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Whittle Wanderer|
Dash
Waterfall, Skiddaw House, Great Calva, Little Calva, Trusmadoor, Dash
Farm, Cumbria |
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OS
Grid ref: NY 24903 32311 Lat/Long: 54.680230, -03.166229 I had a good drive along the M6, A66 to the turn off near Keswick then to the start of my walk near Peter’s Farm. The weather forecast for the morning was good but the reality was that it wasn’t. I set off along the track towards Skiddaw House and soon was looking across the valley towards Dash Farm which is now a holiday home but looked empty. |
 Track to Skiddaw House |
| The cloud level was low and when I’d climbed above Whitewater Dash Waterfall a I couldn’t any of the surrounding hills as they were all shrouded in cloud. The track to Skiddaw House is mostly very straight and in gloomy weather is a gloomy walk. Eventually I saw the house in the distance and as I approached a many came by the other way. The gate was closed and a sign pointed walkers around the outer boundary wall. |
 Skiddaw House |
 Oil lamp through the window of Skiddaw House |
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| It is a Youth Hostel so I went through the gate for a look. There was a vehicle parked outside but no sign or sound of life. I turned left and descended the path down to the River Caldew and the wooden footbridge. I was now heading for the summit of Great Calva up in the mist. The map doesn’t show a footpath and there wasn’t the sign of one anywhere. |
 Great Calva summit |
| It was tough going on the climb because I was wading through deep heather. It was relentless and I was glad to reach a minor path near the summit that comes up from Dead Beck. Over the summit was misty and bleak. By the small summit cairn was the fence line. As I descended over the other side I met a walker coming up. He was a Scot and was wearing shorts with gaiters above his boots which looked odd. He asked of there was a descent route and I recommended he take the path down to Dead Beck. I navigated my way across the moor to Little Calva where a small pile of stones marked the summit. |
 Trusmadoor in the mist |
| I then descended towards the saddle towards Burn Tod. I left the path to cross to a gully where I’d camped on a back packing trip in Dec 2004. It was in a very seclude spot and would still make a good camp. Over Burn Tod I descended to Trusmadoor and the interesting descent path lower down. The weather was still bad and it was now raining. I’d originally planned to return via Great Cockup but didn’t see the point with no views. |
 Dash Farm |
| I modified my route to follow the path above Burntod Gill. I descend to the valley bottom at Hause Gill and crossed over to follow a rough track towards Dash Farm. As I came off the fells I approached the gate to the farm which had a ‘no path’ sign. There was nobody about so I walked into the farmyard and down the vehicle access track. I re-joined the Skiddaw House access track I’d used on the way up and returned to the car. |
 Dash Farm |
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