A few months ago, we set out on the Pasture Beck round from Hartsop. It’s a six and a half mile hike which can be done easily in a half day, and bags four Wainwrights: Hartsop Dodd, Stony Cove Pike, Thornthwaite Crag and Gray Crag. For a relatively short walk, it bags a satisfying number of summits. It’s an attractive option for a day trip, but I’d spent a while putting it off due to the WalkLakes note which mentions potentially aggressive cows near the start. However, in April I put on my brave pants, and we drove over on a dry weekend day to complete the round.
The route we followed was on WalkLakes, which is a great free resource for walks of all difficulties and lengths in the Lake District. We parked in the very small car park in the village of Hartsop, where there is an honesty box. This car park fills up quickly so it’s worth getting there early to make sure you can get a space – there is no option to park on the roadside nearby as the road through the village is very tight and twisty. From the car park, you set off uphill almost straight away to make your way up Hartsop Dodd (happily, there weren’t any cows in sight). This is a knee crunchingly steep climb, but thankfully it’s over relatively quickly and the views back over the valley mean that it’s no chore to stop and catch your breath.
A small cairn marks the summit of Hartsop Dodd, and it’s a thankfully less steep walk across to the summit of Stony Cove Pike. Navigation is straight forward, as a drystone wall runs alongside the path the whole way, which drastically reduces the chances of getting lost. This was handy, as about halfway across we walked into a cloud and didn’t re-emerge until several miles later! I therefore can’t comment on the quality of the view from Stony Cove Pike (also called Cauldale Moor).
The walk across to Thornthwaite Crag was uneventful, and blanketed in cloud with absolutely no views. There is a short section of descent where care is needed and it’s almost a bit scrambley (the bum shuffle technique did make an appearance), and immediately upon reaching the bottom you have to climb straight back up to reach the summit of Thornthwaite Crag. This climb was another steep one, and I ended up having a snack break halfway up to inspire me to keep going, given that there were no views.
There is an enormous drystone pillar at the summit of Thornthwaite Crag, which at least meant there was something interesting to see at the top! After a few steep climbs earlier in the day, the mooch over to Grey Crag is lovely and gentle, with a few gradual ups and downs. There’s a big drop off to the right here and I suspect that the cloud was hiding some nice views! We finally started to emerge from the cloud when we arrived at the small cairn marking the summit of Grey Crag.
The views across to High Street and The Knott were good, and it was a shame we didn’t see more of the views on the walk. The descent from Grey Crag begins steadily on a good path, before steepening for the final section and at times deteriorating onto a steep, slippery grass track. Once you get to this point though you really don’t have far to go and you can see the lovely, well surfaced track waiting for you at the bottom. When you reach it, it’s a straightforward, easy walk back to the car.
Dog friendly rating – 2/5. Dogs need to be kept on a lead all the way around as there are sheep throughout – you may also come across the ‘scary cows’ even if we managed to avoid them. There is a stile to navigate near the start, and there is no water, so you’ll need to carry extra for your dog on a hot day. Less agile dogs may also struggle with the scrambley section and need help getting up or down some of the drops. However, there’s nothing on this walk that gave either of our dogs pause.
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