Gibson Knott

Between Helm Crag and Calf Crag, the ridge above Grasmere narrows to roughly a hundred yards wide, and Gibson Knott stands in the middle. On the south side the slope breaks into rock at Horn Crag above Far Easedale. The northern side falls more gently to Greenburn Bottom.

Start in Grasmere, which has several pay and display car parks, and head out along Easedale Road. You can climb Helm Crag first and follow the ridge north west, or go straight up to Bracken Hause, the dip at about 1,100 feet between Helm Crag and Gibson Knott, from Far Easedale or from Greenburn. Most walkers take it in on the Greenburn Horseshoe, which adds Steel Fell and Calf Crag to Helm Crag for a round of about 14 km.

The ridge path is good but rocky, rising and falling over a string of small knolls and outcrops. Now and then it's not obvious which way it goes round a knoll, though nothing is exposed and you won't need to scramble.

Several rocky knolls reach much the same height. The accepted summit is the western one, with a small cairn on a rock platform. The view goes all the way round but is less wide than you might expect from the middle of the Lakes, and it opens out a little if you walk east along the ridge.

With Helm Crag's rock towers, the Howitzer and the Lion and the Lamb, at one end and the higher ground of Calf Crag at the other, Gibson Knott is easy to overlook. It is the long, knobbly middle of the Greenburn round.