Carl Side & Longside Edge, Skiddaw & Lonscale fell plus Latrigg

Initially I’d planned to start as I did but continue on over Ullock Pike and down & round the northern ends then back up Skiddaw. However with less wind than the previous days & blue skies the temps were much warmer & I was only on my middle day. So after sweating away on the climb up Carl Side, heading on & seeing the drop & massive haul back up to Skiddaw I’d have I changed my route a bit by backtracking from Ullock Pike to the col between Carl Side & Skiddaw I then took the path that goes directly up Skiddaw’s side, avoiding the mad cyclists coming down it, before getting back onto planned route.

Track GPX

Walk Profile

Thinking that parking would be no problem with my usual early start time I was surprised to find the car park pretty full, but people were coming & going out on Latrigg for the exceptional view that morning of a temp inversion giving the cloud sunk over the flat land & the tops in the sun. Unfortunately despite the mainly blue sky Skiddaw has cloud coming & going until I’d left it when it cleared.

The path up Carl Side & along Longside ridge was narrow but firm & visible, up the side of Skiddaw the path is very steep worn shale prone to slipping under foot a bit & I’d now say take it in ascent 1st time you do it, On top of Skiddaw & down over little man the path is a virtual motorway in width & people numbers although more skip round Little Man, out to Lonscale Fell there is a path either side of the fence but they are minor paths with wetness, down from it’s top your following the fence on your right on a steep grass path until you come to a x roads with the Cumbrian way curving round the bottom that you join back to the car park. It was here that I dumped rucksack in car & bought an ice cream from a lady with van who also did coffee’s thankfully as she said she’d only sold 2 ice creams the previous day but was busy that day. I then did the Latrigg bit starting off walking & eating ice cream, then pocketing the empty tub & binning it after going round Latrigg.

Pic 1

Heading out along the road the mist down below & near pure blue above

Pic 2

After starting up Carl Side, the mist still remained more over Derwent water & its close environs, but it was good to see the fells I’d walked my 1st day over on the right.

Pic 3

Up to about a fifth of the way up & the mist was nearly gone,, a bit to many to name but to give reference Derwent Water is left & Newlands Valley heading into the fells centre

Pic 4

The path up Carl Side it’s steeper than the pic makes it look

Pic 5

About 1/3rd the way up Carl Side looking at Dodd, at bit later looking across I saw a lorry carrying logs on the track on Dodd

Pic 6

½ way up where a path goes off to Dodd, the view of many fells with Grassmoor centre back

Pic 7

from the top of Carl Side the path up the side of Skiddaw

Pic 8

From the top of Long Side, looking down onto Dodd with its many trees.

Pic 9

Looking along the ridge to the top of Ullock Pike

Pic 10

From the top of Ullock Pike looking back along the ridge where I’d come & Skiddaw’s top with cloud drifting over

Pic 11

From the top of Ullock Pike, Bassenthwaite Lake

Pic 12

Still on top, the ridge down where I didn’t go, although I did go on another 150m till it started dropping more

Pic 13

Same place, Longside Edge dropping left & Randel Crag on Skiddaw centre, if I hadn’t altered the walk I’d have come up Skiddaw's ridge from the left.

Pic 14

From just staring up the side of Skiddaw looking back at Longside Edge.

Pic 15

At the summit of Skiddaw it was mostly in cloud but there were brief moments of clarity

Pic 16

Heading down from Skiddaw to Little Man

Pic 17

Heading off Little Man the cairn is worthy of being called modern art with its collection of old iron fence posts, with Blencathra behind

Pic 18

The magnificent cairn that marks the true top of Lonscale Fell I belive, there is a bigger cairn slightly (170ft) north at the junction of paths so don’t be fooled

Pic 19

From the little rise that's Lonscale Pike, I presume, out east of the summit above the drop, looking over Blencathra with it’s back slope Mungrisdale Common

Pic 20

The path down from Lonscale Fell goes between the fence & the drop over the crags & the northern end of the Helvellyn range where I’d walked the day before top left

Pic 21

Down onto the Cambrian way & nearing the car park the view across the valley to a slightly better view of Helvellyn & its northern companions

Pic 22

From Latrigg, the fells L to R of Carl Side (part off), Skiddaw(rather hidden), Little Man & Lonscale Fell (part of)

Pic 23

From different point on Latrigg, view of Keswick, Derwent Water & many of the fells I’ve been on.

Pic 24

Same point as last, Clough Head & The Dodds with Low & High Rigg down below

So a slightly easier day for me but still clocking up those miles & tops

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