Helvellyn and Fairfield

Thursday 10th May 2018

Under overcast skies, but with the promise of better weather to come I set off from the Helvellyn Youth Hostel in Glenridding beside the remains of Greenside lead mine up the valley and onto the popular path that climbs beside Red Tarn Beck towards Helvellyn. After slow progress along the path I eventually came off and headed across the grassy slopes to reach the east shoulder of Catstye Cam where a clear path soon appeared to take me up a route that I had never taken before. As I approached summit the ridge narrowed pleasingly climbing steeply up the rocky path to the summit just as the clouds lifted to afford me with views down the valley and towards Ullswater.

In the other direction, Helvellyn was firmly holding onto its top of cloud, but as I made my way down the ridge to the col overlooking Red Tarn and onto the craggy Swirral Edge, the clouds slowly began to lift. I know that the last time I did Striding Edge was in 2006 and that I have done Swirral Edge since then, but I can’t remember when I last did it; it was possibly January 2009. I had planned to do Striding Edge, on the other side of Red Tarn, the day before this walk, but poor weather had prevented that and now I would have to wait till some other time in the future to traverse that narrow ridge again. Instead I tackled the fun scramble on Swirral Edge, which is possibly more intense, more sustained than on Striding Edge, though I could be wrong due to my distant memory of that ridge that certainly does have more exposure. The scrambling on Swirral Edge is more prolonged as I climbed the satisfyingly steep ridge all the way up to the top of Helvellyn and by the time I reached the top the cloud had thankfully cleared allowing me to look back down the edge to Catstye Cam and the sunlit hills beyond.

Helvellyn is famous for being a tremendously popular mountain, but due to the early hour I had the top all to myself. Crossing the summit plateau and the deserted shelter I had fabulous, though misty, views towards the heart of the Lake District where a clear greening of the fells could be seen in the spring warmth that would soon prove short-lived due to the lack of rain and hot weather this summer. I didn’t stay on the main footpath but came off to climb up to the top of Nethermost Pike and keeping to the top of the ridge I passed over High Crag and up to the top of Dollywagon Pike, which was my fourth High Fell of the day and the fortieth of my holiday. I had set myself the target of reaching the summit of as many of the High Fells, that is the fells more than two and a half thousand feet high, as possible, and it was astonishing how many I had already done. There are fabulous views from Dollywagon Pike with most of my attention going to the ridge I had just come down where High Crag looked like a real mountain despite being merely a prominent shoulder of Nethermost Pike.

From Dollywagon Pike a very steep descent took me down a large series of zigzags in increasingly warm weather with the sun now shining brightly and promising a really great day in the Lakes. It felt really warm as I made my way around Grisedale Tarn and up to the top of Grisedale Hause where I turned left to head up the screes towards Fairfield. As I climbed the steep, slippery stones clouds came over once again and a cold wind began to blow so the woolly hat and gloves that had been a frequent feature of this holiday were back on. I don’t have fond memories of these screes ever since I first climbed them in 2002, however some work has been done to relieve the misery with good well-graded zigzags, but the path soon became sketchy and oppressively steep so by the time I reached the windswept summit of Fairfield I was very tired, as well as cold, though relieved to be at the top. Eating my lunch sheltered from the bitterly cold winds near the summit, I was reminded of the cold weather I had encountered during the first week of my holiday while the warm weather of the Bank Holiday weekend was now almost forgotten.

Slowly I made my way across the wonderfully craggy ridge above Rydal Head down to Link Hause and up to the top of Hart Crag through fabulous rock-covered terrain that is a pleasure to walk through and produces a great feeling of being at the top of a proper mountain. I had come to the Lake District to climb the High Fells specifically to find craggy terrain such as this and the cold weather was totally failing to dampen my enthusiasm. Continuing on I made my way across the gap to Dove Crag, which was now my seventh High Fell of the day beating my previous record on this holiday set on my first day and I still had another High Fell to go, though that was quite a distance away. Coming off the ridge of the Fairfield Horseshoe, and thankfully out of the cold wind, I made my way along a poor, muddy, eroded path down the hillside past Little Hart Crag to the Scandale Pass. Two years ago I had also made my way from Dove Crag to this point, but on that occasion I took the path past the High Bakestones cairn, so this time I took the more popular, more direct path, though I can’t say it is better. In 2016 I descended from Little Hart Crag, but now I climbed the long, tiring slopes all the way up to Red Screes, my forty-first High Fell of this holiday, before making my way along the ridge of Smallthwaite Band towards the stunning view that can be seen from Middle Dodd towards Brothers Water nestling in the valley between the fells of Hartsop Dodd and Hartsop above How.

My route lay ahead, but the way down the ridge from Middle Dodd is ridiculously steep and I was fortunate that my right knee was not hurting as much as it had earlier in the week, but neither of my knees appreciated this descent. Upon reaching the bottom I still had a long walk ahead of me along the valley passing Brothers Water to eventually reach the Patterdale Youth Hostel. This was a fabulous walk even though it was cold on the Fairfield Horseshoe and fairly cloudy for much of the day, but there was enough sunshine through the breaks in the cloud and I had some glorious views. It was great striding out along the great ridges of the Eastern Fells and being able to enjoy the views while walking on fantastic footpaths. Red Screes was a bit annoying as it felt like an add-on to the walk that was climbed simply because it was a High Fell. The walk would have been better if I hadn’t climbed the steep slopes from Scandale Pass, though I was rewarded with fabulous views down the valley. This was another glorious day in the Lake District.

Great Dodd and Raise

Wednesday 9th May 2018

After a good night’s sleep in the Skiddaw House Hostel and a chance to rest my knee that had been hurting for the previous couple of days, I left the fabulous “Loneliest house in England” and came all the way down off the hills into the village of Threlkeld. The weather was quite lousy with grey, overcast skies that would not improve, but rather worsened during the course of the day becoming windier and eventually ending in rain. This was not the best weather for walking in the Lake District, however at least it would feel like a walk in the Lake District with typical Lake District weather. Despite the inclement conditions I actually enjoyed being out on the fells in the harsh weather. The start of the day was not too bad as I slowly made my way down the track into Threlkeld, hastily across the scarily busy A66 trunk road and up the quiet road to the open fell. I remember when I came up this way in 2015 I followed a faint path beyond a fence, but this time I didn’t cross the fence as I took a fainter path up the hillside until it disappears in a marsh. Although crossing the fence is clearly the better route of the two, the latest Ordnance Survey maps show a path climbing the fell far from the fence aiming directly for Hause Well spring, but I don't if there is any trace of this route on the ground.

On reaching the Old Coach Road I found that it is in a very poor state having been heavily eroded by the heavy rains of the last couple of years. I can’t remember what state this track was in when I came this way in 2015, but of course, that would have been before the notorious storms of December 2015. On that occasion I had planned on climbing Great Dodd from the east, but chose to ascend from the north because I was tired. With no such problem now, and because I didn’t want to repeat my earlier route, I continued along the Old Coach Road until I reached Mariel Bridge where I turned off to climb steep, grassy slopes towards Randerside and Great Dodd. This was not an enjoyable climb as I toiled up a long, unrelenting and utterly featureless slope with thick, tussocky grass underfoot making for slow progress as strong winds persistently blew straight into my face under miserable, leaden skies. After mile after mile of slow, soul-destroying climbing towards a peak that I had identified as Randerside, though I never seemed to get any closer, eventually I reached the outcrop only to find that it was not Randerside, which was further ahead at the top of the north-east ridge coming down from Great Dodd.

The views from Randerside are severely restricted by the huge bulk of Great Dodd and the further swelling of Clough Head on the other side of Mosedale, though it was the grey, overcast skies that really marred the views. Turning my attention to the parent fell I set off along the clear path from Randerside that leads all the way up into the dark recesses of Great Dodd. Surprisingly the top was not covered in cloud and I had clear views towards Skiddaw, across Keswick and south along the ridge towards Helvellyn. The weather always seems to be poor when I am on Great Dodd, so the low cloud and strong winds that I was now encountering seemed almost reassuringly familiar, however the clear views were unusual even though there must have been occasions in the past when I had also had a view. Sheltering from the strong winds I had my lunch before wrapping myself up tight against the cold winds and setting off down the grassy slopes thoroughly enjoying the snug feeling while all around me was blowing a gale. Making my way along the broad ridge I came to the top of Watson’s Dodd where I had another good view towards Skiddaw and Keswick, however now I could see rain falling onto the town and before I had a chance to put on all my waterproofs the rain was falling on me too.

Setting off once more along the path I climbed into the clouds that covered Stybarrow Dodd eventually veering off in order to bag the summit. Returning to the path I headed over the lower summit and down the slopes towards the Sticks Pass descending below the clouds once more to reveal surprising views that lead all the way down to Ullswater. Despite the bad weather I kept going along the path over the pass and up the steep slopes that led me up to the delightfully craggy summit of Raise. After the grassy mounds of the three Dodds, it was great to be at the top of a fell with a proper mountainous feel to it. Coming down and crossing the col I made my way up the slopes to reach the low cairn and shelter that marks the top of White Side, and after circling the summit I headed back down to the saddle. The next High Fell on my schedule was Helvellyn, but I decided that in view of the poor weather it would be better to leave that for the next day, so after returning to the col I took the branch that begins the descent of the Pony Track and leads gracefully all the way down into Glenridding.

The weather may not have been the best for this walk, but aside from a lot of wind it had not been too bad with surprisingly good views from the summits until the rain started. There is something curiously satisfying about being at the top of High Fells in harsh weather, as you brave out the elements that you would not get if the weather was good. It made me feel like a real man who has truly conquered the mountain and beaten the elements, even though all it had really taken was a bit of blind determination to keep going. Since I was prepared with good waterproofs and warm clothing I was able to keep fellwalking even when the weather turned. The skies may have been dark and overcast with strong winds that ultimately brought rain, but I had fun.