Hart Side

Hart Side stands on a side ridge that runs east from Stybarrow Dodd towards Ullswater, and far fewer people climb it than the Dodds on the main ridge. Its approaches are gentle and mostly grassy.

The usual start is the free car park at High Row above Dockray (NY 380 219), which takes about 15 cars and fills early at weekends. Walk to Dowthwaitehead, then climb to Birkett Fell and follow the ridge on to Hart Side. The stretch from Dowthwaitehead to the wall is boggy after rain. A longer route of about 10 km starts at the small National Trust car park at Park Brow on the Aira Force road (NY 397 205). It crosses Glencoyne Park on narrow paths, some traversing steep slopes above the lake, before joining the ridge at Birkett Fell. From Glencoyne there is also a steep, pathless climb beside Deepdale Slack, or the south-east shoulder of Green Side above the old Greenside lead mine.

The top is grassy with scattered boulders and several small cairns. A few metres south is a long east to west trench, dug by prospectors following a lead vein, with a shallow hollow beside it. Higher ground to the west and the lie of the land to the east hide most of Ullswater, but Great Dodd and Stybarrow Dodd are close across Deepdale, and there are glimpses of Scafell Pike through the gaps. For the lake, go back to Birkett Fell.

Birkett Fell is named after Lord Birkett. In 1962 his speech in the House of Lords helped defeat Manchester Corporation's plan to turn Ullswater into a reservoir, and he died a few days later.