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lat / lon:54.668120, -3.186148
OS grid ref:NY 23596 30985
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The weather forecast was for intermittent rain through the
morning. My drive north was clear and hardly any wind. As I
approached Keswick the weather continued fine as I drove north
along the A591 in clearing weather. I took the right fork at
High Side up the narrow lane to leave my car in the lay-by. The
only problem was I had to get back south along the A591 before
starting the climb at Millbeck. There is no footpath so I put my
yellow dayglo jacket on for the first mile and then at
Ravenstone Hotel was able to follow the track up through the
woods. It runs parallel with the road and I had the path to
myself. Everywhere was lush green and it was an enjoyable
wander. |
Dodd Woods |
Wood in Dodd Wood. |
Bassenthwaite Lake. |
Foxgloves
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Lush ferns |
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Near Millbeck. |
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I reached the car park area at Dodd Wood but stayed on the
footpath to avoid the buildings. I was hoping to stay on a path
of sorts all the way to Millbeck but approaching White Stones I
lost the track and finished descending a very minor path down to
the A591. It was only a short way on the main road before I
reached the minor road into Millbeck Village. I turned left up a
footpath and through a wood to reach the lower part of the
fells. The main path up Carl Side is very clear to see heading
up the hillside. That wasn't the route I wanted to take and I
continued straight on and parallel to Mill Beck and Slades Beck. |
Above Millbeck. |
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I found a bench by the path and stopped for a while to eat my
sandwiches before continuing to an area in the river bed that
formerly had a dam crossing the valley. It was long gone and
dilapidated but I crossed over here and followed a well-defined
path up the east side of the river. There was a degree of
engineering construction on the past and that became clearer
when higher up I came to a dam and site of a plastic pipe of
about 9 in diameter under the path. The dam was quite old and
looked disused. The path continued a bit fainter up the east
side of the valley and then I came to a newer dam with what
looked like a recently constructed access track on the west side
of the valley. As I continued up Slades Beck and the weather was
still fine and even patches of sunshine broke through. I stayed
on the east side and the faint path became more distinct but
higher up as the valley widened it became indistinct as it
followed over very loose scree. |
Higher Dam on Slades Beck. |
Side stream. |
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I kept to the left to avoid the loose stones and eventually
reached Carl Side ridge and the small tarn. On the ridge I was
exposed to the wind as I turned left to follow Longside Edge to
Ullock Pike. As I walked along several people came up from the
north and they must have been on the ascent of Skiddaw which I
could see to my right across the valley. Though the weather was
fine the cloud was fairly low and Skiddaw summit was just
obscured earlier. |
Carl Side tarn. |
Ullock Pike. |
Clouds clearing over Skiddaw. |
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I took my time on the descent as it is quite steep in places.
Eventually I reached Ling How and the stony track became easy
grass. The final part was very enjoyable and I could see a hawk
hovering above the valley below. The final descent was a long
and easy grassy path. It is the first time I've used my new
Samsung phone to take photos on a mountain walk and I was very
pleased with it’s performance. |
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