Dodd from Dodd Wood
Start Dodd Wood car park
Getting here Parking: Dodd Wood (paid), 0.1 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 553, 554 and X4 stop at Skiddaw, outside Osprey View Point, a 10 m walk from this start. Parking & buses ↓
Hardest part Moderate steepness: Steepest sustained descent about 21% around the 3.6 km mark. Moderate navigation: Care needed in cloud — 15 path junctions near the line. Moderate – our judgement from the map and the route’s record; that stretch not walked
Before you choose
- None of the line is recorded by OpenStreetMap as a public right of way: it follows the forest tracks and paths of Dodd Wood, most of them marked in OpenStreetMap as open to walkers. That is a map-data note, not a ruling on access: check the access land and rights of way maps before relying on this stretch.
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.
See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.
Route map
1 Dodd (Skiddaw)
Easy 67%Moderate 33%HardSevere
Heights on this chart and its high point are read from the track itself (a terrain model sampled along the line, or a GPS recording), so a top can differ from its listed height, usually reading lower.
Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
The elevation profile is under the map; the stage notes follow.
The walk, stage by stage
- 1
Dodd Wood car park → Dodd (Skiddaw) (2.9 km, 378 m)
From Dodd Wood car park, cross Skill Beck on the footbridge and climb east-south-east on forest tracks, past a guidepost OpenStreetMap names Douglas Fir Trail at about 0.5 km. The track climbs steadily for about 1.5 km. At about 1.6 km it turns south-east, and at about 1.75 km the line takes a track heading south-west, past a viewpoint at about 1.85 km and the place OpenStreetMap names Long Doors near 2.0 km. At about 2.5 km a path climbs north-west to the top of Dodd at about 2.9 km, where a memorial stone is mapped.
WaypointsDodd Wood car park, the footbridge on Skill Beck, the Douglas Fir Trail guidepost, the viewpoint at about 1.85 km, Long Doors, the summit path, Dodd (502 m).
Easy to get wrongForest tracks and paths meet often: the desk count for the whole line is 15 path junctions near it, so check each turn against the map.
If you need to get offThe way off is back the way you came, never more than about 2.9 km to the car park.
Dodd (Skiddaw) → Finish (3.3 km, 20 m)
From the top, go back down the same path south-east for about 0.4 km. Then leave it on paths heading south. This is the steepest descent of the walk, about 21% sustained near 3.6 km. At about 4.0 km the line reaches a forest track. It follows forest tracks north-west for about 1.7 km, past a viewpoint at about 4.75 km and the viewpoint OpenStreetMap names Osprey Watch near 5.8 km, back to the car park.
WaypointsDodd, the summit path, the forest track at about 4.0 km, the viewpoint at about 4.75 km, Osprey Watch, Dodd Wood car park (finish).
If you need to get offThe line itself is the way down: about 3.3 km by paths and forest tracks to the car park.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Walked in part · km 3.7–5.5 from the map
Summits bagged (1)
- 1Dodd (Skiddaw)502 m
Conditions and timing
Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS (opens in new tab) and the Met Office mountain forecast (opens in new tab) before you set off.
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.
- Dodd (Skiddaw) — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:45, about half an hour later. In late September, about 07:30. It waits longest in midsummer — well over an hour after sunrise. In late December, not until about 08:45.
How to read these times
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.
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.
Getting there and back
Parking
1 more place to park near the start
Positions are approximate.
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.
If the parking is full
If the first one is full, these overlap least in our model. The 2 below sit in different places or are different kinds of parking, so a busy morning at one does not mean a busy morning at all of them.
- Dodd Wood (paid) — at the start
- Dodd (layby) — joins the loop at about km 5.8 of 6.3: a 920 m walk to the line, climbing about 120 m, and you walk the round from there
- By bus: buses stop at Skiddaw, outside Osprey View Point, a 10 m walk from the start. A bus is not affected by a full car park. Its return times are under Buses.
We never say whether anywhere has spaces today. Walks to the line are measured along mapped paths (OpenStreetMap), not in a straight line. How we choose these places.
No signal when you get there? RoutePark keeps this list on your phone: choose this walk’s GPX at home, keep it, and it opens offline.
Buses
The 553, 554 and X4 stop at Skiddaw, outside Osprey View Point, a 10 m walk from this start. As timetabled from 24 October to 1 November. Towards Keswick (554): Sunday to Friday 17:39; Saturday 20:09. Towards Keswick (X4): Monday to Saturday 18:37 only. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 24 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
The 554 passes this route at 0.0 km (Skiddaw, outside Osprey View Point, 10 m off the line). It passes again at 5.4 km.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Bus stops on the A591 are about 20 m from the start, at the car park entrance. 19 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap contributors, via Overpass, 16 October 2026, checked 16 October 2026)
- Toilets Free toilets are mapped at the car park, about 10 m from the start. 9 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap contributors, via Overpass, 16 October 2026, checked 16 October 2026)
- Refreshments The Old Sawmill Tearoom is mapped beside the car park, about 15 m from the start. Opening hours are not recorded here. 16 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap contributors, via Overpass, 16 October 2026, checked 16 October 2026)
- Limitation Steep forest tracks and paths, about 21% sustained on the way down near 3.6 km: not a pushchair route. (OpenStreetMap contributors, Cumbria extract of 24 July 2026, checked 16 October 2026)
Everything mapped near the start
At Dodd Wood (paid), the closest parking we hold to where this route starts:
Distances are straight lines from the car park, not walking routes. Opening hours change; none of this is checked daily.
Water, shelter & getting away
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors — an absent marker does not mean the facility isn’t there.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Planning detail
How each grade on this page is set, and the timings stage by stage.
Difficulty profile
Moderate overall — hardest: Steepness and navigation (our judgement from the map and the route’s record; that stretch not walked); terrain not assessed; exposure not assessed on the ground
Five independent axes, not one score. None of them was set on the ground: one of the five is our judgement from the map and the route’s record, and the rest are computed from the recorded track and the map, which measures the line rather than surveying the ground.
How we grade: each axis is Easy, Moderate, Hard or Severe, and a route between two bands takes the higher one. Length: under 8 km, 8–14 km, 14–20 km, over 20 km. Steepness, the steepest 500 m of the track: under 15%, 15–25%, 25–35%, over 35%. Terrain, navigation and exposure are judged rather than measured, and each note says why. How we grade.
Pacing
| Summit | Cumulative | Ascent | Time (fast–steady) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Dodd (Skiddaw) | 2.9 km | 378 m | 1:13–1:37 |
| Finish | 6.3 km | 398 m | 1:55–2:33 |
A fast–steady range from Naismith’s rule, deliberately on the slow side. Breaks, weather, rough ground and the slowest person in your party all add to it. How we time walks.
Access & barriers
Can a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route?
- Buggy: No mapped stiles, but the ground underfoot has not been assessed; not a buggy line on what we know.
- Knees: A sustained ~21% descent over 250 m around the 3.6 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.
On the line: No barriers mapped on this line.
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 2026-10-16. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (local extract).
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Braithwaite — 4.4 km from this start
- Walks from Whinlatter Forest — 4.6 km from this start
Straight-line distance from this walk’s start. Those lists hold the routes we have mapped and every Wainwright and Outlying fell within about 5 km of the town, ranked nearest first.
