The Eastern Fells – Day 3

Little Hart Crag, High Hartsop Dodd, Red Screes & Middle Dodd

Wednesday 14 October

I’ve decided to pay less attention to Mr A Wainwright. His off-putting description (“steep, laborious”) of the direct ascent of High Hartsop Dodd above the Kirkstone Pass road persuaded me to take a path up Caiston Glen instead. I started on the south side of Caiston Beck having parked at the nearby lay-by, eventually crossing the beck at the old mine workings. Paths in the farm fields below the intakes are poorly defined, difficult to find, and boggy. They don’t improve much as you get higher. It was a tedious plod up the glen to the Scandale Pass.

Things improved from that point. A clear path rises north from the wall at the pass, leading to the summit of Little Hart Crag. Clear skies and improving views lifted my mood.

I stuck to my plan and followed the ridge down to the “summit” of High Hartsop Dodd which has the compensation of splendid views of the Patterdale valley. I met some people who had come up the “steep, laborious” route direct from the valley; they seemed happy enough.

Retracing my route to Little Hart Crag and the Scandale pass I then went up the other side of the pass – again on a clear path – to reach the summit of Red Screes. The views from here will go down as some of the very best. I could see almost all the high summits of the Lake District arrayed in a 360° panorama. Sunlight glinting off the sea in Morecombe Bay twenty miles away was a lovely bonus.

The fourth Wainwright of the day was Middle Dodd, Red Screes’ companion Dodd to Little Hart Crag’s High Hartsop Dodd.

The descent down the ‘nose’ of Middle Dodd was steep but not too slippery; I took it slowly and steadily, not wanting to risk a slip. Back into the farm fields, the bogs and the vanishing footpaths finally brought me back to the road where I’d started.

Despite the grumbles it had been a good day!