There was intermittent cloud and constant rain through the night. The most surprising thing was an almost complete lack of wind considering the altitude of the tent at 867m (2845ft). The weather forecast was still for unsettled weather so I had no idea what was coming. The cloud base was hovering around the tent and the rain was also intermittent. I decided to hang around for a while to see if it would clear but it didn’t so I set off into the mist at 7:55am.

Wet walking below White Side

Path repairs on Sticks Pass

I was heading generally north towards White Side and on to the west side of Clough Head. Route finding can be a problem in mist at there is a fork in the path to the west of Helvellyn summit. Left, the larger trail, takes you down to Thirlmere and an indistinct path to the right goes over Browncove Crags. Fortunately the correct way is almost due north so with a compass it’s easy to keep on the correct path. There wasn’t much climbing before the steep descent down the sharp ridge to the steady climb of White Side. By now I had dropped below the cloud level and could see the surrounding mountains partly obscured by clouds. After passing over Raise I started the long descent to Sticks Pass. It was still a bit misty but something caught my eye in the distance. As I got closer I saw that it was a tracked excavator on the path coming up from Glenridding.

When I got to the pass summit I had a quick look at the machine but it looked like it hadn’t started work yet as the path hadn’t been worked on except for a deep rut higher up. I left and started the steady climb up to Stybarrow Dodd. I could hear the distinctive sound of a quad bike approaching and looking back down the path saw it arrive at the machine carrying two men. Presumably one was the machine operator. I continued up and was soon in cloud again. I didn’t follow the main path to Great Dodd but took the slight detour to the cairn on Watson’s Dodd.

Clearing cloud on Watson's Dodd

Blencathra from Wanthwaite Crags

I managed a view down into St John’s in the Vale before squelching along the sodden path towards Great Dodd. Before the climb I took the lesser path to the left across the SW face of the mountain. It was now nothing more than an interceptor river carrying all the rainwater off the mountain. The path itself was impassable so I walked along the rough grass on the top side. I continued towards Calfhow Pike then the path towards Clough Head. As I climbed a couple of fell runners were coming down; the only people I would see close up today.

I cut off NW across open ground towards Wanthwaite Crags to find a possible campsite. I finished up on a pitch I’d used before on Bennesty Knott. Shortly after arriving the cloud rolled in again and the rain started as I went off to find water at the stream south of Jim’s Fold. After getting the tent up the rain stopped and the afternoon continued mostly fine.

High Rigg from Wanthwaite Crags