Dear friends, it's been a while.
Truth is, I've been writing a book. Not about how crap I am at hiking, but about how Victorian sculptors and sculpture critics interpreted the Italian works housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the late nineteenth century. I'm quite the literary chameleon, didn't you know? It's about to be published, so I'm taking a break from writing and ... well, writing about other things.
So here I am, recollecting our hike up Dodd about two years after we completed it. Luckily I have a good memory and am a tireless picture-taker, but this won't be a long post by any means. In fact, I'm going to make it more useful for anyone who wants to do the same walk by including a map so you can follow in our soggy footsteps.
Here's a map. I can't remember which route we took up to the top but it followed the Forestry Commission's own map: the green route to Dodd summit (you can pick these up at the tea room in the car park). Turns out this post is going to be short and not useful.
We had been to this car park just two days previously, where we'd started our journey up to Ullock Pike.
This time, we headed in the opposite direction, over a little bridge behind the cafe. The path wound up through the forest, eventually crossing a rather dull logging road that ran steeply up through the woods. It was a wet day but it seemed as if every holiday maker in Keswick had made their way up to Dodd Woods with their pushchairs, flipflops and single-use ponchos. Indeed, the website www.lakedistrict.org seems to spend a good deal of time considering how to get an all-terrain pushchair up the path. My advice is, carry your child. Or don't have children.
Judging by the red faces and short tempers of the family hiking up with their screaming toddler in a pushchair, it isn't worth it.
Soon, you'll come out of the wood and reach a viewpoint that makes the last thirty minutes seem worthwhile.
My 2017 self did not see fit to take a good picture of the view, so all you're getting is this crap picture of the Oscar Wilde quote on the bench:
Though I very much agree with it.
If you're feeling crazy, then you can climb from here up to Carl Side and the Back O'Skiddaw ridgeline above. This ridge looms above you to the left and looks rather atmospheric on a grey day.
Following the edge of the hill round to the right, you'll find some toy toadstools. That is, the type of stereotypical Disney toadstools that you might expect your Sylvanian Families to use as seats on one of their many picnic outings.
Cute but most likely poisonous.
Eventually, you'll reach the tree line and the views across to Derwent Water start to open up... probably - if you go on a nicer day.
And after a final steep push to the summit, Bassenthwaite Lake also comes into view.
By this point, you've mostly shaken off the families with their pushchairs and can explore the summit to your heart's content. Unless of course it starts pouring with rain ...
... in which case, take a quick hands-on-trig shot and get the hell out of there.
That's it. Sorry. Did I say I've just written a book ... ?
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