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Swirls car park - Helvellyn - Lower Man - Whiteside - Raise - Stybarrow Dodd - Watson's Dodd - Great Dodd - Legburthwaite - Swirls car park (Grid ref. NY 316169) Total Distance 9.6 miles, Total Ascent 3700 feet, Equivalent Distance 17.0 miles
Swirls Car Park is about two thirds of the way along Thirlmere, travelling north, and is owned by NWWA. Parking is no longer free. Following the signpost (Public Footpath - Helvellyn) go over the footbridge and through the gate to the open fell. The path is well worn and provides the easiest way I know to ascend over 2500 feet. It is a safe way up in snow. The first visible eminence is Browncove Crags , so don't imagine it's the top: there's another 500 feet to climb after that. There is a good view back down the path and of the northern section of the Helvellyn ridge before the summit . Pass Lower Man on your left and reach Helvellyn's flattish summit . The views on the way up are hardly inspiring, but once at the top, with the eastern vista opened up to the Pennines, and views down on Striding and Swirral Edges (photo of Swirral) and Red Tarn, the effort is all worthwhile.
Trace your route back and after almost half a mile bear right onto Helvellyn Lower Man. At this point great care must be taken to avoid going northwest back down to Browncove Crags, which unfortunately seems the obvious way to continue. The direction of our route is just a few degrees east of north down a narrowish ridge. After that little navigational problem the way to Whiteside (photo of Catstye Cam) becomes clear and the route all the way along the chain (photo from Catstye Cam), via Raise (360° panorama) , Stybarrow Dodd and Watson's Dodd, where there's another fine view of Thirlmere , to Great Dodd is simple to follow. In snow I have left this ridgewalk between Raise and Stybarrow and descended Sticks Pass to Stanah. From the summit of Great Dodd there are excellent views of Blencathra to the north, the Helvellyn range to the south , and Grasmoor etc. to the west .
From the summit of Great Dodd set off WSW, heading towards Pillar or Dale Head on the horizon, and continue down the grassy slope. There is no footpath here: keep the valley of Mill Gill to your left. When you see Mill Gill head into a ravine , you will find traces of a footpath descending on your side of it . Don't enter the ravine but keep to this path by its right-hand side. Some way down, at the 1000 feet (300 m) contour, there is a break in the ravine where the path turns to cross the gill .
As an alternative for walkers who are happy to walk straight down the fell with little to guide them I suggest the following. From the summit of Great Dodd head down the fellside directly towards the gap between High Stile and Red Pike on the horizon. You may find yourself following a path but you should ignore it when it bears off to your right (for Calfhow Pike). About halfway down you will come to a cairn built on an outlying rock. It looks only about two feet high from above but four from below.