Hard Knott

Hardknott Roman Fort stands on a terrace on the Eskdale side of the pass, and the fell above it looks straight across at the Scafells. Walk the Wainwrights notes that the fort, Mediobogdum, was garrisoned by Dalmatian soldiers to control the route over the pass, and that its walls were rebuilt in 1959.

Walkers usually set off from the top of Hardknott Pass. Just below the crest on the Wrynose side there are small pull-ins with room for two or three cars, and one on the Eskdale side takes two. Keep off the passing places. From the Wrynose side, the path behind the parking skirts the right side of Raven Crag with Hardknott Gill close by and climbs steeply on grass and rock. As it eases it turns into a boggy gully; keep to its left. A clearer path then weaves among the knolls to the summit. There is little more than 500 feet to climb, and a round that includes Border End is about 3.2 km. Starting in Eskdale triples the distance and the climbing, and from the valley you can make a horseshoe with Harter Fell.

Expect rocky knotts, boggy hollows and faint grassy paths, but no scrambling.

A cairn marks the highest rocky knoll at 549 metres, with Yew Bank to the north and Border End to the south. The Scafell massif is very close, and the panorama runs from Slight Side and Scafell across to Esk Pike, Bowfell and Crinkle Crags. Harter Fell fills the view south. From parts of the walk you can pick out the Eskdale Needle, a rock pinnacle on the fellside.