Lake District Peak to Pub · Day 6 of 7
Peak to Pub Day 6: Grasmere to Threlkeld
Day 6 of the Lake District Peak to Pub — the great Helvellyn-to-Dodds ridge: Dollywaggon, Nethermost, Helvellyn and the long line of the Dodds to Clough Head and Threlkeld. Route notes and the GPX from our walk.
Download GPX Route
Import to Garmin, Komoot, or any navigation app
Map: OS Explorer OL5 (North-Eastern), starting on OL7 · View on OS Maps
Elevation profile
Getting there
Start: Grasmere
End: Threlkeld
This is the one to do for the ridge. Day 6 climbs out of Grasmere onto the Helvellyn range and then just keeps going — Dollywaggon Pike, Nethermost Pike, Helvellyn itself, and then the entire line of the Dodds running north for miles, finishing with a drop off Clough Head into Threlkeld. Nine summits, 23.7km, and some of the best high-level striding in England. It’s our favourite day of the seven, and the one we got a clean GPS track of, so the route map and profile below are the real thing.
As with the rest of the week, we walked it from a base, with a car at each end and a lemonade waiting at the finish.
We were out early. The valley was still full of mist and the moon hadn’t quite given up, and we crossed an old packhorse bridge with the fells just starting to catch the light — the kind of start that makes the early alarm worth it.
Up to Helvellyn
The climb from Grasmere goes up past Grisedale Tarn and onto Dollywaggon Pike, and from there you’re on the roof of the eastern fells. Nethermost Pike and then Helvellyn follow in quick succession — at 950m, the third-highest mountain in England, and one of the busiest, thanks to Striding Edge coming up from the other side. The summit’s a big domed plateau with the famous drop off the eastern edge; we kept to the high western line of the Peak to Pub route, but you can see the crowds picking their way along the Edge below.
The Dodds
Here’s the part people don’t expect. North of Helvellyn the range mellows into the Dodds — Whiteside, Raise, Stybarrow Dodd, Watson’s Dodd, Great Dodd — a series of broad, grassy, rolling tops that go on and on. After the drama of Helvellyn it’s a complete change of character: huge skies, springy turf, and a feeling of real space, with hardly anyone about. It’s fast, happy walking, and it eats up distance.
Down off Clough Head
Clough Head is the last summit, the northern full stop of the range, and it drops away steeply to the Vale of Threlkeld below. The descent is sharp on tired legs at the end of a long day, but Threlkeld and the promise of a pub pull you down it. The day finishes at the Horse & Farrier, a proper old inn at the foot of Blencathra — which, the next morning, would be the start of the final day. We had our drink and looked up at tomorrow’s mountain.
Practical notes
This is a long, high, committing ridge with few easy escape routes once you’re on the Dodds — if the weather’s coming in, that matters. Map (OS Explorer OL5, starting on OL7) and compass essential; the Dodds in cloud are featureless and easy to wander on.
The GPX above is our actual track from the day. Trail’s figure is 22.5km and 1,638m of ascent; ours read a little longer over the full traverse.
This is a frame draft — the route’s all here and the track’s real, with more of the day’s own detail to follow.
Part of the Lake District Peak to Pub. Previous: Day 5, Langdale to Grasmere. Next: Day 7, Blencathra and Skiddaw.