Date: 14-Jul-2009
Map: Landranger 89, 90, OL5
Weather: Showers to start, cold up on the
top and finished in sunshine
Clough Head down to Wythburn, taking in
Calfhow Pike, Great Dodd, Watson's Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd,
Raise, Whiteside Bank, Lower Man, Helvellyn, Nethermost
Pike, Dollywaggon Pike, down past Grisedale Tarn to Raise
Beck and on to Wythburn car park:
14.5 miles by Satmap Active 10 gps
We set a
day for this walk via the walking forum and the usual
suspects turned up for a very pleasant walk. It’s becoming a
bit of a tradition to send pictures via mobiles to anyone
who couldn’t make the walk – and it always seems to be a
picture of a nice refreshing pint at the end of the day.
That’s not so good on a wet day, but I don’t get too many of
those. We met up at the lay-by at Scales, and I followed
Paul down to Wythburn car park, in the forest far below
Helvellyn. I parked my car and found the ticket machine to
be out of order – the day was looking good already. We all
drove up to park close to Hill Top Farm, where there was
room for a couple of cars, one of them being Paul’s –
result#2.
Blencathra to the right from the start of the walk
Our
route up the old coach road – clear towards Keswick and
beyond
Dark
clouds gather over Blencathra
We got
kitted up and the sun was shining although there were some
dirty scoundrel type of clouds floating around towards us.
The weather forecast was a bit of a mixed bag – a lot of
rain with a bit of sun thrown in. As it turned out we only
had a brief shower, and most of the rain was dumped on
Keswick in a big storm. It missed us completely and the
cloud base was well clear of the summits for most of the
day. We set off in pleasant sunshine and gently ascended up
the old coach road past Skiddaw and Blencathra – it felt
like the old corpse road to me though.
Great
Mel Fell and the little one, beyond
White
Peak
Skiddaw to the right, Keswick in the middle before the rain
started
All
kitted up on the top of Clough Head
Beautiful views of all but the highest peaks
The air
was clear today as it hasn’t exactly been that warm lately,
so the views for the most part were awesome. Today’s route
was around the base of
Threlkeld Knotts before cutting up a steeper slope
leading up to some cairns at white peak.
Originally I had planned to go up to Clough Head via
Fisher’s Wife Rake, but we decided against this and when I
saw it this morning I was quite happy we didn’t go up that
way – very steep. I was feeling less than full of energy
today and discovered to my cost that fish n’chips the night
before does not constitute energy food! Today was the first
time for ages that I found myself lagging behind the others,
but I blame it on the age difference – they’re getting
fitter and I’m getting older – harrumph – and that was
confirmed when they started calling me Grandad. After
admiring Blencathra’s curves and having some H2O it was up
at a steady pace to the first wainwright of the day at
Clough Head – not much to look at but a grassy top.
Looking back to Clough Head with Blencathra and Skiddaw out
the back
Cogstar waiting patiently – he didn’t take many pictures –
just pinches our’s!!
The
gentle walk over to Calfhow Pike
We’d had
to don waterproofs as it looked like it we were going to get
a soaking judging by the gathering clouds above. It started
to rain and Blencathra put on its fuzzy hat. We kept the
waterproofs on for a while, but eventually it eased off by
the time we had squelched across to Calfhow Pike – 8 lords a
leaping as the song goes, except there were only 4 of us. It
was still a bit chilly and I kept my gear on, while Paul got
his legs out for an airing. I reckon Paul must have stuffed
a couple of Duracell batteries up his jacksy today, as he
just kept going and going all day long – I think I had a
couple of flat alkaline up mine.
The
path ahead to Stybarrow Dodd
Me
lagging behind on the way up
Looking back to Keswick and the rain storms - ha
The
gently undulating ground led us along to Calfhow Pike, a not
very inspiring nipple of a hill. What was inspiring were the
views all around us, with the clouds scudding by giving a
chance of some good photos. It was easy walking along the
tops, hopping over the boggy patches, but after Calfhow Pike
the undulations took on an altogether sinister guise – they
went up and down a little more steeply. By no means were
they too steep a gradient, but I didn’t have the legs for it
today and by the time we were on the way up to Little Dodd I
was lagging a little behind the others, and calamity struck
we walked straight past Great Dodd without realising it. So
like all good baggers we made a beeline for the summit
behind us, but I think it was this extra yardage that slowed
me down so much – honestly it was.
Onwards from Great Dodd, the views were magnificent
all around us with the base of the clouds above the highest
peaks. Next along the line was the summit of Watson’s Dodd –
well summit of a sort – I use the word loosely, about as
loosely as the pile of stones. After this my ‘flat’ ridge
walk became a little more undulating up to Stybarrow Dodd,
down on a good path to Sticks Pass, and then huffing and
puffing up again to Raise. Here we had a good view of the
Lake District Ski Club lift & ski run down the slopes of
Raise.
Striding out to Raise
There
goes the Duracell bunny – next stop
Sticks
Pass before Helvellyn
Catstye Cam and Keppel Cove – see the dam
Looking back along our route today
And
this monster cloud tried to grab us, but it missed - ha
Coming up to the summit with Swirral Ridge down to the left
Hardly
alpine, but better than nothing I suppose - They probably
had too much snow to run it earlier this year, but their
website shows some people skiing! Beyond Raise there are
good stone paths to prevent erosion and as we got nearer to
Helvellyn the traffic also increased. There were many DOE’s
walking up here, some enjoying their challenge and some
patently not. Up
to Whiteside Bank next and my pace slowed as I took more
pictures and enjoyed the views all around. I was feeling
knackered, and we had to decide if we were going down to
Catsty Cam and across to Striding Edge and up again.
Taking in the views at Hellvellyn cairn waiting for yours
truly
Not
the shortest for a change
It would be a 2hr
diversion for us and personally I wasn’t up to it. The siren
call of a pint beckoned, so we binned the idea until a later
date. That later date was soon after for Paul and Mike as
the swine’s did it as soon as I went back to work. We made
our way to the summit admiring the views down to Keppel Cove
and the burst dam, and weaved through the throng towards the
summit cross shelter. Obviously it was very busy, so we
sidled our way into a quarter, sat down for lunch and
admired the general walking public, walking up to the summit
– a fine achievement for many – Graham pointed out the ones
wearing tennis outfits!
After a quick bite and some Marmite snacks, we stood
by the summit cairn and were snapped posing, and for once I
took the high ground and didn’t look like a wee man.
Looking back to Striding Edge, with Catstye Cam behind and
Helvellyn to the left
Looking over to St Sunday Crag from the slopes of Nethermost
Pike
Along
the towards Nethermost Pike – easy walking
Looking towards the top of Nethermost Pike
Down
a rubbly slope to High Crag and then on towards Dollywaggon
Pike
The wide summit area led
us onwards towards Nethermost Pike and afforded us good
views passing Striding Edge and over to St Sunday Crag. We
stood and pondered the Pinnacle Ridge route up the side of
the crag, and I decided in my mind that was a ridge too far
for me. Other’s had a different idea though and I look
forward to hearing their stories in sometime in the future.
It was refreshingly easy ground over to Dollywaggon Pike and
as we came to our descent towards Grisedale Tarn we had to
make another decision to take on Seat Sandal or not – that’s
the trouble with wainwright’s hills – they always beckon to
be climbed and ticked off.
Looking back to the pointy
peak
of Catstye Cam
Coming down to a peaceful Grisedale Tarn
Mike
and Paul carried on in the lead and we decided as it was
steep anyway, the best way
down was straight down. Paul and Mike led the way and in my
new found enthusiasm to join the race downhill, I proceeded
to do a passable impression of a backward moonwalk down the
scree slope, complete with sound effects. What a tribute to
Michael Jackson – I didn’t fall over but worryingly it was
another senior moment, accompanied by much guffawing from
the other three. We had a great view down to Grisedale Tarn
and over to Seat Sandal, which was to be our last wainwright
of the day. But for self and Graham it was a hill too far,
and the consensus was to save it for another day. Besides
that we could hear the cider at Threlkeld calling ‘ooh arrr’.
We had saved some time coming down directly off Dollywaggon
Pike alongside the wall, even if one of us tried to fall
over a couple of times – no names mentioned here – eh
Graham. We got to the col and abandoned all thoughts of Seat
Sandal - we just
admired the wild camping spots chosen alongside the tarn. We
turned down to Raise Beck and dropped down 1100ft of descent
in a mile, but most of it was along a good path by the beck.
There were lots of stops for photos, as there are plenty of
falls down the valley.
One
of the falls down Raise Beck
And
another
Through the bracken looking down to Helm Crag
The
route down Raise Beck
A
glorious view up towards Thirlmere
A
look back to Helm Crag
And
back to the car – what a day
As we
came out onto the lower slopes we passed through some high
bracken before reaching the road. We had good views up and
down the valley through the pass of Dunmail Raise, with Helm
Crag elegant in the distance. There was a minibus parked up
by the roadside, but no one knew how to hotwire it so we
carried on towards the parked car. It was another mile and a
bit back to the car park at Wythburn, but most of it was
through a cooling forest ride. As we walked along a jet came
zooming with a terrific roar, at about 10ft off the ground –
it felt like 10ft anyway and I’m sure it’s a good cure for
constipation if you have any! It was a nice stroll back to
the car, and after a quick return to Paul’s limo we retired
to the pub at Threlkeld for a nice pint of cider. Great
walk, great end, great company – Blinking tiring though.
Where now:
Home
:
Day Walks Menu
: Lake District Menu
