Dodd and White Stones

Thursday 20th December 2018

I slept poorly before this walk because the dormitory in the Keswick Youth Hostel was very warm, so I was very tired when I went outside, and when I saw that the weather was grey and murky again I became quite depressed and fed up. I didn't feel like going for a walk under these overcast skies, in fact I was totally not in the mood and dejectedly I wandered through the streets of Keswick. The walk I’d planned was not particularly exciting and without better weather was not going to last very long. After slowly passing through Keswick, I eventually found myself following the same route I had taken the previous May out of the town, past Keswick School, across waterlogged fields to the village of Applethwaite and from there along the road to Millbeck. In May I had branched off at this point at a sign for the Skiddaw footpath, but now I walked past that and on the outskirts of the village I took a path that climbs through a thin woodland strip that lines the road onto bracken-covered slopes. As I approached the edge of Dodd Wood it began to rain, but my spirits had already been revived during the walk along the road as the views improved over Keswick towards Derwent Water.

Just walking in the Lake District, despite the grey, overcast skies, had already begun its miraculous, restorative effect on me. There were two stiles providing into Dodd Wood and I was confused as to which entry to take and eventually, because of the rain, I took the first stile where upon I found a scene of devastation due to forestry operations. It soon became apparent that I should have taken the higher stile, as recommended in the latest version, the Walker’s Edition, of Wainwright’s guide, where a clear path leads up through the wood into an extensive cleared area and upon turning around I was afforded with a tremendous view towards Derwent Water and the Lakeland Fells that surround this most attractive of lakes. The rain had now stopped and a little brightening of the sky helped to make this a scene of unusual beauty with the careless scattering of fallen trees in the foreground incongruously combined with the delectable array of lake and fells in the distance below a grey and featureless sky. This fabulous scene completed the job of reviving my spirits that the walk had so far already achieved.

Upon reaching a forestry track I found that the continuation of the footpath, although marked on O.S. maps, is very sketchy on the ground so instead I followed the nicely graded old forestry road that heads south until I reached a junction where a sharp turn north brought me onto a higher track across the eastern slopes of Dodd to eventually reach the col below the crags of Long Doors. I ignored the good paths that lead up to the summit of Dodd and started to head down the other side of the col turning left twice to reach a grassy lane that climbs gradually back up the hill. At the end of the ‘road’ a route could be found up the north-west ridge of Dodd that was mentioned in the original Wainwright’s guide, though with the caveat, “the final section is steeply tilted, recently planted, and unpleasantly rough: this route is not recommended”. The second edition of the guide to the Northern Fells does not mention this route, but when I was last up Dodd, ten years ago, I thought it looked like a fun way up. The Walker’s Edition does recommend this route, but also says there is new tree growth and in the last couple of years this has greatly encroached on the route making Wainwright’s original comments once again applicable.

There was very little sign of a path with the new trees frequently blocking the route up the overgrown hillside. When the terrain steepened and the trees thinned, the view opened out over Bassenthwaite Lake, but I had to keep reminding myself to stop and look behind me at the view otherwise my attention would be solely focused on battling through the trees. A path slowly began to appear, but it was still tough-going so I was relieved when I finally reached the summit even though that was just as the rain began to fall again. A good, clear path led the weary walker who had just climbed the north-west ridge easily down the other side and since I now needed to rest a bench was also provided soon after leaving the summit so I stopped there to have my lunch. Having eaten and rested I continued down stopping off at a view point that looks towards the tremendous scene that had been drawing my eye all day over Derwent Water, and when not obscured by rain had been quite spectacular. As I descended back down to Long Doors I was unsure where to go next. My plan had been to climb Long Side beside Gable Gill, but the sight of a ridiculously steep terrain as well as the poor weather was putting me off.

Instead, when I reached the col I took the clear path that climbs up to White Stones and the popular Skiddaw path that I took last May. I had intended on descending from White Stones, but when I reached the junction I turned left instead of right to follow the path up to Carl Side that would eventually, if I kept going, lead me to the top of Skiddaw, or, if I branched off, to Long Side. I was not on the straight, well-made path that the crowds usually take, but on a narrower, less distinct path on the other side of the ridge and was soon a victim of its sketchy nature which forced me into a retreat when a wrong turning took me onto pathless slopes. Once I reached about two thousand feet the wind became very strong on the exposed slopes and I eventually came to senses, so I turned around and headed back down the ridge until I reached White Stones. The walk, wherever I thought I was going, was no longer fun and this is always a clear sign that it is time to turn back. I was also mindful of the fact that it would be getting dark soon and I was still heading away from Keswick, so I turned around and started to head back down towards my bed in Keswick.

Wainwright mentions a “short arête of striated rocks” above White Stones so I thought I’d try to find it by coming off the path I’d just climbed to cross the heather slopes onto a very faint path right on top of the ridge and this took me over the short arête and down to White Stones. Although I had passed this way last May I don’t remember it leaving much of an impression on me, but I made up for that now as I explored the various quartzite outcrops before heading down the excellent footpath that brought me steeply down into Millbeck. Rather than retrace my outward route I went straight across the fields onto the A591 road and followed that all the way into Keswick. The weather on this walk was not as bad as I had feared, which enabled me to have a thoroughly enjoyable walk that worked wonders on the malaise I had been feeling at the start of the day following my poor night’s sleep. Only when I tried to go high did the weather finally intervene with the strong winds that forced me back down. The man who returned to Keswick was a much happier person that the one who had left it six hours earlier.