Date & Time: Saturday 8th July 2006. 12.45 pm start.

Location of Start : Kirkstone Inn car park ( NY 401 081 )

Places visited : Red Screes, Middle Dodd, Red Screes on the return.

Walk details : 2.4 mls, 1600 ft of ascent , 2 hrs 20 mins including lunch.

Walked with : Ann and the dogs.

Weather : Overcast with gathering cloud but it stayed clear and dry.

The start point ~ we're the third car from the left !

 

The Kirkstone Pass is one of the high level roads that bisect the Lake District.

As was customary on many of these routes, there was often an Inn to help the weary traveller and probably stables to change horses after the steep ascent. Later AA boxes were placed to give early motorists a phone link for assistance should they have problems on the steep climb. Nowadays there is a large car park and a full pub menu for the tourist traffic, and it was this car park we took advantage of for this walk.

Leaving the road, the path crosses to the base of the fell and immediately starts to climb.

A newly pitched path winds its way up and around the southern flank of Red Screes.

The mountain gets its name from the red rock evident here on the fell side.
   
Clearer weather and better views south to Windermere.
Views west here to the distinctive summit of Ill Bell.

A steady climb brings us out directly to the summit shelter and trig point,

always a nice way to complete a climb.

Distant southerly and westerly fells over Red Screes summit tarn.

( left to right ) Conniston and Wetherlam Fells, Crinkle, Bowfell and the Scafells, Gable, Pillar and Grasmoor.

Ahead is our other objective, the lower summit of Middle Dodd

Behind is The Helvellyn range, Catstycam, the rounded St Sunday Crag, Brothers Water and Place Fell with a little patch of sun.

A little sun on us too as we walk down to the cairn on Middle Dodd.

We walked the short distance beyond the cairn

to get this better view of Brothers Water.

 

The campsite looked busy

and there was a fair amount of traffic on the road below

but up here all was peace and quiet.

 

In view of the fact we were expecting visitors we turned and retraced our steps at this point making it an out and back walk rather than a circular one.

Why does it always look further back up than it seemed when we were on the top looking down ?

Time for a picnic in the shelter of the summit rocks due to the cool breeze skimming the fell top.

Its amazing to think that only three days ago we were nearly passing out in the heat on Lingmoor fell, and here today we are sheltering from the keen wind, putting on extra fleeces as we sit for our lunch . . . I think the weather has changed !

Perhaps we could have used the summit shelter. It looked substantial enough.

Red Screes boasts a shelter, a trig point and big cairn all in close proximity.

Time to retrace our steps carefully back down the pitched path to the car park

and off home before our visitors arrive.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with a Canon IXUS 400 Digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . a hand glider to get down for a quick pint.

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Previous walk - 5th July 2006 A hot walk up Lingmoor and Side Pike with Sean

Previous time up here - 20th August 2001 (sorry no pictures on-line)