Walk Summary
Good workout for calves on ascent to Stybarrow Dodd. Scenic high level fell walk to Watson's Dodd, Great Dodd and Clough Head. Meander along the St Johns-in-the-Vale valley along the interesting and undulating High Rigg fell.
Date: 22/03/2022
Length: 11.51 miles
Height Gain: 1080 m
Terrain: Boggy paths, grass paths, rocky paths, lightly used road.
Navigation: There are tricky sections (see map).
Start: Off-road Car Park, Legburthwaite
Route: Legburthwaite, Stybarrow Dodd, Watson's Dodd, Great Dodd, Clough Head, White Pike, Old Coach Road, High Rigg
Map: OL5 The English Lakes North Eastern Area
Weather: Hazy sun, cold wind
Walkers: Nun, Mo and Calse
Gallery
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Watson's Dodd Cairn
Captain's Log
Are You Raymond?
'Are you Raymond?' I was just tying the laces on my boots. I looked up. The request was from a fiftyish woman in a dramatically patterned, azure outfit. I tried to remember the pseudonyms I'd used in the past and the people for whom I owed money. I didn't recognise her. It would be better to play safe. 'No I'm not', I replied. She wandered away.
Within two minutes of starting the path up to Sticks Pass from Legburthwaite, my calves were burning like a couple of furnaces. It is rather a shock to the system from a cold start, and a lot of height had to be gained before the path levelled off to a sensible gradient.
Jet Acrobatics
Rather that go to Sticks Pass itself we took a more direct route up to Stybarrow Dodd. A noise behind us alerted us to an approaching jet. A Typhoon was skimming Thirlmere and then swung upwards towards us. It then banked in a curve towards Helvellyn before banking again back towards Thirlmere effectively having flown a large circle. It then powered up to Great Dodd and disappeared over the horizon. I've seen lots of jets fly down this valley but I've never seen one do a manoeuvre like that before.
Typhoon Over The Dodds
St John's In The Vale Church
Plodding The Dodds
Looking back down from where we'd come I could see, in the distance, about eight people plodding up the path. The azure woman was with them. I assume she had found Raymond and they appeared to be following us.
Stybarrow Dodd is a large, fairly flat area and views down into the surrounding valleys are obscured somewhat. We headed across to Watson's Dodd. This is lower than Stybarrow but does provide good views over into the Thirlmere valley and over to Skiddaw. The last Dodd of the day was Great Dodd. I've not been up Great Dodd without experiencing high winds. Today was no exception. Nobody was in the stone shelter, but we decided to lose some height by walking down to Calfhow Pike before stopping for a break. As we got out our sitmats I could see Raymond leading his merry men, and women, down the slopes of Great Dodd towards us.
Great Dodd Summit Cairn
Clough Head
It is another plod up to Clough Head. Eight jets flew down the Thirlmere Valley and then banked to fly over Keswick and the Bassenthwaite Lake. It looks like the military had stepped up training flights in light of the war in Ukraine. The view from the summit of Clough Head is stunning. There is a panoramic view across to Blencathra and Skiddaw. Unfortunately the day was hazy which prevented a decent photo. We followed a shoulder down to White Pike and from there dropped down to the Old Coach Road.
The Old Coach Road is stony and doesn't provide the easiest of walking. The occasional mountain biker cycled by us but I don't think they can find it much fun either. My legs were grateful when we reached the B5322 at Hill Top Farm.
View Of Blencathra On The Way To High Rigg
View From High Rigg Fell
High Rigg
Walking to the church that marks the start of the ascent to High Rigg I was surprised to find Raymond's group in front of us. We didn't see them pass us. I can only think they took a short cut off Clough Head; probably over Threlkeld Knotts. They started their ascent to High Rigg. I decided to take a different path to the top. Fifteen minutes later I was taking a photo on the summit of High Rigg and Raymond's group popped up over some rocks and photobombed my shot.
Raymond was fiftyish and looked knackered. On such a warm day he looked mithered in his shell jacket. I said to him that I thought it was a great walk so far. He didn't seem that enthusiastic. 'Yes. Five Wainwrights isn't bad', he replied.
Leap Frogging
The fell from High Rigg to Legburthwaite is a maze of paths, walls, hillocks and tarns. Raymond's group would take one path, and we'd take another and we'd find that we'd meet up a few minutes later. There are some great views down into both sides of the valley. Wanthwaite Crags and Bram Crag, on the flank of Clough Head, are particularly impressive.
Raymond's group took the lead on the descent from the fell and beat us back to the car park by about five minutes. It sounded like they were arranging an after walk celebration at a pub.
Raymond was right: five Wainwrights is a good tally for the walk, but I'd still do this excellent walk again, Wainwrights or not.
View Into St John's In The Vale From High Rigg Fell