free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Day 1 Report >
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=51938After having a night in a room alone in the hostel, I got up and ready to go to early and was well rested. I said goodbye to the group of Aussies doing the coast to coast and wished them well and got into the car a little bit excited as I was heading off to do a walk that I had wanted to do for years.
I shot off down Honister pass and through Keswick and headed for Applethwaite in the shadow of the Skiddaw group. I passed through Applethwaite and headed East until I had passed the Water works and parked in the little car park near Latrigg.
I had deliberately parked here as I wanted to do the on road walking at the start, as I hate walking roads after being on the Fells.
Objectives from the car parkIt was another gloriously sunny day, so I geared up and walked/jogged down the road through Applethwaite and Millbeck and headed up towards Dodd. Unfortunately I missed the path up through the forest (which I was quite looking forward to) and ended up walking up along the right hand side of the fence which hems in the Thornthwaite Forest. I did a little bit of walking in the forest, but couldn’t find much of a real path through it, so went for the safe option of along the fence.
Southern view from Dodd roadSummit marker on DoddIt was very warm and relatively steep, so was sweating and breathing hard pretty early. I got to Long Doors and got on the road system up Dodd and made the top after an hour and a half. Not bad considering I had covered around 6km.
I was on a bit of a roll, so just kept going. I trudged up the path to above White Stones and then onto the summit of Carl Side. I stopped here for the first time and pilled some food and water down. I then headed left and over the shapely peak of Long Side and onto Ullock Pike, which was my fiftieth Wainwright.
Skiddaw Little Man from Carl SideUllock Pike from Long SideDodd and North Western FellsLong Side looking back from Ullock PikeI returned back along the ridge and then headed up the steep and lose slope. This slope seemed to somehow getting steeper the further up I went. After reaching near the top, I watched two nutters on mountain bikes go hurtling down the same slope. Brave is an understatement. I had also seen a large group of mountain bikers earlier in the day, go shooting over Long Side and down the Ullock Pike slope.
Steep final climb to Skiddaw from colI got to the top of Skiddaw and admired the views. I took a few quick snaps of the trig point and then shot off towards Little Man. Mainly this was because it had got quite overcast and a bit windy, so was pretty cold.
Skiddaw column topLittle man on right and Lonscale Fell on leftI headed down the South end of Skiddaw and down to the little Col, then followed the fence up to the top of Little Man. After a small drop to another interesting cairn, I headed down Jenkin Hill and took a direct line towards Lonscale Fell, along the fence line again. The path was pretty vague, so the fence would be a god send in poor visibility.
Interesting cairn on lower summit of Little Man with path to Lonscale Fell in distanceI made the summit of Lonscale Fell and headed South, once more following the fence down, with Blencathra’s Blease Fell to my left. After approximately 300m of descent I came across a much clearer path running perpendicular to the descent route. This turned out to be the Cumbria way, which I followed West and followed all the way back to the car park.
There was a nice view of Whit Beck as it tumbled down the South of the Fell.
Latrigg from Cumbria way - Final destinationWhit BeckI quickly dumped my pack in the car and sat in the warmth for a minute. My will to climb Latrigg was quickly receding so I jumped out the car and within ten minutes was on the summit of Latrigg. Just as I got there it started to rain, so I headed back to the car and was very glad to pull the boots of my aching feet. Great day in the hills, doing a walk I’ve been planning for years. Did it a fair bit quicker than I thought I would too.
Looking back from Latrigg