The Fellwalker Introduction Top 100 Mountains The Walks Epilogue Leishmaniasis

The Fellwalker by Peter John Farnworth WALK 39 SATURDAY MARCH 17th 1990 This walk will take us over familiar ground towards Clough Head, the last summit on the Helvellyn range. As you look at it from Grasmere side, it overlooks the main Keswick to Penrith road. We went to it via Sticks Pass green-way near to Green Side lead mines (disused) at Glenridding. The walk up the zigzag from the lead mines was a little bit tiresome and from here we crossed over open ground, marshy in places, where the Pass then runs along the side of Green Side (not a summit, but a spur from Stybarrow Dodd.) As the path gained in altitude, we looked over to Raise where we expected to see the ski slope in operation, but with little snow down it was closed. As we reached the top of the Pass here, to turn up the fell-side for Stybarrow Dodd, it hit us straight away. The wind. Very unexpected indeed. The force was so strong, we could hardy stand up, so much so we could lean into it at an angle of 45% and it would hold us there! This was the first time we have been onto the fells when the wind has been so strong. This we did not mind too much, but the only trouble was it was blowing in our faces, especially as we were walking up the steep parts (it's bad enough the best times.) From then on, it was with us all day. Still, it never rained, and that was good news. From this summit it was level walking as we followed the path to and past Great Dodd to a large rock formation called Calf How Pike, with wonderful views of Thirlmere below. From this point, it was only two miles from the summit of Clough Head over level ground. What a good place to stand when looking over the valley towards Keswick, with Skiddaw, Blencathra to the right of it. I have a double photograph of this area, taken from the other side of Derwent Water from Grisedale Pike (Walk 37) looking back to this summit. On our return journey we had to visit Sheffield Pike so we could add this to our list. As I mentioned in Walk 30, this summit is a little tricky when the mist is down, so beware. We passed Stybarrow Dodd again and continued following the path to Green Side. This area between these two points could be dangerous if the mist were to come down. The highest point consists of four rocks and one steel fence post (don't blink or you will pass it by!) Still following the path, we dropped down to a place called Nick Head, another crossroad that has paths to various points on the map. From here the path led steadily up the side of the fell until we reached the summit of Sheffield Pike. As you can see, this summit is not very high,( 97} in AO. When at the summit I found a old stone boundary post with an inscription engraved on the surface which was as follows: H ER 1830 M Perhaps the ''H'' and ''M'' where names of landowners in the area, but what about ''ER'? There was no Elizabeth on the throne in 1830, or was ''ER'' the name of the person who inscribed it? Your guess is as good as mine. Mountains walked that day: Stybarrow Dodd 21    Great Dodd 19    Clough Head 74    Sheffield Pike 97 [[]] Diagram & Stats