DAY 1: On Saturday we decided to recce the leg between Threkeld and Dunmail Raise (14 miles and 1830m ascent). This leg includes the following 12 tops:
Top | Mountain | Height (ft) |
4 | Clough Head | 2382 |
5 | Great Dodd | 2807 |
6 | Watson's Dodd | 2584 |
7 | Stybarrow Dodd | 2756 |
8 | Raise | 2889 |
9 | White Side | 2832 |
10 | Helvellyn Lower Man | 3033 |
11 | Helvellyn | 3116 |
12 | Nethermost Pike | 2910 |
13 | Dollywaggon Pike | 2810 |
14 | 2864 | |
15 | Seat Sandal | 2863 |
The weather started out pretty claggy, which meant some good navigation practice for me!! Once we got to the top of Clough Head I couldn't believe the terrain! The Dodds are super 'runnable' with easy gradients and grass/bog underfoot. The tops passed quickly, with some steeper pulls up from Sticks Pass at 735m (up to Raise at 884) and then again on to Helvellyn Lower Man at 925m.
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| Clough Head |
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| The Dodds! |
The ridge path across the Helvellyn plateau gives spectacular views (through the swirling mist) onto the classic scrambles Swirral Edge and Striding Edge. I couldn't believe how busy these famous tops are compared to most of the mountains in Scotland (even on a driech day in February!)
All the way along to way Dollywaggon Pike, the ground feels fairly flat but there is always a steep drop to your left. From Dollywaggon Pike there is a significant loss of height down to Grisedale Tarn (our lunch spot!) at 705m. Here you have a route choice around the tarn, which means you either summit Fairfield as part of a loop or as an out and back from the col at Grisedale Hause. We chose the loop and climbed the bank of a river steeply to Cofa Pike (col).
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| Dollywaggon Pike |
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| Grisedale Tarn |
Fairfield was a mysterious flat landscape, littered with what seemed to be multiple possible summits hidden in the mist. Dropping down the steep scree/path to Grisedale Hause revealed a final steep slope up to the last summit of the day; Seat Sandal. By now the cloud was lifing and fine views were being revealed all around.
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| Descending Fairfield with our route over Helvellyn in the backdrop |
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| Seat Sandal |
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| Back to the van... |
This first day had me convinced that the Lakeland Fells were litterally MADE for running. I felt guilty just walking in some places and it was hard not to scamper just a tiny bit!!!
DAY 2: On the Sunday the weather was evil - very heavy rain (snowing on the tops) and increasingly gusty winds. Nevertheless, we were determined to make the most of our visit and set out to recce the tops in what is traditionally the leg from Honister Pass to Keswick. This leg includes the following tops only:
| Top | Mountain | Height (ft) |
40 | Dalehead | 2473 |
41 | Hindscarth | 2385 |
42 | Robinson | 2417 |
Because we had to be getting back to Scotland, we started from Little Town (west of Keswick) and walked up the river valley north of Dale Head, crossing the river and then rising steeply through crags across the back of the coire until we reached the ridge rising to Dale Head (from the col near Dalehead Tarn). With the howling wind in our faces we met the track from Honister at the summit of Dale Head.
From here it is easy in poor visibility to continue on to Robinson without remembering the dogleg to Hindscarth. Nevertheless, we arrived at the summit, stopping briefly before following a bearing slightly down Little Dale and across to pick up the track/fence at Littledale Edge to Robinson. By now the rain had stopped and the winds were dropping. The sun tried to push through but sadly we were awareded little view from the top of Robinson. However, as soon as we dropped down from the summit of Robinson the valley opened out before us and we could see a stunning waterfall to our right and Keswick in the distance. It must be said that the descent over the ridge at High Snab Bank, is a lovely (would-be) runnable section (albeit with a very steep grass slope plummiting to the lovely Newlands Church at the bottom) - testing for those knees!
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| View descending from Robinson towards Keswick |
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