Arnison Crag

Patterdale village sits right under this rocky little top. On the map it is only the north-east end of the Birks ridge, but Wainwright treated it as a fell of its own. The Patterdale Hotel car park (NY 395 159) is the natural start. It charges, and spaces go early at weekends because the Helvellyn crowd use it too.

The quickest way up goes straight at the nose of the ridge from the village. The gentler alternative curves west beside the Glenamara Park wall, then turns up to the top. You can also come in from Deepdale or up Hag Beck to Trough Head, the dip that joins Arnison Crag to Birks. From Trough Head the ridge runs fairly level over a string of knolls, and it is wet underfoot in places.

A popular circuit climbs Birks first by the pitched path through Glenamara Park, drops along a faint ridge path to Trough Head, then crosses Arnison Crag and comes down by the wall to the hotel. That loop is about 8 km with a little over 500 m of climbing, and none of it needs hands on rock. The National Trust grazes Aberdeen Angus cattle in Glenamara Park to keep the bracken down, so keep dogs close.

The summit is a rocky outcrop with juniper around it and only a very small cairn, because there is little loose stone to build with. Higher fells block much of the view, but you see Ullswater and Place Fell well, and both the Fairfield and High Street ranges. Oxford Crag is on the north face, and there are signs of old haematite workings on the Deepdale slopes.