We got up late – I suppose because we were in bed late! Martin went into Keswick and did all the shopping. Then we went into the Manor and John threw us up a fabulous breakfast. After that Martin asked Fr Foulkes if Sheila and Paul could stay a few days – they’re full up but he said he should be able to arrange something. We arranged to ring later today or tomorrow to find out.
Blencathra from Castlerigg, originally uploaded by BBurrows.
So it was late when we set off on what was to be our longest day – the Helvellyn range from Keswick – Great Dodd, Watsons Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd, Sticks Pass, Raise, Helvellyn and down Striding Edge to Patterdale – a total of about 14 or 15 miles.
We had a long walk first into St John’s in the Vale before we started to climb, but once we were up it was a ridge walk all the way with just a few ups and downs.
It was 12.00 before we started to climb. We decided to follow a path which seemed more gradual rather than the path that was steep. However this only lead us around the mountain and we really didn’t gain much height.
It was also dark and overcast and rain seemed certain. We eventually decided to leave this path and just climb.
As we got to the ridge the rain came. Then we saw the extent of our error – we had started one hill too far over and so we had put an extra walk on ourselves. Well it was Martin’s fault – overreliance on Wainwright and not using the map in conjunction with it. No, we won’t blame Wainwright we’ll just blame the person who misread it! So we started around the hill to get back onto the original route. In the meantime the tops were quite misty and wet looking.
A few songs helped pass the time and though everybody’s feet were wet (except Martin in his “spaceboots”) we were soon back on the original path. Although Great Dood looks quite fearsome from St John’s in the Vale its quite tame and grassy on top. We then continued over to Watson’s Dodd.
It was getting misty and late and the thought of Helvellyn and Striding edge was not very pleasant. We decided therefore to leave Helvellyn ‘til to-morrow – that would leave us going up striding edge and also the possibility of a clear day on top. So we decided to go down Sticks Pass and just have the 3 Dodds as our accomplishment for today. We continued on to Stybarrow Dodd and then down to Sticks Pass. It was now very misty.
Half way down Sticks Pass we had our lunch – a few bumper sandwiches! Plus some hoppity harrys in the lettuce! – protein! Then the rain started. A few more songs helped us down. We passed the remains of some old mines in Glenridding. The place looked pretty grim in the rain.
When we got down to the village there were a couple of shops. We did some shopping and then walked to the hostel, about 2 miles on the road. The hostel in Patterdale was beautiful. It’s a new building with very good facilities. There we met the couple we had met in Ennerdale; they were progressing on the Coast to Coast walk. As usual we prepared a big feed of spaghetti. Showers were enjoyed by all.
After dinner we did some washing (great drying room), wrote cards and generally took it easy. A cup of tea and then bed, hoping for good weather for to-morrow, the last day of our walking tour.
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