Knott

At the centre of the fells back o' Skiddaw sits Knott, a long whaleback of grass running about 3 miles east to west. Burn Tod sits at the western end, Frozen Fell runs alongside to the north and Coomb Height ends it in the east. Streams have cut deep ravines into the slopes, and the yellow and red soil they expose shows from a long way off. Few people come this way.

No road comes close. The Walk Lakes route leaves from the end of the Mosedale road, where a few cars fit on the verge before the Grainsgill Beck bridge. It climbs Great Calva first by Wiley Gill, then crosses a stile and a stretch of moss and tussocks to Knott's domed top. The way down goes east towards Coomb Height, avoiding peat hags, and follows Grainsgill Beck past Lingy Hut and the old mine to the road. It is 12 km and rated wet and boggy. Other walkers come from Orthwaite by the bridleway up Hause Gill, from Longlands over the Uldale Fells, or from Mungrisdale.

The ground is grass, moss and heather with no rock to climb. Paths are faint, and Walk Lakes says good visibility is required to see the way on.

A plain pile of stones marks the summit. Skiddaw and Blencathra fill much of the view south, but Thirlmere and the Scafells show between them. North you see the Solway Firth and the hills of south west Scotland.

Tungsten

The Harding vein under Knott fed Carrock Mine, the only tungsten mine in Britain outside Cornwall and Devon, which worked on and off until the 1980s. The vein beneath Knott is worked out, and the old levels at Coomb Height were later used to hold sludge from the ore processing.