WATCHES, ULLOCK
PIKE, LONG SIDE, CARL SIDE & DODD
from DODD WOOD
Summary
Date - 6th May 2010
Distance - 7.25 miles Ascent - 3750ft
Map - OL4
Start point - Dodd Wood car park (NY
235281)
Summits Achieved
Name
Height (ft)
Height (m)
Grid Ref
Watches
1093
333
NY 2406 3039
Ullock Pike
2270
692
NY 2444 1287
Long Side
2408
734
NY 2488 2844
Carl Side
2447
746
NY 2549 2808
Dodd
1647
502
NY 2444 2734
Preface
Grizzly & Tetley were sitting
quietly dozing, when Allen came storming into the room shouting,
"great, great great."
Startled out of their reverie,
Tetley said, "whatever is going on!"
Rather breathlessly Allen managed
to get out, "Dad has just spoken to Uncle Eric and we are
walking on Thursday."
Grizzly interjected, "before
you tell us any more, just sit a minute and get your breath back."
Calmer now, Allen continued, "the
good news is that we are going to the Lake District again at last,
and we will be doing the ridge that includes Ullock Pike, so I
will tick off four of my outstanding Wainwrights leaving me with
just eight to complete them all."
As he had been talking Shaun had
trotted in with Little Eric as usual hitching a ride on his back.
"Our pal Fletcher said that,
that was the hill he could see from Armathwaite Hall, where he
and some of our other pals holidayed last week with Uncle Brian
and Dad", he said.
"Yes I remember now that Dad
had told Fletcher that he was hoping to climb it this week, so
our wishes have come true", replied Allen.
"Roll on Thursday", said
Little Eric, "and lets hope that the views are good and we
can try and pick out where Armathwaite Hall is."
The Walk
Recently we had been concentrating
on those hills in the Howgill Fells that we had not climbed, but
they are by nature of mostly grassy terrain, so it was a great
feeling to be returning to our beloved Lakeland Fells, climbing
the rocky paths. Uncle Eric, Allen & Little Eric had never
climbed these fells before. Allen was particularly grateful to
Dad, as he would complete one third of his outstanding Wainwights
today.
We knew it would be an early start
and that it would be quite an arduous walk, so to save time we
prepared our picnic and put it in the fridge, before we went off
to have an early night, so that we would be properly refreshed in
the morning.
Dad drove to Uncle Eric's then we
went on in his car driving through the heart of the Lake District,
passing many hills nearly all of which we were all able to say we
had climbed before. Our destination was the car park at Dodd Wood
beside the A591 on the east side of Bassenthwaite Lake. This is
truly the only "lake" in the Lake District, as all the
others are either meres (e.g. Windermere) or waters (e.g. Wastwater).
Uncle Eric and Dad got their boots
on etc, and we settled in the rucksack eager to be off,
especially Allen. Soon after 10.00 we crossed the bridge beside
the cafe, following the sign reading "All trails".
There are about four of these, of varying lengths and difficulty,
indicated by different colours on substantial posts. We were not
following any of these specifically, so just took the forest path
that kept us heading north through the woods called Old
Plantation and Rabbit Warren, to eventually meet the path coming
up from the road by the Ravenstone Hotel. Here, passing through a
gate we gained open fell, climbing by the fence and then taking
the path right that wound up to the ridge. The Edge, as it is
known that leads to Ullock Pike, towered away to the right, but
our first objective was to walk on north for a short distance, so
that we could all bag one of our outstanding Birkett tops called
Watches.
"I wonder how it got it's name",
mused Tetley.
"I had a look at the book that
Dad has on Lake District place names, and it seems it relates to
a place providing a good look-out position for warning of border
raiders, in the times of those troubles up to the middle of the
17th century", replied Grizzly proudly.
We were soon at the cairn, and
ironically although it was the lowest fell in altitude we were
to climb today, it had the largest cairn.
Looking south we could clearly see
The Edge, which we were to ascend to reach Ullock Pike's summit
If you look carefully you can just
discern the two tops of Ullock Pike. Beyond, the ridge leads to
Long Side and Carl Side, the succeeding summits we were to reach.
The outcroppings of igneous rocks in the foreground give the
impression of a stone circle, but in fact the formation is
natural.
So, we returned along the path, and
then commenced our ascent of The Edge. Numerous rises were
ascended, and we had the first of many fine views of
Bassenthwaite Lake below. Dad and Uncle Brian's luxury retreat of
Armathwaite Hall is amongst the trees on right side of the land
at the top of the lake.
The wind was strong as we climbed,
and the sky was dark overhead. To the left the mighty bulk of
Skiddaw towered about 1000ft higher its summit ridge enveloped in
cloud. This we thought was an advantage, as apart from one shower,
any rain seemed to fall on Skiddaw and its bulk kept the cloud
off this ridge. Away south west we could see the Coledale Fells
looking dark and foreboding as the clouds passed over.
Grisedale Pike is in the foreground,
with the clouds catching the tops of Sail and Crag Hill.
"Those are some of the ones I
still have to do", said Allen.
"Yes, and I hope that we will
get there during the summer", replied Dad.
The going steepened on the final
push to the shapely dome of Ullock Pike, which had dominated the
scene from below, as we ascended The Edge.
"Are we there", called
out Little Eric.
" No, not quite ",
replied Dad, "as we have to go to that second top just
ahead, which is the highest point."
This was quickly achieved, and we
leapt out of the rucksack and settled on the small cairn for our
picture.
As well as the superb views over
Bassenthwaite Lake, there was to the south a dramatic view of
Derwentwater and its surrounding fells. To the left is the town
of Keswick and to the right the village of Braithwaite. Just
breathtaking.
Views like this were to be the
order of the day, even when we were climbing to Dodd. That was to
be our last summit of the day, its rocky bare top clearly in view
below.
The next summit was Long Side,
reached by a short descent then gentle climb on the clear path
along the ridge.
As we walked along, below to the
left was lonely Southerndale, bathed in sunshine. The highest
fell behind is Broad End, one of the number of summits we had
visited in September last year, when we had climbed Skiddaw.
Below this you can see that there is a rising ridge comprising
Little Knott, Great Knott & Randel Crag. Behind this and
below Broad End is the hidden valley called Barkbethdale.
Southerndale is without any habitation and there did not even
seem to be any sheep grazing there, as we looked down. It looks
to be little visited, although it is one of the many routes
defined by A Wainwright for the ascent of Skiddaw. See page 15 of
that chapter in Book 5 Northern Fells.
After a quick stop here to have our
picture taken at the cairn, it was onward again along the ridge.
A steady descent followed to the point where the path to Skiddaw
bent away left. Here we kept ahead on a narrow path over grass
climbing steadily to meet the main path to Skiddaw, at precisely
the point that is the summit of Carl Side. Here again we jumped
out and settled on the cairn for our picture.
"That's three ticked off",
called out Allen. "Just Dodd to go."
So, that was our next objective. To
get there we first had to make the long steep winding descent to
the forest road. The main path was followed down for a while on
an easy gradient, before we took a narrow rough and stoney path
right, that in a large zig zag descended steeply over 1100ft to
the stile to the forest road.
As we all looked back where we had
descended, Uncle Eric remarked to Dad, " I would not like to
climb up that path.
It is not a particularly stylish,
stile (sorry about the awful pun), but we include the picture,
because unlike some walks when we have to climb fifteen, twenty,
or even thirty, today this was the solitary one we encountered.
It was along the road right for a
few yards before we took the well signposted road doubling back
left. Note the green topped trail post. We were to follow these
to the summit of Dodd and then in reverse all the way back to the
start.
Just round the corner a seat
provided a perfect place for a late lunch, and with that superb
view of Keswick & Derwentwater. To the left of the lake, we
had a quite wonderful view of the beautiful Newlands Valley.
Surrounding it on the left is
Catbells with Maiden Moor rising behind. At the head of the
valley the dominant fell is Dale Head that has a tall shapely
cairn on its summit. To the right the highest fell is Hindscarth
with in front Rowling End rising to Causey Pike (summit out of
view).
Such was the beauty of the view we
were reluctant to leave, but we needed to get on to Dodd.
Following the green top trail posts, it was a steady climb to the
summit, with its slate standing stone with memorial plaques.
On one side are two plaques reading
-
1. In Memory of John Lole and Ian
Sandelands. 1st Seaton Scout Group 1980
2. In Memory of "Mac", Malcolm MacDougall
On the other side the plaque reads
- Dodd Summit 1612 feet. In Memory of Ian & John.
It should be noted that since the
plaque was placed there, the Ordnance Survey have in fact
reassessed the height of Dodd to 1647ft.
Naturally we had jumped out to have
our picture taken and here we are in close-up by the standing
stone.
A path led north from the summit
for just a few yards, that provided a superb view of
Bassenthwaite Lake, and our last picture today.
"You have just got to take
that", cried out Allen.
"You bet", replied Dad
Following this path down was
considered, until Dad remembered that it only went to the
viewpoint. There is no alternative but to retrace the ascent,
passing the lunch stop, and then on along the forest roads
following the green topped trail posts all the way to the car
park. It was quite late and rather surprisingly the cafe was
still open. However in view of the lateness, it was decided to
just head on home. That was some sacrifice on Dad's part!
A really great walk, and Shaun,
Tetley, Grizzly and Dad enjoyed doing it again. Uncle Eric bagged
all the tops today and Dodd was his 100th Wainwright.