White Side

Keppel Cove, under the east face of White Side, once held a reservoir for Greenside Mine. It fed the mine's hydroelectric scheme, the first in the country when it started in 1891. On the stormy night of 29 October 1927 the dam burst and flooded Glenridding. Brown Cove Tarn next door, built around 1860, still has its stonework and the ruins of mine tunnels.

From Glenridding, where there is a National Park pay and display car park, walk up Greenside Road to the old mine buildings, now a youth hostel and club huts. A smooth gravel bridleway carries on up the valley, then zigzags up above Keppel Cove to reach the ridge just short of the summit. On the zigzags you look across to Catstycam and Swirral Edge. They are steep and loose in places, but there is no scrambling. A loop over Raise and down beside Sticks Gill makes about 13.7 km with 780 metres of climbing.

From Thirlmere, start at Swirls or Thirlspot and take the old pony route towards Helvellyn, turning off for White Side higher up. A more direct path climbs from Fisher Place straight to the top.

Crag and scree drop steeply to Keppel and Brown Coves on the east, while the western slopes are gentle and grassy with outcrops, running down towards Thirlmere. On top, a small cairn and a wind shelter stand in a sea of grass, with the main ridge path going over the highest point. Higher fells block the view north and south, but it is good in other directions. Brown Crag, a lower top on the Thirlmere side, looks out to Skiddaw and the Dodds.