First Big walk of 2015, and what a brilliant one. Weather
cool, clear and sunny with virtually no breeze. Perfect conditions.
The start was the car park at Glenridding . As I had got up at 'stupid
o clock' I was the second vehicle in the car park. Navigation was fairly
straightforward ( apart from one slight malfunction !!!) I headed up Greenside road which eventually became a typical Lakeland stony path, and
towards the end I missed the turnoff to the zig zag pony track and ended up in Brown Cove with Helvellyn
Lower Man , and Catstycam towering above me, I stopped for a break and could
see a small ant climbing the bank to the North East of me …..that was where I
needed to be. I headed off and joined the track about a third of the way up.
This was probably the steepest part of the walk.
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| Heading up Greenside Road |
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| Catstycam coming into view |
Eventually I arrived at the top of the track and that left a
short climb to the summit of Whiteside across patches of hard snow. The view
across to Helvellyn was brilliant with clouds of snow blowing off the
edge. The temperature had dropped at
this point so I had to start adding layers.
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| Brown Cove cul de sac. Helvellyn in the centre |
With perfect visibility, navigation was straightforward from
here. Up to Raise, and on the way down to
Sticks
Pass summit there was a band of
hard snow across the path – the only option was to slide down on my back side
….fortunately no mishaps when I hit the ground at the end !! On the way up to Stybarrow Dodd I was hit with a wave of tiredness and for a short while I was
contemplating turning off and heading back. After a short break I convinced
myself to complete the remaining Dodds -Watsons Dodd and Great Dodd. What was I thinking !! -this was glorious high level walking over easy paths.....I had already done the hard bit,
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| Whiteside |
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| Whiteside Summit - First Wainwright of the day |
Back to Stybarrow Dodd and then back down via Sticks pass.
The path down was very un-even and stony in places, and that did some damage to
my left ankle which left it very sore and painful to put any weight on the day
after. I stopped for some lunch opposite the ski slope on the North side of Raise - amazing - I hadn't realized that folk could be skiing in England in March !!
One final option was Sheffield Pike , as Sticks
Pass reached the old mine workings
but I was too knackered for another climb. Eventually I arrived back at
Glenridding , battered, tired but happy.
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| Top of Raise |
 |
| What a poser |
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| Top of Stybarrow Dodd |
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| Top of Great Dodd |
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| Raise from Sticks Pass |
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| Raise from Whiteside |
Another marvelous day in this beautiful part of the World.
13 Miles OS OL5
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