Grisedale Pike

Grisedale Pike rises straight out of Braithwaite, and its east ridge is the way most people go. Start from the small parking area in an old quarry on the Whinlatter road just above the village, opposite the Hope Memorial Camp. The spaces go quickly, but there is more parking in the village, and at busy times the village school has opened its grounds to walkers for a small fee. The path climbs steeply through bracken to Kinn, above the Heavy Sides plantation, then follows a long ridge of grass and heather over Sleet How.

From the Whinlatter side you can start near the top of the pass and come up either the north ridge over Hobcarton End or the north-east ridge beside a tumbledown wall. The Honister Rambler bus (77) is listed as calling at Whinlatter Forest in season.

The first half of the Braithwaite ridge is easy walking. Beyond Sleet How it narrows, and the last pull is a rough clamber up loose stones and rock steps. You will use your hands now and then, but there is no real exposure.

The summit is small, with steep ground on most sides, and it feels like the top of a proper peak. On a clear day you can see the hills of southern Scotland and the Isle of Man, and people have reported seeing Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland. Skiddaw and the Dodds are close at hand to the east.

Most people continue west over Hobcarton Crag to Hopegill Head and drop into Coledale on engineered zigzags. That brings you out at Force Crag Mine, which closed in 1990 after a major collapse. It was the last working metal mine in the Lake District, producing lead, zinc and barytes. The old mine road leads back to Braithwaite.