An alternative approach to High Street, avoiding the Boredale path, climbs from Hartsop via Hayeswater. The eastern wall of the valley is formed by The Knott (739m), while High Street itself arcs southwards from The Knott around the head of Hayeswater, enclosing the upper basin. On the opposite side, Gray Crag (699m) rises to form the western wall of the tarn, its ridge linking directly with the High Street system and reinforcing the enclosed, glacial character of the valley.

Gray Crag (699m) forms the western wall of Hayeswater, rising steeply above the tarn, while The Knott (739m) stands opposite on the eastern side of the valley. Near the head of Hayeswater, the ground lifts onto the broad ridge of High Street, where Thornthwaite Crag (784m) marks a prominent point along the skyline, linking the enclosing fells into a coherent high-level ridge system above the tarn.

Where the broad ridge of High Street narrows at the head of Riggindale, between Twopenny Crag and Short Stile, it is known as the Straits of Riggindale. The Coast to Coast Path joins High Street at this point, crossing the high ground en route from Patterdale towards Haweswater, with Kidsty Pike rising to the north-east beyond the pass.

High Street rises to 828 metres and is marked by a trig point that also serves as a summit cairn. This broad, gently domed section of the ridge is known as Racecourse Hill and was once the site of an annual fair held on 12 July. During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, until its cessation in 1835, people gathered here from across the surrounding valleys for horse racing, wrestling, and other games, while the open fell also provided a convenient meeting place for returning stray sheep to their rightful owners.

High Street also preserves the line of a Roman road crossing a wide expanse of upland fells, running from the fort at Brougham Fort near Penrith to the Roman fort at Ambleside on the north-western shore of Windermere. The route follows a high, ridge-top course that is notably grassy, even, and well drained, a deliberate choice in contrast to the marshy, densely wooded valleys below. The ridge is at its broadest and flattest between Racecourse Hill and Thornthwaite Crag, where the Roman engineers exploited the natural terrain to create a remarkably direct upland highway.

From the Straits of Riggindale, the view opens across the valley backwall, allowing the course of Riggindale Beck to be traced all the way down to Bowderthwaite, where it spills into Haweswater. On the opposite shore, Rowantreethwaite Beck is clearly visible, cutting a steep line through the cliff between Mardale Common and Mardale Banks, its cleft emphasising the scale and rawness of the reservoir’s enclosing slopes.

Peering over the lip of Blea Water Crag from High Street reveals a dramatic view down into Blea Water, which fills a deep glacial corrie carved during the last Ice Age. Harter Fell rises beyond the tarn, flanked by the steep walls of Blea Water Crag and Piot Crag, while to the east of Harter Fell stands Branstree, backed by the distinctive, rhomboidal outline of the conifer plantation at Mardale Head, a striking man-made contrast within this otherwise austere mountain basin.

Looking south along High Street from Racecourse Hill, three fine Wainwright summits align along the skyline: Froswick (720m), Ill Bell (757m), and Yoke (706m). There are, in fact, two neighbouring summits bearing the name Ill Bell in this part of the fells, and Alfred Wainwright suggested that the name may derive from the words “hill bell”, a reference to their rounded, bell-like profiles when viewed from certain directions, a form clearly shared by all three peaks in this graceful southern continuation of the High Street ridge.

From Thornthwaite Crag, a clear westward view opens across Threshthwaite Mouth to the Wainwright summit of Stony Cove Pike (763m). Beyond the Pike, the broad upland of Caudale Moor extends northwards before curving round to Hartsop Dodd (618m), its arc neatly enclosing the head of the Dovedale valley below.

The summit beacon on Thornthwaite Crag stands around fourteen feet high and marks a prominent point on the backwall of the Hayeswater valley, close to the main ridge of High Street. Just north of the beacon lies Gray Crag, reached by a straightforward and accommodating access point from the ridge. Gray Crag occupies the opposite side of Hayeswater from High Street, completing the enclosing ring of higher ground around the tarn.

Looking down the course of Hayeswater Gill from High Street near Thornthwaite Crag, the broad arc of High Street itself and the domed summits of The Knott and Rest Dodd rise to the east, while the ridge of Gray Crag forms the western wall of the valley, together framing the narrow, glacially cut throat through which the water descends towards Hartsop.

From Kidsty Pike, the long, narrowing finger of Riggindale Crag can be seen reaching steadily down towards Haweswater. It runs in an almost straight line from the ridge of High Street, passing successively over Long Stile and Caspel Gate, then along Rough Crag, Eagle Crag, Heron Crag, and Swine Crag, before finally descending to The Rigg above the reservoir, a remarkably direct ridge that draws the eye unerringly from summit to shore.

From Racecourse Hill, a broad panorama opens across the Kidsty Pike ridge towards High Raise (802m), with the lower crown of Low Raise (754m) visible further east. Both summits are expansive, grassy mountains, and despite their considerable height they present a gentle, understated profile, lacking the crags and drama of neighbouring fells but contributing to the wide, open character of this upland plateau.