Floutern Pass and the Dodds of Red Pike - Photo Gallery

It was a grey day when I parked at the National Trust car park in Buttermere, I walked into the village and on to Scale Bridge. There is a rough path by the side of Crummock Water, and once you move away from the lake shore it is best to recognise the cairn that takes you up to the higher, drier route to Scale Force. There was a good amount of water thundering down Scale Force, I will have to scramble up by the side of the waterfall sometime for a better view of it.

I crossed the bridge below the waterfall and a faint path straight ahead led me into dense bracken; it is a right of way, but obviously not a heavily used route. After a short climb up through the bracken I reached the summit of the path, and then began a long walk towards Floutern Pass. A faint path took me easily downwards to Black Beck; I stayed on the lesser path on my own side of the stream, and there were times when the ground was so wet that I doubted the wisdom of that decision.

I walked across the large flat area at the head of Mosedale; there was a faint path all of the way, but I was surprised to see other people there. There were sheep folds there, there used to be activity there, but there aren't even any sheep there these days. Eventually I walked across wet ground covered by reeds; after crossing an eroded wall, I came to the stream outflow from Floutern Tarn, and to my relief it was easy to get across.

A more obvious and eroded path starts to climb upwards, but it almost disappears before you reach the base of Floutern Cop; a small peak, but one that I have often thought I should climb, but couldn't really be bothered before. After descending the steeper, western end of Floutern Cop, I crossed a fence and walked down towards Floutern Tarn, and got as near as possible without sinking into the swamp.

I walked back upto the fence and followed a faint path alongside it until I reached another fence at the top of Floutern Pass. I walked by the side this fence, having to cross another couple of fences, using an unexpected stile on one of them; I avoided the worst of the swamp before reaching drier ground. I followed the fence again, on the steep ascent of Great Borne; I stayed on the left hand side of the fence and after the gradient eased I walked across rough ground to the top of the subsidiary summit.

There used to be a cairn there but it has obviously been demolished to discourage people from visiting it, thinking it might be the summit. The cairn was probably destroyed by the fence builders who forgot to put any stiles in the fence. It is in fact 2 metres lower than summit, and I had to walk across the plateau, crossing over the fence yet again to reach the triangulation column and summit shelter.

After leaving the bouldery summit, I made a steady descent on an obvious eroded path to a broad col before another steady walk and final steeper climb to the summit of Starling Dodd. A steep descent on grass is followed by more steady walking, I made my way up the the summit of Little Dodd, rather than take the easier looking path that avoids it.

More steady walking took me to the start of the steeper slopes of Red Pike; I walked across to the higher part of Lingcomb Edge to scramble up the ridge to the summit. The descent from the summit cairn down The Saddle doesn't get any easier, it is steep and awkwardly eroded; I made the short walk upto the summit of Dodd, where I pondered which way to get back down to Buttermere.

Having got into the habit of using the Ling Comb descent, I thought I would try the original descent to Burtness Wood; I had forgotten what a long hard descent it was, and the sun came out to make it uncomfortably warm. The path is obvious, except for a couple of places where it is easily lost, and gets steeper and more rugged as you descend. After the final awkward clamber down to the gate leading to Burtness Wood, you have to walk down the moss-covered and frequently slippery path through the woods.

It was a relief to reach level ground, but even then there was a good walk back to the village; Buttermere was full of tourists and the car parks were overflowing.

Andy Wallace 8th Aug 2010