Date: Wednesday 24th December 2025
Company: Myself and Ann-Marie
Distance: 11.8km, Ascent: 740m
Time: 4Hrs 10Mins
Great to be back in the Lake District for Christmas through to New Year. With twenty Wainwrights remaining, I set out this morning with a view to completing four of these, Grey Knotts, Brandreth, Green Gable and Base Brown.
On arrival at Honister Slate Mine, I expected to have to pay the five pounds parking charge at the Honister Slate Mine shop. The shop was however closed, so we had free parking which is always a bonus in the Lake District
.Route:
Bird statue at Honister Slate Mine car park:
From the car park, we commenced the steep ascent towards Grey Knotts. There is a small sign marking the start of the track at the youth hostel.
Ascent towards Grey Knotts from Honister Slate Mine:
Looking back towards Honister Slate Mine:
We had to take care during the ascent as it was below zero and some of the stones had a thin covering of ice.
Steep ascent:
After ascending for around thirty minutes, Ann-Marie noticed her mobile phone was missing. It had fallen out of her pocket! As we had stuck to the path during the ascent, it was thankfully a simple job retracing our steps resulting in finding the phone. Phew!
View during ascent of Grey Knotts:
On heading back uphill, I increased the pace slightly to make up for lost time.
Ascending Grey Knotts:
It didn't take long to reach the summit of Grey Knotts, our first Wainwright of the day. The summit is the cairn on the west top.
Approaching the summit of Grey Knotts:
At the summit of Grey Knotts:
From the summit of Grey Knotts, it was a short simple walk to reach our second Wainwright of the day, Brandreth. The summit area has several potential high points. The summit is a rock.
At the summit of Brandreth:
We then descended to the col to pick-up the start of a more substantial path up Green Gable.
Ascending Green Gable:
View during ascent of Green Gable:
During the ascent, I knew I also wanted to include Base Brown in the walk but was in two minds as to which Wainwright to ascend next, Green Gable or Base Brown. We opted to get the higher one done first, so continued on to the summit of Green Gable. I was surprised at how close Great Gable is to Green Gable. As tempting as it was to also ascend Great Gable, I had ascended it previously. Base Brown had to take priority
.Great Gable from the summit of Green Gable:
The ascent of Base Brown was wet underfoot in places but much less rocky than the other Wainwrights we had already ascended.
Heading out to Base Brown:
At the summit of Base Brown:
From the summit of Base Brown, we reascended much of Green Gable before returning back towards Brandreth.
Looking back to Base Brown during re-ascent of Green Gable:
On reaching the col between Green Gable and Brandreth, I opted to return via Moses' trod which would negate having to reascend Brandreth and Grey Knotts.
Walking back to Honister Slate Mine:
A great start to the trip.