I’m back at Sykeside campsite to complete a walk that was cut short a few weeks ago because of storm Arwen and bad weather. Today’s walk will take in Red Screes and Middle Dodd via Caiston Glen and Scandale Pass. Once again the weather is rather peculiar. For the last few days, high pressure has settled over the whole of the country trapping cold air underneath it and causing a country wide temperature inversion. For days on end there have been cloud inversions in the Lakeland valleys as they remain below freezing but the tops bask in sunshine and warmth. I wonder if these unusual weather patterns are a sign of things to come because of climate change. I am thankful though that we are not having to contend with drought, floods or wildfires as some parts of the World have to.
There is a hard frost on the ground as I walk across the fields and the temperature is well below freezing. I feel sorry for the sheep who move habitually out of my way, leaving a nicely warmed up patch of grass with no frost to move onto a cold frosty spot, I imagine them cursing me under their breath.
The way follows the same path as my walk before here but instead of heading straight up the shoulder of High Hartsop Dodd, I follow the curve of the valley around and into Caiston Glen. The path then joins Caiston Beck and follows the stream steadily upwards through the narrowing Glen. As a result of the strange weather, the higher I went the warmer it became and the ground that was frozen solid in the valley became soft and muddy underfoot.
Wainwright doesn’t seem to rate Caiston Glen at all, calling it ‘easy but uninterested’. It’s true that the view is restricted by the bulk of Little Hart Crag and Middle Dodd on each side of the Glen but there is a good view down into Hartsop and beyond to Place Fell and on this particular day the contrast between the frozen valley floor, the sunlit higher fells and the clear blue cloudless sky above was rather striking. The small waterfalls of Caiston Beck were also in good form because of the recent rain and snow and provided a constant sound of rushing water as I headed up to Scandale Pass.
As the top of the pass is approached the incline eases and soon the flat ground around Scandale Pass is reached. There is a wall with a ladder stile over it and a small cairn. Little Hart Crag and the eastern fells of the Fairfield horseshoe were lit up into a golden glow by the morning sunshine.
The snow of a few weeks ago had all but melted and as I started the journey up to Red Screes the view down Scandale towards Ambleside and Lake Windermere came into view across the wall. I say came into view but it was actually all under a blanket of cloud stretching all across the south of Lakeland.
The path from Scandale Pass to the summit follows the wall upwards most of the way until it intersects with another wall just before the summit plateau. It then traverses easily across the fell side to reach the summit itself.
There is quite a bit to see at the summit of Red Screes and it reminded me a bit of Helvellyn or Ben Nevis. Not a peak at all but a fairly flat grassy area with both natural and man made features. There is a summit shelter which seemed marginally higher than the trig point next to it. The trig point is perched on the edge of the crags dropping off steeply to the north east. There is also another small rock cairn on the ridge overlooking Hartsop. The most significant feature on the summit however seemed to be the tarn. About the size of a tennis court and nestling in a hollow on the flat ground I’ve not seen anything like it on any other Lakeland summit. The tarn was still frozen over, a testament to its height and the recent cold weather, despite todays temperature being well above freezing and the sun blazing from a cloudless blue sky.
The view from the summit was magnificent. The winter air meant no heat haze and there were extensive views of all Lakeland in every direction. The temperature inversion meant that Ambleside, the South Lakes and the Irish Sea beyond that were all under a blanket of cloud. The Isle of Man poked out above the cloud far in the distance. In the opposite direction Brothers Water and Ullswater were seen down the long Hartsop/Patterdale valley and my next destination, Middle Dodd, three hundred feet below and a kilometre away along the northern spur of the mountain.
Leaving the summit the path drops off quickly before levelling off and then rising slightly to attain the summit of Middle Dodd. The contrast in the two summits is marked. No trig point, tarn or shelter here, just a cairn, like the summit of almost every other hill you are likely to encounter. Middle Dodd is really just a small rise on the ridge heading down to Hartsop from Red Screes but it does give a another perspective on Red Screes, showing the steep east face of the mountain to good effect. And it is obviously a ‘Wainwright’ which means it has to be visited.
The steep drop straight down the ridge wasn’t pleasant. The ridge faces north so had not had the benefit of the warming sun and the lower I got the colder it became as I walked back into the freezing valley air. This also meant that the path was very slippy with frost and frozen patches of water and, like a few weeks ago I had to concentrate more on staying upright than enjoying the views.
It wasn’t long though before I was back onto the valley floor and crossing Caiston Beck on a footbridge brought me back onto the path I had climbed up on. Arriving at the barn at the foot of High Hartsop Dodd I remembered something Wainwright had mentioned in his notes about High Hartsop Dodd. He noted the symmetry between the pitch of the barn roof and the slope of the hill behind it. I had forgotten to look last time I was here but looked now and there it was, just as he had said.
I was was struck by the idea that Wainwright had walked past this very same barn sometime prior to 1954 and that it was still here in 2021 and I was still reading his words and enjoying the fells just as he had done seventy years ago. Even further back in time, the field next to the barn is the site of an ancient Romano-British enclosed hut settlement. The earth embankment and the huge stones put in place by these ancient Britons are still there to see and to touch. As I made my way back to the campsite I am left musing about what kind of life these ancient ancestors must have lived. A very hard one no doubt.
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