Skiddaw
Skiddaw, Lake District, England.
Height – 931 metres. Map – BMC Lake District.
Climbed - 23 September 2010. Time taken – 8.5 hours.
Distance – 17.5 kilometres. Ascent – 1050 metres.
Trip Report Details:
We were staying in Keswick, so rather than drive to one of the starting points we walked along the old railway line then followed a path which led to Spooney Green Lane. This lane, a ‘Public Bridleway’, led round the west side of Latrigg Hill to the car park at the end of Gale Road.
From here the marked route led to a monument where the path split. The Cumbria Way headed east while we continued north up the west side of the Whit Beck. It was a fair slog up the steep gradient but eased higher up and before we reached a gate. The option here was either to go through the gate and make a direct ascent of Skiddaw or climb the path onto the Little Man. We took the second option.
There had been a couple of brief showers earlier in the day but now the heavens opened and the cloud lowered. We reached the Little Man before descending its north-west ridge to rejoin the route to Skiddaw at Broad End.
The heavy rain eased then ceased just as we approached Skiddaw’s summit cairn, trig point and indicator. We had lunch at the cairn as the cloud began to lift and break up, which allowed us views of Bassenthwaite Lake and Blencathra.
After lunch we returned along the south ridge before descending a scree path to Carside Tarn before making the short climb to Carl Side. This was followed by a long descent of it’s south ridge which was steep and eroded in places and in low cloud which had returned. The path emerged onto the public road beside Millbeck and we walked along the road through Applethwaite and back to Keswick.
Photos taken on walk.
