Dowthwaitehead, Birkett Fell, Stybarrow Dodd, Watson's Dodd, Great Dodd, Cumbria.
[ 14.2 km] Wed 02 Nov 2011

NY 3800 2190
I drove through Dockray above Ullswater then up the lane to the car park at High Row. The autumn colours were showing on the fells but there wasn’t any sun to bring them out. I walked SW along the lane to Dowthwaitehead and the collection of buildings there. The first I came to was the farm and a group of dogs came out to greet me.

They yapped away but kept their distance. The farmer came out of the barn to see what was going on but soon returned. The footpath sign pointed me to the path up the fell and a footbridge over Aira Beck then along a wet path up by the wall. The route became fairly indistinct after a while then I came to some new fencing where the path seemed to end.

I climbed over and had to pick the best way I could through the rushes and bog to eventually re-join the proper path much higher up at the wall by Brown Hills. Turning right I had a much better path to follow up to Birkett Fell. Although overcast there were still nice views but the wind was fairly strong and it was also much colder than when I set off.

Birkett Fell nameplate

Leaving the wall I turned left to cross a short stretch of open fell to the Birkett Fell summit cairn. It’s quite unique as there is a name plate bolted on the cairn saying ‘Birkett Fell’. I can’t think of any other cairn with a nameplate except for memorial cairns. My next objective was Hart Side with its collection of cairns. There is also an interesting scar feature over the summit. It’s a trench excavated in the rock and certainly looks man-made. It runs in a straight line and may have been an exploration cutting for minerals or mining, but that’s only my theory. The path then headed towards Stybarrow Dodd along an interesting route that followed the valley side above Deepdale, giving nice views across to Great Dodd. Over Stybarrow Dodd the wind was really blowing and I wanted to find some shelter to eat my lunch.

I descended towards Watson’s Dodd then took the short-cut path towards Great Dodd hoping to find some shelter at the head of Browndale Beck. I found some in a small dip but it was still fairly cold. I reached Great Dodd summit in a gale and immediately started off down in a northerly direction to get out of the wind as soon as possible and join the main path to Randerside. On this part of the descent I saw the first people of the day coming up the path. The path was now unbelievably wet and there must have been a considerable amount of rain over recent days. I was squelching though bog almost the whole way down Bruts Moss to Groove Beck and the Old Coach Road. Even stretches of the coach road were so deep in water I had to make wide detours across the adjacent fell to get by. The parking area was quite full when I got back to the car.