that on very warm day such as this a quick dip in the really cold water would be great. I have to admit I don’t think I have ever felt so invigorated by a swim before, but the water was really cold so I didn’t stay too long. Even though I didn’t have a towel with me I never once felt cold and swimming in the River Esk is something I’ll remember for a long time for sure. James and Richard had a quick dip in the water too.
We spent quite some time at Lingcove Bridge and who could blame us as it really is the most delightful spot. Reluctantly we left to do the first bit of serious ascent of the day as we made our way up beside the waterfalls on the path to Three Tarns. The higher we got the views opened up with each footstep and we started to get views of England’s highest mountains but not views you would ever see unless you come to this remote spot.
We found the cairn marking the path into Mosedale and were soon ascending the slopes of Hard Knott following the line of an old electric fence. These fences were put here after the 2001 foot and mouth epidemic to help the replenished sheep flocks find the boundary of their grazing areas or heafs, a process known as “hefting”. The fence was supposed to be removed after 5 years and it certainly isn’t live anymore. In fact the only danger now is that you have to be careful you don’t get tangled up in the loose wires on the ground.
Following the fence led us to a cairn which was just the most perfect spot for lunch. The 360 degree view took in the most amazing mountain panorama including Slight Side and the Scafells round to Esk Pike, Bowfell and Crinkle Crags. In the other direction we had one of the clearest views of the Isle on Man I think I’ve ever seen from the Lakeland Fells. Lunch was taken very leisurely and no one was in a hurry to leave this stunning spot but we still had our summit to reach and, of course, the Roman fort too. On our way to reach the summit we passed many crags and James, Richard and Olivia really had fun scrambling their way to tops of many of these until we eventually reached the true summit.
 Hard Knott summit view  Roman Fort from Border End With the day we were having the views all around were just stunning. We made our way across the boggy area to reach Border End a lower subsidiary summit of Hard Knott fell. From here the view towards the Scafell range has to be one of the best there is but the view down on the Roman fort is good too and I always think just what life would have been like for those living here. Olivia was keen to get to the fort now and led the way through the crags to the fort far below us. There is no footpath as such but a safe way down can easily be worked out as long as you are careful.
After spending some time looking around the Fort it was just a matter of making our way down through the bracken to where the car was parked. Before driving back to Ambleside a drink was enjoyed sitting outside the Woolpack Inn, reflecting on our really enjoyable walk, one I’m sure we will all remember for a long time.
I’ve really enjoyed processing this set of pictures and even processed some of them using Photomatix software to produce some HDR images. I use this piece of software for those images where I think it might improve the image, but I always try not to over-process an image so that it looks nothing like how I remember the day to be. I’ve also had some fun with a piece of software that’s new to me called Microsoft Ice, which stitched some images together for panoramas in a really impressive way.
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Great shots of the fort from your walk,must have been warm to go for a swim.
Regards Lance