Middle Dodd and Red Screes from Sykeside
Forum » Walk Reports » Lake District
Red Screes (Wainwright, Birkett, Marilyn, Hewitt, Nuttall, HuMP, Clem, Fellranger, Synge, Sim, and Tump)
| Date started: | 21/07/2026 |
| Distance: | 10.3 km or 6.4 miles |
| Ascent: | 640m or 2100ft |
| Descent: | 641m or 2103ft |
| Start OSGB: | NY401118 |
| Time taken: | 5:05 |
| Naismith: | 3:08 |
A few days away camping at the entirely acceptable Sykeside camp site near Brothers Water, I decided to go and tick off Middle Dodd and Red Screes.
On a very warm day it quickly became apparent that I was going to struggle somewhat with the steep ascent straight up the nose. It was (very) slow going and I was stopping every 30 or so paces to get my breath with the occasional even longer sit down to recover some more. On my way up I had the excitement of a low pass from an Airbus A400 Atlas followed by a couple of fast jets. I didn't manage to get a photo of the Atlas as I was clinging to a crag at the time but did manage to capture the jets just about. After a number of cruel false summits I did eventually make it to the top of Middle Dodd where I tried to force some warm pork pies down my neck.
Middle Dodd in the, err, middle.
Middle Dodd crags
Spot the camouflaged jet
Jet over Brothers Water
While the route up to Middle Dodd was very much as bad as it looked thankfully the trek up to Red Screes wasn't quite as bad as it looked. However my mood wasn't improved by the numerous passes by a very fit fell runner who was seemingly doing laps between the two tops, I cheered myself with the fact that my floppy sun hat didn't look anywhere near as silly as his top knot and stopped saying hello to him when he passed me for a fourth time. I also encountered a couple of geordie lads who were apparently up here for a light stroll with not a backpack or even a bottle of water between them.
Red Screes summit with Brothers Water beyond
I was in no mood to hang around at the top and just wanted to get back to the campsite for a cold drink. The route down to Scandale pass was all fine before a more enjoyable walk following the beck down to the foot of Middle Dodd.
Jimearl6 likes this postThose Dodds are all unreasonably steep in my opinion. My understanding is that "Dodd" in Middle English means "rounded hill", so my guess is that its use here is meant to be ironic. The "cruel false summits" are only part of it - you neglected to carp about the evil, loose, stony paths. Personally, I'm still happy to come down these but have sworn never to climb another.
Have you never considered climbing Red Screes from the Kirstone summit? That's also steep, of course, but there's a very good path that never claims to be anything other than an honest scramble, and provides good rock on which to clamber.
'Unreasonable', I like that as an adjective! Patterdale is a lovely area but I was reflecting on how everything around there is so bloody steep (I'm talking about you Hartsop Dodd and High Hartsop Dodd). The only exception appears to be Hartsop Above How from Cow Bridge which is on my todo list.
My lad was contemplating doing Red Screes from Kirkstone pass but I talked him out of it!
Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept these risks and be responsible for their own actions.