| The walk starts at the Latrigg car park at the end
of the Gale Road. Gale Road is a steep and narrow road
that comes up to the foot of Skiddaw from Ormathwaite,
a small village on the opposite side of the main A66
trunk road that passes Keswick. Ormathwaite is easily
found by going straight ahead at the roundabout to the
west of Keswick where the A591 main road crosses the
main A66 trunk road. Go straight ahead at the roundabout
from Keswick and then take an almost immediate right
down a country lane towards Ormathwaite. Just after
Ormathwaite and before Applethwaite you take a right
up Gale Road and follow its steep incline to the very
end where you will find the Latrigg car park.
| 
Skiddaw above Keswick |
Jenkin Hill Path |
Latrigg is the small hill to the south of the car park.
Despite its small height of only 368m above sea level
it is actually on the Wainwright list and if you ever
go to the top and take a look at the view down Derwentwater
into the jaws of Borrowdale you'll more than understand
why Mr Alfred Wainwright included it in his magical
illustrations. Recently a fantastic project has taken
place to develop a wheelchair access path from the car
park over to the summit of Latrigg. I think that despite
his dislike of the mass tourism of the Lakes, Alfred
Wainwright would have loved the idea that so many people
who could never have imagined seeing that perfect view
could now do so on this smaller hill.
From the car park the way is signposted very clearly.
There is a gate at the far end of the car park that
is signposted to Jenkins Hill. The path heads left following
the route of the Cumbria Way for a few hundred metres.
The Cumbria Way comes up here from Keswick so anyone
wanting to expand the walk and start it at Keswick could
do so by starting in Keswick and simply following the
Cumbria Way to this point. After a few hundred metres
the paths split and the Cumbria Way carrys on ahead
round the contours of the massif while the Skiddaw path
you need to take heads left towards a small stone cross
memorial.
| 
Howell Memorial |
View to Derwent Water |
The Howell Memorial was built in recognition of three
shepherds of the Howell family who worked on Lonscale
Fell, there are a few nice sentences to them on the
memorial itself worth reading. From the memorial the
path now starts to climb quite steeply in a rather erratic
zig zag fashion up Jenkin Hill following the left side
of Whit Beck. The path goes rough at times on the zig
zags but as it gains height and levels out on the top
of Jenkin Hill it again appears as a simple track. Looking
behind you as you gain height on Jenkin Hill the views
continue to open up over Keswick to Derwent Water, Borrowdale
and beyond.
Once on top of Jenkin Hill itself the track levels
out and comes to a wooden gate where the path once again
splits. The track signposted to 'Skiddaw Summit' heads
off through the gate and to the right where it skirts
the eastern side of Little Man. For those who do not
wish to bag Little Man then you can follow that particular
through the gate and round the mountain and meet up
with the same path again on the other side on the col
between Little Man and Skiddaw. However most will want
to walk to the top of Little Man as it is a Wainwright
and a worthy one with rewarding views. So don't go through
the gate and instead carry straight on in a north westerly
direction on a path not marked on some maps for whatever
reason despite being obvious and heading to the top
of a popular hill. The path will head uphill straight
onto the top of what seems like the summit of Little
Man but is in fact another slightly lower summit known
as Lesser Man. The summit of Lesser Man has a stone
cairn mixed with old metal fence posts. From Lesser
Man continue north along the obvious path to the clearly
slighty higher summit of Little Man and its stone cairn.
| 
Derwent Water |
Gate below Little Man |
From Little Man head north to north westerly off its
summit and head down towards the obvious col between
Skiddaw and Little Man where you will meet up with the
track again you left earlier. When you descend Little
Man if the weather is bad an the way ahead not clear
then simply follow the fence to your right until it
comes to a right angle, at the right angle turn right
with the fence and you will get to the gate for the
path you left earlier, from here simply head left now
going uphill towards the ridge of Skiddaw. The track
is ridiculously wide and obvious now as it heads first
northwest then after meeting a few paths from the left
heads directly north straight to the summit of Skiddaw.
There are a few false summits and also one last small
dip downhill before the actual summit with its trig
point and stone cairn.
The views from Skiddaw's lofty summit stretch for miles.
to the north you can see the skyline of Dumfries and
Galloway in Scotland over the Solway Firth. Also to
the north in close proximity is the area known as Back
o'Skiddaw with its remote rolling hills somewhat different
to the rest of the rough and craggy Lake District. To
the east is Skiddaw's wonderful neighbour Blencathra
and beyond the Lake District is the bleak and high Northern
Pennines. Moving south east you'll see the huge bulk
of the Helvellyn range then directly south the rest
of the Lake District over the gorgeous Derwent Water
and the Borrowdale Valley. To the west looking over
probably Skiddaw's best ascent route the Long Side ridge
you'll see the Irish Sea and the Isle of Man on a good
day. The summit itself is a rocky place with a brilliant
stone topograph topped cairn detailing all the sites
and the usual OS trig point pillar plus a stone circle
shelter for sheltering from the elements.
| 
Skiddaw |
Topograph Cairn |
Skiddaw is the Lake District's oldest existing mountain.
The area behind Skiddaw and in much of the far north
and western area is made up mostly of Skiddaw Slate.
Skiddaw Slate is unlike the rest of the mainly volcanic
Lake District in that it is mostly sedimentary, created
by mud and sediments from ages old ocean beds, the softer
rock make up is of course a lot more likely to be shaped
by the elements, giving the Back o'Skiddaw area its
unique rolling hillsides. However in a few instances
where the slate is bared by the forces of weather at
high altitude it can take on a completely different
aspect especially on the summits of Blencathra and Skiddaw
and there many exposed ridges. The sedimentary slate
beds created here are extremely thick and in areas can
even affect a compass bearing so be warned.
| 
Descent Track |
Descent Views |
From the summit simply head directly south and then
follow the track south east back down into the col between
Little Man and Skiddaw and then at the col head left
following the track round the contours of Little Man
until it rounds the mountain and reaches the point at
the wooden gate where earlier you ignored the track
and went up Little Man. Turn left heading downhill and
follow the track all the way back down to the Howell
Memorial and on to the Gale Road car park where you
started from. On an evening descent the views on the
way back that were behind you on the ascent are now
there for you to see and the sun will be setting behind
the Derwent Fells.
|
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Duration
: 4 Hrs
