A 2-day route around the hills bordering Glencoyne, starting at the popular and well maintained Aira Force woodland path. The line ascends along the slopes of Watermillock Common to Hart Side and Green Side reaching the highest point at Stybarrow Dodd, then returns via Sticks Pass to ascend Sheffield Pike and finish along the Greenside Mine track to Glenridding.
On this our first midwinter backpack for years, the weather fell far short of our expectation from the forecast and yielded only brief sunshine in the middle of the first day, the remainder was thickly overcast with a dull, flat light that drained the landscape of colour and struggled to produce good views and images. The oddest aspect though was the total absence of snow on even the highest summits in early January.
Well played heading out for a backpack at this time of year. Shame the weather didn’t behave, I thought all was sunny and cold back in the UK.
Thanks Andy.
Strange conditions: almost windless, mostly hazy grey, overcast sky but at least the summits were clear. Snowless in early January is a first for us.
Anyway it was a good trip and it felt good to be on the 2019 scoreboard from the off.
Hey!
Nothing related to this trip, but just to say a massive thank you for putting all this info available and free!!. We are not very experienced hikers so all this is very helpful to us.
We did your trip Around the Etive mountains last summer and really loved it. great scenery and landscapes.
We also attempted the Glyderau & SW Carneddau in Snowdonia but got caught in a storm and we didn’t even make it to the summit of Carnedd y Filiast, had to pitch on the ridge and got stuck there for 12 hours. It was a good learning trip.
So your website is our main reference now for trips around the UK! thank you!!!
Dave&Cami,
Thank you for your kind feedback on the site, much appreciated.
The Etive mountains was a fine route, in fact that one, and Ben Alder in the same month, rank among our favourite backpacks of all time – they show that it isn’t absolutely necessary to climb the high summits for a magnificent trip.
Well done on persevering up to the ridge in the storm, that’s the way to learn!