After our failed attempts at the
Dodds and the High Stile ridge, albeit for different reasons, in
July, we were determined to put things right as soon as we could,
and we were fortunate enough to be able to come back in early September
to do so.
We stayed at the Castlerigg Farm campsite again,
and once again we were fortunate with the weather. The first day
was clear and sunny, and we chose the Dodds as our first walk -
this time armed with plenty of maps and our GPS!
The itinary was the same as before: park at Stanah
for Sticks Pass, then walk the Dodds and Clough Head. |
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the stile leading to the start of Sticks
Pass at stanah |
| Shortly after the stile, there are
some lovely waterfalls at the bottom of Stanah Gill to pause at and
admire. |
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Waterfalls at the bottom of sticks pass |
We climbed up the first part of
the pass, which is very steep, but from about half way it becomes
a much more gentle ascent.
It was a lovely, clear day and our intended summits
were in clear view, unlike our last visit. |
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Stybarrow dodd from sticks pass |
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Watson's dodd from sticks pass |
| We eventually made it to the summit
of Sticks Pass, and had a short break before making our way towards
Stybarrow Dodd. |
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the summit of sticks pass |
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Green Side and Sheffield Pike |
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walking towards stybarrow dodd |
It was very interesting actually
being able to see where we were, and it was soon clear that we had
not visited the summit last time.
The cairn we had taken for the summit last time
was a good deal lower than the real summit, which was nowhere near
the path. |
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Not the Summit of Stybarrow Dodd |
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Definitely Not the summit of stybarrow dodd |
| In addition, the true summit cairn
had of course the large piece of slate sticking out of the top. |
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David finally finds the real summit of Stybarrow Dodd |
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david at stybarrow dodd's summit |
From Stybarrow Dodd's summit we
were easily able to find the path again and with visibility so good,
had no problem seeing Watson's Dodd in the distance. The path between
the two was almost level, making progress quick.
When we reached Watson's Dodd's summit cairn,
I looked at it quite closely, and I am quite sure that it is the
cairn we mistook for Great Dodd's summit. |
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david at the summit of watson's dodd |
We were now able to see the route
to Great Dodd stretched out ahead of us.
There was some ascent to be done, but it was
all very gradual and the paths nice and easy to walk on, so again
progress was steadily made. |
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great dodd from watson's dodd |
| Looking back to Stybarrow Dodd from
Watson's Dodd, I think it is possible we got disorientated and started
walking back when we thought we were going off on a spur, then turned
around when it started to incline, thinking we were walking back,
but we will probably never know. |
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Hart Side from Watson's Dodd |
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stybarrow dodd from watson's dodd |
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The Helvellyn Range from Watson's Dodd |
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Thirlmere and the Central Fells from Watson's Dodd |
| This time, we passed the small tarn
on Watson's Dodd, as indicated on our map. |
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the small tarn on watson's dodd |
| And we saw the Shelter Cairn on Great
Dodd, which we identified as the one we had seen before. |
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the shelter cairn on great dodd |
| Shortly afterwards we arrived at Great
Dodd's summit, where we had lunch while contemplating whether to proceed
to Clough Head. |
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david at the summit of great dodd |
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clough head from great dodd with calfhow pike on the
left |
| With the weather so good, it seemed
a shame not to go on to Clough Head, so we set off past Little Dodd
towards the curious top of Calfhow Pike. |
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david on calfhow pike |
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Great Dodd from Calfhow Pike |
Just beyond the summit of Calfhow
Pike is a fence, and shortly after this we found a very small tarn.
Here we saw Common Hawker Dragonflies and a lot
of Red Admiral butterflies flying past. |
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common hawker dragonfly |
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The small tarn on Calfhow Pike |
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some resident sheep on calfhow pike |
| Having descended from Great Dodd to
Calfhow Pike, we now had a steady ascent to reach Clough Head's summit. |
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walking towards clough head |
| But, like the Dodds, the path is steady
and even, and we soon reached the Trig Point and Summit Cairn of Clough
Head. |
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david at the summit of clough head |
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Great Dodd and Calfhow Pike from Clough Head's Summit |
| We then dropped down towards the Old
Coach Road, but as David can never resist a summit cairn, we did a
small detour to reach White Pike on the descent. |
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walking towards white pike |
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The Old Coach Road from the path to White Pike |
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Great Dodd from the path to White Pike |
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The Path back to Clough Head from White Pike |
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david on white pike |
| We dropped down to, and walked along,
the Old Coach Road until we reached St John's in the Vale. |
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a small stream by the old coach road |
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a big stream by the old coach road |
| From here, we followed the road back
to our car at Stanah. |
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st john's in the vale |
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cattle observing us in st john's in the vale |
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St john's beck |
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red squirrel in st john's in the vale |
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st john's beck |
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the castle rock of triermain |
