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7.91 km · ~682 m ascent · ~2.5–3.5 h · loop · 2 summits

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Severe steepnessLoopPlanned

Dodd & Whiteside

7.91 km
Distance
~2.5–3.5 h
Typical time
~682 m
Ascent
2
Summits
Download GPX →Planned route · not yet walked

Key facts

Distance 7.91 km
Ascent ~682 m
Descent ~674 m
Time ~2.5–3.5 h
Type Loop
Two tops, 7.9 km and 682 m — and a stage averaging 29%, which is what a short walk with that much ascent in it means. Easy for length, severe for steepness, hard for exposure. Under three hours.
✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet. A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.

Difficulty profile

LengthEasy7.91 km — a short outing.
SteepnessSevereSteepest sustained pull about 44% around the 1.5 km mark.
TerrainModerateMostly good mountain path. desk assessment — not field-verified
NavigationModerateClear line, hard to stray. desk assessment — not field-verified
ExposureNot assessedExposure (drops, scrambling, how bad a slip would be) can’t be judged from gradient data alone, so we don’t guess. A rating appears once the route is editorially assessed or walked.

Five independent axes, not one score. “Desk” ratings come from maps and guidebooks, not yet walked — treat them as a guide, not a survey.

Conditions on this route

We score every Lakeland Wainwright each morning on cloud, wind, rain and underfoot, and this route crosses 1 of them. The worst summit governs the verdict — a route is only as kind as its roughest top.

Modelled guidance — not a substitute for the mountain forecast or your own judgement. See how every fell ranks today →

Daylight & turnaround

Daylight is short from October to February — check today’s sunrise and sunset before you set off, and carry a head-torch and spare batteries. On short days, decide your turn-back time before you start.

Why this matters: 78% of Mountain Rescue call-outs come after midday — the day runs out on the way home, not on the way up. See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.

OpenTopoMap
Elevation profile, shaded by steepness
Elevation profile Rises from about 145 m to 704 m over 7.9 km, with the summits marked in order. The area beneath is shaded by sustained steepness over a 250 m window, in the same four bands as the route’s steepness rating: Easy under 15%, Moderate 15 to 25%, Hard 25 to 35%, Severe above 35%. 704 m 145 m 0 km 7.9 km 12

1 Whiteside (Whiteside West Top)2 Dodd (Lorton)

Easy 44%Moderate 21%Hard 14%Severe 21%

~682 m
Total ascent
704 m
High point
152 m
Start height

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right).

This walk covers about 7.91 km with around 682 m of ascent, taking in 2 summits. The map above shows the line; the elevation profile and stage notes are below.

Access & barriers

Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route? A quick read from the gates and stiles mapped along the way.

Buggy
Not buggy-able
Knees
Tough descent
  • Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
  • Knees: A long, steep ~42% drop around the 2.5 km mark — hard on the knees.

On the line: No barriers mapped on this line.

These are mapped barriers, from OpenStreetMap — coverage in the Lakes is good but not guaranteed complete. Spotted a stile or gate we’ve missed? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Barrier data as of 2026-07-26. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).

Pacing

SummitCumulativeAscentTime (fast–steady)
1Whiteside (Whiteside West Top)1.9 km547 m1:18–1:44
2Dodd (Lorton)3.4 km588 m1:40–2:13
Finish7.9 km682 m2:43–3:37

Naismith-based estimate — a fast/steady range. Your pace will vary. These use Naismith’s textbook constants (5 km/h, 600 m of ascent an hour). Measured against a pace fitted to 41 recorded Lakeland walks they run about 8% slow, and we have left them that way deliberately: a slow estimate strands nobody.

The walk, stage by stage

  1. 1

    Start → Whiteside (Whiteside West Top) (1.9 km, 547 m)

    Climb of about 547 m over 1.9 km (around 29% average).

    Leave the parking area near Lanthwaite Green and immediately tackle the punishingly steep, heather-clad spur of Whin Ben. The path is a relentless, zigzagging staircase of rock and root that pulls no punches, attacking the sheer nose of the fell head-on until it eventually deposits you, lungs burning, onto the rocky, exposed perch of Whiteside's West Top

    Waypoints

    Lanthwaite Green (start), Whin Ben ridge, Whiteside West Top (703m)

    Decision point

    The spine of Whin Ben acts as an unmistakable natural handrail pointing directly to the summit. Keep the massive, yawning ravine of Gasgale Gill clearly on your right (east/south-east) as you climb; do not stray too close to its dangerously unstable, craggy edges

    Easy to get wrong

    A 29% average gradient makes this one of the most concentrated, aggressive ascents in the north-western fells. There is zero warm-up. The path is highly eroded, rocky, and requires hands-on scrambling in a few minor spots on Whin Ben. As you gain the upper ridge, you are fully exposed to the prevailing westerly winds blasting off the Solway Firth, and the final rocky arête drops away sharply to the right

    If you need to get off

    The only safe retreat is to carefully downclimb the exact path you came up. Under no circumstances should you attempt to bail eastward down the impossibly steep and dangerous scree slopes into Gasgale Gill

  2. 2

    Whiteside (Whiteside West Top) → Dodd (Lorton) (1.5 km, 41 m)

    About 1.5 km with 41 m of ascent.

    Turn your back on the main Whiteside ridge and strike north-west, descending the broad, sweeping, grassy shoulder that connects the high fell to its lower satellite peak. The route drops steadily over short turf before undulating over a slight depression and making a final, minimal pull up to the modest grassy summit of Dodd

    Waypoints

    Whiteside West Top, north-western shoulder, Dodd summit (Lorton, approx 420m)

    Decision point

    On a clear day, the lush green expanse of the Vale of Lorton serves as a massive visual aiming point directly ahead. In clag, strictly follow a north-westerly compass bearing down the center of the spur, being careful not to drift left (west) towards the steep, bracken-choked gullies overlooking the valley road

    Easy to get wrong

    Compared to the brutal ascent of Whin Ben, this is a delightfully fast and easy descent over grass. However, the turf is incredibly slick after rain, requiring care not to slip and jolt the knees. In thick hill fog, the broadness of this shoulder can be highly disorienting, lacking the sharp definition of the higher rocky arêtes

    If you need to get off

    Pushing forward to Dodd and continuing the descent to the valley is your most efficient escape route. Do not attempt to re-ascend Whiteside unless you specifically need to return to the Lanthwaite Green start point via Whin Ben

  3. Dodd (Lorton) → Finish (4.5 km, 94 m)

    Climb of about 94 m over 4.5 km (around 2% average).

    Plunge off the steep northern flanks of Dodd, picking your way down the zig-zagging trods through the deep vegetation to intersect the lower valley floor. From here, pick up the undulating traverse paths and quiet country lanes that skirt the lower boundary of the massif, winding your way back south along the base of the fells to complete the circuit

    Waypoints

    Dodd northern descent, Lorton valley intake walls, valley traverse paths, Lanthwaite Green

    Decision point

    Once off the steep open fell, the drystone intake walls and the valley roads act as a continuous, infallible catching feature. Keep the towering bulk of Whiteside and the steep fells on your left-hand side as you trace the valley floor back to the starting point

    Easy to get wrong

    The initial drop off Dodd is relentlessly steep. In summer, chest-high bracken frequently obliterates the path, hiding deep holes, slick rocks, and sheep ticks, turning a simple descent into an exhausting bushwhack. The subsequent 4.5 km valley walk-out features several minor, energy-sapping undulations that feel much heavier on tired legs than the 2% gradient average suggests

    If you need to get off

    The moment you hit the valley floor, you are on your escape route. Simply stick to the established roads and farm tracks, avoiding any temptation to cut corners through enclosed fields or dense valley forestry

Summits bagged (2)

  1. 1Whiteside (Whiteside West Top)707 mNorth Western · Wainwright, Birkett, Fellranger, Synge, Nuttall
  2. 2Dodd (Lorton)454 mNorth Western · Birkett, Synge

In the order you walk them — the same numbers the elevation profile, the stage notes and the pacing table use.

Getting there & parking

Lanthwaite Green (NT) — 0.1 km from the start (straight line)
At the foot of Grasmoor and Whiteside, Crummock Water.
Directions Something changed here?
Car park for Whiteside — 0.1 km from the start (straight line)
1.6 km from Whiteside. Added from the 5 Aug 2026 OSM candidate review. Fees: £7 up to 2 hours; £8 up to 4 hours; £9.50 all day. Charges apply at all times. Cash at machine; card/phone payment not available in all car parks (NT, checked Aug 2026). Free for NT members (checked Aug 2026). Charges apply at all times. Cash at machine; JustPark app at some car parks; card/phone payment not available in all car parks (NT, checked Aug 2026).
Directions Something changed here?
Grasmoor (verge) — 0.4 km from the start (straight line)
1.6 km from Grasmoor.
Directions Something changed here?
Grasmoor (layby) — 0.5 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Grasmoor (1.6 km), Lad Hows (1.7 km), Mellbreak North Top (1.8 km). Fee not verified — check signage on arrival.
Directions Something changed here?
Lad Hows, north-west (layby) — 0.9 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Lad Hows (1.4 km), Grasmoor (1.5 km), Mellbreak North Top (1.8 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?

Positions are approximate. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

Vehicles are left entirely at their owner’s risk. We list places people park; we cannot vouch for any of them. Judge it on the day: take valuables with you, leave nothing on show, and if a spot feels wrong when you get there, park somewhere else.

Every option near this start, on the parking map →

Water, shelter & getting away

🚌 Lanthwaite Green Farm (105 m)

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors — an absent marker does not mean the facility isn’t there.

Buses

The 77 stops at Lanthwaite Green Farm (opp), 110 m from this start. Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day, and it is not daily before then — a bus on 31 of the 56 days from 7 September. We don’t know when it returns. Confirmed with the operator, 29 August 2026. The last bus is 18:03 towards Keswick (77), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

The 77 passes this route at 0.0 km (Lanthwaite Green Farm (opp), 100 m off the line).

Stagecoach 77 / 77A “Honister Rambler”
Keswick – Portinscale – Hawse End (Catbells) – Grange – Seatoller – Honister Pass – Buttermere – Lorton – Whinlatter – Keswick (circular)
Catch it from: Keswick (connect via 555 from Windermere/Ambleside or X4/X5 from Penrith)
Seasonal (roughly Easter–October). Brilliant for the North Western fells: Catbells, Dale Head from Honister, the Buttermere fells and Whinlatter.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before travelling.

If the parking is full

There is no real plan B here. Every place we know beside this route serves the same walks and sits close together, so if one is full the others usually are too. Worth starting early, or having a different walk in mind before you set off.

  • Lanthwaite Green (NT)
  • Grasmoor (verge)
  • Car park for Whiteside

Worked out from the parking we hold within walking reach of this route and the other walks each place serves — two places that serve the same walks fill for the same reasons. We are not saying whether anywhere has spaces today, and we never will: this is what exists, not what is free.

When the sun reaches the tops

Not sunrise — the moment the sun clears the skyline from that summit, which on a fell with high ground to its east can be a good deal later. The two equinoxes are shown because they fall in the walking season, and late December too wherever a top keeps you waiting then; the clock gap between the equinoxes is British Summer Time, not the hill. Rounded to the nearest quarter hour and meant as a general idea, not a schedule.

  • Whiteside (Whiteside West Top) — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:30, about a quarter of an hour later. In late September, about 07:15. It waits longest in late December — about half an hour after sunrise.

Modelled from a 30 m elevation model against each summit’s own skyline — the same figures the fell pages carry, never observed. Cloud is not in it.

Safety & conditions

Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS and the Met Office mountain forecast before you set off.

Make it easier or harder

Short version: turn back at about 3.3 km (drop to Start) — roughly half the distance.

Download

Download GPX

GPX track for your GPS or phone.

Places to stay near this start

High Swinside Holiday Cottages guest house

about 3.9 km from the start, in a straight line

The only property in this cluster that states how to put a large family under one roof: The Farmhouse sleeps 9 in four bedrooms and links to Little Swinside through a lockable connecting door for 11-12, so a Grasmoor-round party that arrives as two households can still eat together. Dogs are taken, there is a 7kw EV charger for the drive back over Whinlatter, and the site sorts its own walk suggestions into four bands (Gentle Strolls, Wonderful Rambles, Intermediate Fells, High Peaks & Horseshoes) - useful when half the party wants Whiteside and half wants the valley.

One of the three cottages started life in the 1800s as housing for the farm's workers; it still has the beamed ceilings, and the owners keep hens and sell guests their eggs.

  • Dogs “Three Holiday Cottages sleeping 2, 5, or 9 (2 of the cottages can be connected to sleep 11-12) Dog friendly 7kw EV Charger Good Wi-fi Hot tubs in a superb setting 20-35 mins walk to village shop & pub Fresh free range eggs”
  • Family rooms “It sleeps 9 in its four bedrooms. Alternatively it can be linked to Little Swinside to sleep 11 overall (via lockable connecting door).”

Crummockwater Cottages guest house

about 1.8 km from the start, in a straight line

Three self-catering cottages 1.82 km from the start, and the only place here whose owner has written down her own judgements rather than a list: go up Melbreak's Nose rather than down it, take Low Fell from Thackthwaite rather than straight up the fence line, walk Loweswater out and back on the far side using the old coffin route. For this start in particular, the fells she names in the view from the front of the house open with Whiteside, Grassmoor and Whiteless Pike - the three summits of the Grasmoor round - though she describes them as a view from the door, not as a walk she writes up. Her own walk pages cover Buttermere, Crummock, Loweswater, Low Fell, Melbreak, Blake Fell and three waterfalls.

The cottages are the converted barn and stables of a 16th-century manor house, reached through a carriage arch with 1797 cut into it.

Bridge Hotel hotel

about 4.2 km from the start, in a straight line

The largest bed stock in the radius and the only hotel here that publishes both a restaurant and a dog policy - 21 en-suite bedrooms plus 6 self-catering apartments in Buttermere village, with an EV point in the car park. Two things a family should know before booking rather than after: the bedrooms are deliberately unplugged, with no television, no radio and no mobile signal, and the hotel publishes a late-January closure. There is no email address and no contact form anywhere on the cached site, so the only route in is the phone or the booking engine.

It sells the absence of a signal as the point: the bedrooms have no television, no radio and no mobile reception.

  • Dogs “A true dog-friendly hotel in the Lake District”
  • Evening meal “Exceptionally friendly and professional service, homemade food, carefully selected local real ales with our staff who naturally go the extra mile to ensure your needs meet your expectations.”

Worth knowing before you book

These places state on their own site that they do not take children.

What each place says about itself, quoted from their own site. We have not stayed at any of them, and there are no prices, no booking and no affiliate links. Distances are straight lines from the route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap.

Related routes

Similar routes nearby

All routes →
The Grasmoor round: Whiteside, Hopegill Head and Whiteless Pike
16.17 km · ~1068 m
The Grasmoor Round
16.17 km · ~1197 m