Middle Dodd

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Summited July 2025

Home › Fells › Middle Dodd

654 mWainwright — Eastern Fells+3 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Middle Dodd at 654m (2,146ft) is the grassy northern ridge of Red Screes above the Kirkstone Pass, its open summit giving fine views of the pass road and the Hartsop valley below. Wainwright included it as a separate fell.

Summit conditions on Middle Dodd

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 11° to 5°C, gusts to 59 mph, 13.0 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.

Against our lines, Tuesday 27 October: wind, cold and cloud from the Met Office UKV 2 km model (daylight hours, as in the verdict above); rain from the summit line’s forecast (the whole day). A tile is large when this top is past its line.

Wind on the top

Past the line

62 mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour

The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 53 mph times our exposure factor of 1.17. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 59 mph, before any exposure factor.

The line Our line: 25 mph, where our wind Scale begins its 25–35 band: “balance affected; buffeting on exposed ground”. MWIS (opens in new tab) describes what wind does to a walker across a range rather than at a line: from about 20–25 mph it starts to affect your balance.

Estimated: it is not calibrated against summit readings, and the two forecasts can disagree by more than a band.

Cloud on the top

Past the line

18 out of 100, the clear-top reading

Averaged over the daylight hours, from the forecast’s humidity and low cloud.

The line Our line: a clear-top reading under 20 out of 100, where our scorer says “summit likely clagged in”. There is no outside threshold to cite; it is our estimate. What cloud does to finding the way: navigating in cloud.

Not an observation: cloud lifts and drops within the hour.

Rain, and the becks

Past the line

13.0 mm of rain over the whole day, midnight to midnight

The same figure as the summit line above and the 7-day forecast.

The line Our line: 6 mm in the day, where our scorer counts a day as soaking. We read rainfall, never river levels: becks in spate.

Open-Meteo’s forecast. It says nothing about rain already in the ground.

Also checked cold: feels like 1 °C, no ice or snow forecast. Under a line is not the same as fine: it means only that these figures are under the lines we use.

Not in these tiles Lightning, river levels, snow or ice already lying, and the ground under your feet. A tile cannot see them, so an empty space here never means they are absent.

Snow figures with a second opinion: Powered by Met Office data

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

Wainwrights are scored for walking conditions each morning from the Met Office’s UK forecast model, read for each summit through Open-Meteo; the forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Routes up Middle Dodd

Choose the way up before the car park: these two routes start from two places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.

Compared	Middle Dodd Little Hart Crag and High Hartsop Dodd	Red Screes from Kirkstone Pass
Starts from	Cow Bridge	Kirkstone Pass (Red Pit car park)
Distance and climb	10.42 km, 743 m of climb	5.85 km, 602 m of climb
Time, fast to steady	~3¼–4½ h	~2–3 h
Scrambling	Not mentioned in the route’s notes	Hands for a few steps: rocky steps on the path up the ridge the OS map names Kilnshaw Chimney (about km 1.5). At about 1.5 km the path climbs rocky steps where hands help, on the ridge the OS map names Kilnshaw Chimney.
Exposure	Hard	Not assessed
Navigation	Hard	Hard
Steepest stretch	Climb of about 53% at 3.7 km (Severe)	Descent of about 44% at 3.3 km (Severe)
After the summit	Over Little Hart Crag (Little Hart Crag - West Top) and High Hartsop Dodd	No further tops
Walked or planned	Walked by Lee, July 2025	Planned: drawn, not yet walked
Car park at the start	Cow Bridge, Hartsop (paid)	Red Pit (LDNPA, free)
Bus to the start	508 at the start	508, 920 m walk from Kirkstone, outside Pass Inn

Times run from fast to steady pace (Naismith’s rule). Scrambling quotes each route’s own notes; “not mentioned” means they do not say, not that the ground has none. Each route’s page has its map, stages and GPX.

Distance, climb and the steepest stretch are measured from each route’s GPX track; the other grades are set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap, and each route page says which. How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 654 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast

Tue 27 Oct

11° / 5°

59 mph

13.0 mm (100%)

Wed 28 Oct

9° / 5°

41 mph

12.4 mm (100%)

Thu 29 Oct

8° / 7°

28 mph

0.7 mm (33%)

Fri 30 Oct

8° / 6°

29 mph

0.0 mm (23%)

Sat 31 Oct

9° / 0°

12 mph

0.0 mm (18%)

Sun 1 Nov

7° / 0°

13 mph

0.0 mm (10%)

Mon 2 Nov

7° / 1°

16 mph

0.0 mm (0%)

Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

Parking & buses for Middle Dodd

Parking

Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.

Cow Bridge, Hartsop (paid) — at the start of Middle Dodd Little Hart Crag and High Hartsop Dodd

Paid car park by Brothers Water — Hartsop above How, Dovedale, Caudale Moor. Fees: pay and display; coins and cards; RingGo ID 37323 (LDNPA, checked August 2026).

Directions When people arrive, and what it costs →Something changed here?

Red Pit (LDNPA, free) — at the start of Red Screes from Kirkstone Pass

The National Park's car park on the A592, 0.7 km north of the Kirkstone Pass summit in a straight line, on the Patterdale side. The 'Caudale Moor & St Raven's Edge' route passes about 15 m away; it starts at Hartsop village, 4.7 km on foot, the nearest route start. Free (OSM-tagged). Compacted surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Middle Dodd (layby) — 0.6 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Middle Dodd (0.6 km), Red Screes (0.9 km), St Raven's Edge (1.0 km). Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

3 more places to park near Middle Dodd

Middle Dodd, north-east car park (free) — 0.7 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Middle Dodd (0.7 km), Caudale Moor - John Bell's Banner (1.0 km), Red Screes (1.3 km). Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Middle Dodd car park (free) — 0.7 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Middle Dodd (0.7 km), Red Screes (0.9 km), St Raven's Edge (0.9 km). Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

A592 Kirkstone Pass, 0.6 km north of the summit (free) — 0.9 km from summit (straight line)

A small car park on the A592, 0.6 km north of the Kirkstone Pass summit in a straight line and 70 m south of Red Pit, on the Patterdale side. The 'Caudale Moor & St Raven's Edge' route passes about 25 m away; it starts at Hartsop village, 4.2 km away in a straight line (this pin sits too far from the mapped paths to measure a walk). Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Positions are approximate.

Of the pay-and-display machine tickets sold at Cow Bridge from 17 August 2024 to 31 March 2026, 34% were bought before 10am (our count of FOI/2026.500 ticket data). Contains public sector information provided by the Lake District National Park Authority and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.

Buses

The 508 and 509 stop at Hartsop, opposite Cow Bridge, a 130 m walk from the start of Middle Dodd Little Hart Crag and High Hartsop Dodd — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: steepness). The last bus is 19:51 towards Windermere (508) and 15:14 towards Hartsop (509), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach 508 “Ullswater Bus”

Penrith – Pooley Bridge – Aira Force – Glenridding – Patterdale (summer services continue over Kirkstone Pass to Troutbeck and Windermere)

Catch it from: Penrith · Windermere (summer only)

The key route from Penrith for the Eastern and Far Eastern fells: Helvellyn from Glenridding, Place Fell, the Hartsop fells. The summer Kirkstone extension drops you at the pass for Red Screes and Caudale Moor.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat

Hazards on Middle Dodd

Notes from the Middle Dodd Little Hart Crag and High Hartsop Dodd route

If you need to get off (the leg from the start): Turn around and carefully descend the grassy ridge directly back to the valley floor.

Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Middle Dodd.

We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. Read the warnings on the route pages that climb it, check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected. The National Park Authority’s What to pack page, AdventureSmart’s hill walking kit list and Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s safety page are linked from our what to carry guide.

Navigating in cloud

Not graded by the model

Our terrain model finds nothing to grade on this summit, so it gives no cloud grade here — that is not a sign of easy navigation. Read this fell’s hazard notes and the route pages before a day in cloud. Carry map and compass, and know how to use them.

In winter — snow, whiteout, cornices, buried features — every top demands full winter navigation skills whatever its band, and a broad, gentle summit can be the worst place of all. See walking in bad weather and the navigation guide.

How Middle Dodd compares with all 214: the Clag Index (experimental).

If you need Mountain Rescue

Dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then Mountain Rescue.

Before you call, have ready: where you are (a grid reference if you can – the OS Locate app shows yours on your phone), what has happened, how many of you there are, and your mobile number.

Then stay where you are until the rescue team contacts you.

If you cannot make a voice call because of a hearing or speech impairment, emergency SMS works only if you have registered first: text “register” to 999.

From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.

Birketts within 3 km of Middle Dodd

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.

1.5 km SESt Raven's Edge593 m · Far Eastern

1.6 km ENECaudale Moor - John Bell's Banner755 m · Far Eastern

2.9 km NGale Crag512 m · Eastern

Routes over Middle Dodd

Middle Dodd Little Hart Crag and High Hartsop Dodd

Summits: Middle DoddLittle Hart Crag (Little Hart Crag - West Top)High Hartsop Dodd

Download GPX Walked by Lee, July 2025

Route guide: Middle Dodd Little Hart Crag and High Hartsop Dodd →

Red Screes from Kirkstone Pass

Summits: Red ScreesMiddle Dodd

Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked

Warnings: Red Screes: The summit plateau drops away into steep, loose scree and crags on more than one side. A simple slip near the edge — especially in wind, cloud or with tired legs on descent — can turn into a long, uncontrolled fall over broken ground. Keep back from the rim and don't shortcut down the screes. From Middle Dodd the line descends a very steep ridge: about 44% sustained near 3.3 km, with a crag mapped within about 10 m of the line near 3.6 km. Kilnshaw Chimney (a harder gully beside the direct path): A steep, narrow gully of loose scree that collects water and stays muddy and slippery. Around two-thirds of the way up there is an awkward, near-vertical slippery rock step. Manageable for confident walkers in dry conditions but unpleasant and exposed when wet — not a good descent route.

From the hazard notes for Red Screes, each with its sources.

Route guide: Red Screes from Kirkstone Pass →

Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.

On the hill: terrain and water on Middle Dodd

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Middle Dodd Little Hart Crag and High Hartsop Dodd route:

Cow Bridge (53 m from the start, straight line) Cow Bridge car park (54 m from the start, straight line) Road End (329 m from the start, straight line)

On the Red Screes from Kirkstone Pass route:

shelter (weather shelter, mapped, not checked; 3 m off the line)

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.

About Middle Dodd

Most naturally reached from Hartsop, on a circuit with Little Hart Crag and High Hartsop Dodd. It stands above one of Lakeland's most dramatic road passes.

My Strava hikes over Middle Dodd

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Completing the Eastern Wainwrights. But seriously hampered by intermittent GPS (opens in new tab) — 15.9 km · 1061 m ascent · 4h 34m moving · 6 July 2025

Data from Strava.

Classifications & hill data

Is Middle Dodd a Wainwright?

Middle Dodd is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.

Selected lists

654 m

Height

2,146 ft

In feet

NY 3973 0957

Grid ref

This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.

The summit is also a Birkett.

Lists, height and summit position from the Database of British and Irish Hills; the feet are converted from its metres and the grid reference from that position. How we check →

The view from Middle Dodd

The 360° skyline from Middle Dodd

A computed 360° skyline — every visible named top labelled by distance and bearing, from the terrain model in perfect clarity, not photographed. Drag to pan; reveal the far four-nations horizon.

drag to pan · arrow keys

The skyline as a list, by direction

North: Birkett Fell (11 km), Hart Side (11 km), Blencathra (20 km), Atkinson Pike (20 km)
North-east: High Raise (6 km), Red Crag (8 km)
East: Caudale Moor (2 km), Froswick (4 km), Kentmere Pike (7 km)
South-east: Ill Bell (4 km)
South-west: Wetherlam (14 km), Great Carrs (15 km), Swirl How (15 km), Great How (16 km), Little Stand (16 km), Brim Fell (17 km), The Old Man of Coniston (17 km)
West: Dove Crag (2 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Shelter Crags (15 km), Bowfell (16 km), Crinkle Crags (16 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (16 km), Ill Crag (18 km), Broad Crag (18 km), Scafell Pike (18 km), Scafell (19 km), Slight Side (19 km)
North-west: Hart Crag (3 km), Fairfield (4 km), Gavel Pike (5 km), St Sunday Crag (5 km), High Crag (7 km), Nethermost Pike (7 km), Helvellyn (8 km), Green Side (10 km), Stybarrow Dodd (11 km), Great Dodd (12 km)

On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Pendle Hill (79 km, England), Ettrick Pen (100 km, Scotland), Boulsworth Hill (91 km, England), Sighty Crag (74 km, England), Wisp Hill (90 km, Scotland), Cauldcleuch Head (91 km, Scotland), Roan Fell (84 km, Scotland), Dun Rig (123 km, Scotland).

Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills v18.4 (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.

Sunrise and sunset on Middle Dodd

Middle Dodd waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls on 1 May, when the sun is up for 27 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 06:01 against an almanac sunrise of 05:34. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the east-north-east from here (67.6°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 3.15°.

Midsummer. The filled shape is the skyline as seen from the summit; the line is the sun’s path. Where they meet is first light — everything left of that point is the wait.

Times for 2026, in Lakeland clock time (GMT in winter, BST in summer) — and model outputs rather than observations.
	First light	Almanac sunrise	Difference
Midsummer	04:40 BST ±5.0 min	04:36	+4 min
Equinox	06:27 GMT ±5.0 min	06:15	+12 min
Midwinter	08:32 GMT ±5.0 min	08:32	—

A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean 0.19°).

Last light — when the sun leaves Middle Dodd

Middle Dodd loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls on 1 May, when last light is 26 minutes before almanac sunset — 20:20 against 20:46. The sun goes down to the west-north-west from here (293.2°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 3.02°.

The evening of the same three days. A negative difference means a ridge takes the sun before the valley loses it.
	Last light	Almanac sunset	Difference
Midsummer	21:32 BST ±5.0 min	21:52	-20 min
Equinox	18:16 GMT ±5.0 min	18:26	-10 min
Midwinter	15:45 GMT ±5.0 min	15:49	-4 min

These are daylight figures, not a descent plan: the light goes on fading for a good while after the sun leaves, and going down in it is a decision about your own ground and party, not about this table.

What you can see from Middle Dodd

On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.

52Wainwrights in view+11 marginal

50 kmFurthest sightlineIngleborough

—Sea in viewnone from here

Far horizons

Ingleborough Yorkshire DalesSE · 50 km clear

All 52 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

Red Screes, Little Hart Crag (Little Hart Crag - West Top), High Hartsop Dodd, Dove Crag, High Pike (Scandale), Hartsop Dodd, Hartsop Above How (Gill Crag - Hartsop Above How), Hart Crag, Froswick, Ill Bell, Fairfield, Brock Crags (Wainwright), St Sunday Crag, Nab Scar, Yoke, Birks, Rest Dodd, Arnison Crag, Angletarn Pikes (Angletarn Pikes North Top), High Raise (High Street), The Nab, Sour Howes, Nethermost Pike, Birkhouse Moor, Place Fell, Helvellyn, Beda Fell (Beda Head), Glenridding Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Loadpot Hill, Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Stybarrow Dodd, Hart Side, Harrison Stickle, Great Dodd, Pike of Blisco, Wetherlam, Cold Pike, Great Carrs, Swirl How, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Great Mell Fell, Esk Pike, Brim Fell, Scafell Pike, Scafell, Slight Side, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Souther Fell, Harter Fell (Eskdale), Carrock Fell

How the view from Middle Dodd compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.

How the skyline, light and sightlines are computed

Computed, not photographed. First light is the first minute the sun’s upper limb clears this summit’s own skyline and last light the last minute it is still clear of it, both solved against the 360° horizon profile behind The View from Middle Dodd. Almanac sunrise and sunset are the flat-horizon convention. Every time carries a ± band from the 30 m elevation model — it smooths arêtes and cornices, so nothing here claims better than five minutes.

Sightlines from the Copernicus GLO-30 elevation model, which is a surface model: each 30 m cell holds the top of whatever stands there, trees and buildings included, rather than bare ground. Corrected for the Earth’s curvature and average atmospheric refraction. “Distant” sightlines and any over 100 km depend on exceptionally clear air. Modelled from Copernicus GLO-30 open elevation data — a guide to the view, not a guarantee of any single one.

Places to stay near this fell

Greenbank Farm Bed and Breakfast (opens in new tab) guest houseabout 1.8 km

We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).

Frequently asked questions about Middle Dodd

Is Middle Dodd steep?

Yes — the direct climb from Brothers Water is one of the more relentless pulls in the eastern fells, straight up the nose with almost no easing. There is nothing technical in it, but it is unremitting and it is the whole reason people remember the fell.

Our round with Little Hart Crag and High Hartsop Dodd is 10.4 km with 743 m of ascent and we grade its steepness severe. Taken downhill it is hard on the knees; taken uphill it is simply hard.

Questions from Google’s “People also ask”. · Last updated 2026-10-05 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)

Middle Dodd

Summit conditions on Middle Dodd

Wind on the top

Cloud on the top

Rain, and the becks

Routes up Middle Dodd

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Parking & buses for Middle Dodd

Parking

Buses

Hazards on Middle Dodd

Notes from the Middle Dodd Little Hart Crag and High Hartsop Dodd route

Navigating in cloud

If you need Mountain Rescue

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Birketts within 3 km of Middle Dodd

Routes over Middle Dodd

On the hill: terrain and water on Middle Dodd

Water & shelter on the way up

About Middle Dodd

My Strava hikes over Middle Dodd

Classifications & hill data

Is Middle Dodd a Wainwright?

Selected lists

The view from Middle Dodd

The 360° skyline from Middle Dodd

Sunrise and sunset on Middle Dodd

Last light — when the sun leaves Middle Dodd

What you can see from Middle Dodd

Places to stay near this fell

Frequently asked questions about Middle Dodd

Other fells near Middle Dodd