Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike with David  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Thirlmere Having done a long walk the previous day I wasn’t really sure my legs or feet would be up to much, but knew the planned walk would be over 8 miles. One of the advantages of having two cars is that you can do a linear walk and so we left one car in a lay-by near Wanthwaite Bridge while the other was parked at the car park at Legburthwaite at the bottom of the Sticks Pass footpath. On looking straight up at the footpath we were to follow I could tell my legs were not going to get any chance of warming up before we started climbing today. Slowly but surely we gained height, even if frequent stops were made to “enjoy the views”. It was certainly a beautiful morning, it was just a great shame that where we were heading up on the ridge that includes Stybarrow Dodd, Watson’s Dodd and Great Dodd was going to be in the cloud. Having never walked this ridge before, I wasn’t really sure what to expect although my sore feet from the previous days walk were certainly pleased that on the whole the walk is along a grassy ridge. It’s such a shame when you know the views you could be getting but today they were not going to be revealed as we made progress over each of the summits. Once we started to lose some height coming down from Great Dodd it wasn’t long before the views returned and we could see Calfhow Pike, which made an excellent place to stop for some lunch and we could once again enjoy the views over Thirlmere and St John’s in the Vale.  Cough Head Panorama
After lunch our fourth summit of the day, Clough Head, was ahead of us. Now I’ve long wanted to stand on this summit and enjoy the views across toward Blencathra, but the clouds once more decided to play tricks on us and the view was once more blocked out. The normal summit pictures were taken and I’d just about given up seeing the views when the cloud just vanished before our eyes.
Lots more pictures were taken of course before heading off towards White Pike where we were treated to a display of paragliders taking advantage of the updrafts to launch themselves. One chap who was an instructor showed great skill gaining height from a long way below us, reading the wind so well he very quickly gained height until he was a long way above us. I asked one of them struggling up the slope with a heavy pack just how heavy it was, he told me it was about 23kg…and I thought my backpack was heavy on occasions! It looked a lot of fun and they did their best to sell the tandem ride idea. Maybe that’s for another day.  Paraglider  David and Nigel on the Coach Road
Once we had lost height we joined up with the Old Coach Road and it was just a case of following it around the lower slopes of Threlkeld Knotts to Wanthwaite Bridge where David’s car was parked.
If we had stayed on lower fells we most likely wouldn’t have been walking in the clouds but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Four more new Wainwright summits visited and David’s excellent company always makes for a relaxed and highly enjoyable day. Thank you David for your company, and for leading us across new territory.
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I was only thinking the other day that you hadn't posted all of your walks from the Lakes. What a shame you missed some of the views, I get really annoyed when that happens
Take care
Sherran