Helvellyn A Climb Of 3117ft

Friday 2nd October 2015

We left this walk/climb up England's third highest mountain, until the last day of our holiday in the Lake District.  Luckily the weather was just as good as it's been all week although to start off with it was misty in Grasmere.  We parked in the Swirls car park at Thirlspot above Thirlmere, for our epic climb. For the first time this week I started off with a jumper on, but that soon had to go as the climb starts almost immediately and we got really warm very quickly.

Going up - looking back at Thirlmere.

It was a hot and sweaty climb in the sunshine, on a previous climb up here one August there was a strong cold wind, however today in early October there was no breath of wind to cool us down.  Most of the way up the path is fine, made up of rocky steps but in places there are loose stones and scrabbly bits of rock, still we made it in 2.5 hours including various small stops and a well earned lunch stop.

Red Tarn and Striding Edge from the summit of Helvellyn.

Striding Edge.

Us at the summit.

Walkers on the whole are a friendly bunch and today we got chatting to a very nice man on the summit who volunteered to take this photo, so thanks Cyril!

If you've climbed 3117ft, you've got to have a photo at the summit!

Amazing views at an amazing place - shame the peace and quiet was shattered by a drone that someone had taken up there!

And so back down, which to be honest isn't as easy as it sounds, it took us just under 2 hours.

Today we walked 5.5 miles, it was a hard old slog up but well worth it for the views on the way up and at the top.  I can thoroughly recommend it.

Easedale Tarn - Lake District

Thursday 1st October 2015

The temperature in Grasmere at 8am this morning was 0C, pretty chilly!   It soon started to warm up and as the weather forecast was even better than yesterday and we were about to have an epic walk upwards, shorts were worn - on October 1st!  

We don't see monkey puzzle trees very often and I really like them, this one was in a garden in Grasmere.

We climbed up to Easedale Tarn, having passed three large groups of geography students of various ages, learning about glaciation etc. 

Before the climb begins.

Young herdwick sheep ...... had to be taken!

And these lovelies of course!

Sour Milk Gill (another stopping off point for the students)

It was sweaty going on the way up - can't complain about the sun though.

Easedale Tarn.

We sat overlooking the tarn for a while, contemplating our next route, until the school parties began to arrive then we made a move ..... upwards a bit more!  

It was so calm and still, with not a breath of wind so there were amazing reflections on the water.

As we left the tarn the footpath deteriorated, and from here on it was rock scrambling and stealthing through ferns.

Getting higher, looking down on Easedale Tarn - a nice spot for lunch.

A local lady stopped for a chat as she passed whilst we were eating our lunch and told us that this week has been the best week of the summer weather wise  (and it's now October) - how lucky are we?

An unnamed tarn.

I have to say that things went downhill a bit at this stage of the walk, it was difficult to find paths that corresponded with the GPS, there were maps on that, that weren't there and paths on the ground that weren't on the GPS.  My husband is a whizz with maps and navigation but today it all went pear shaped for a while and it was then that I really wanted a cup of tea, to be walking downhill instead of up and down and for the walk to be at an end!  Unfortunately we ended up scrabbling across rocks on a narrow path above a steep drop - not the best place to be.  I can thoroughly understand how walkers get disorientated and lost on these fells, especially as we were having trouble in the sunshine, goodness knows what it would be like if the mist came down?

On the plus side, there were lots of sheep wandering about on the crags, with their happy smiley herdwick faces.

Great Langdale.

Lake Windermere in the distance.

At least our unplanned detour took in a few more views!  We got back on track and found our way back down to Grasmere having walked just over 7 miles, definitely a walk to remember for all different reasons!

Grasmere to Elterwater and Back Via Loughrigg Tarn

Wednesday 30th September 2015

Unbelievably we have had another great walk in beautiful weather - this is getting far too good to be true.  We left Grasmere along the Red Bank Road and climbed up over to Elterwater.  At the top, before dropping down into Elterwater there were fabulous views overlooking the Lake at Grasmere.

 Considering it hasn't rained since we arrived on Saturday the footpath at this point was very boggy, muddy and wet.

Elterwater.

It's the last day of September and a few foxglove flowers are still hanging in there - just!

We seem to be making a habit of unintentionally  frightening herdwick sheep on the footpath, although this one didn't seem overly bothered.

At Elterwater we followed the River Brathay along the Cumbria Way for about half a mile and that was probably enough as it was a very well maintained wide flat footpath with lots of people using it.  I did my wildlife rescue bit here, as there was a frog in the middle of the path, it looked a bit traumatised but seemed to move alright when I put it into the safety of the long grass.

Having climbed back up again we had to divert in amongst the bracken to find a geocache and as it happened it was a good move as it took us to a great viewpoint overlooking Lougrigg Tarn.  Bearing in mind we were in the middle of nowhere, a jackdaw obviously knew that picnics mean food and came to join us, I threw it bits of crust and it caught them mid air - he/she has definitely done this before!!!

Loughrigg Tarn. We skirted round the lake and walked up a lane where we spent a while trying to locate a squirrel that was making the odd noise that they sometimes make, despite our best efforts we couldn't see it and had to give up (we were hoping it might have been a red squirrel).   

Grasmere from Loughrigg Terrace.

Although it was nearly 3pm, these cobwebs (in a shady spot) were still covered in dew.

Another view of Grasmere as we descend to join the footpath that runs alongside the lake, where we saw..............

A stealthy heron!

In summary we walked just under 7 miles, saw some fanastic views, found 3 geocaches, saved a frog from getting squashed and thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine.

Windermere to Bowness and Back - Lake District

Tuesday 29th September 2015

We have been coming to the Lake District on and off now for eight years and up until last year mostly in the school summer holidays.  I can safely say that this week the weather in the Lake District has been far better than any weather we have had at the height of summer, its been amazing.  

Today we drove to Windermere for a circular walk to Bowness, along Lake Windermere and back up to the car.  It was really pleasant wandering through the backstreets of Windermere, but Bowness was  busy with what seemed like thousands of tourists milling about by the lake.  It didn't take us long however, to get away from the crowds to the peace and quiet of a park at the edge of the Lake where we had lunch and I tested the water.  It was a very relaxing spot to sit and watch the comings and goings on the Lake but a couple of black headed gulls spent the whole time having a disagreement in front of us, which was less than peaceful!

The clock tower at Windermere (we managed to find a tiny magnetic geocache on the railings behind this!)

War Memorial.

Boats for hire at Bowness - not today thanks!

The view from our lunch stop.

Looking towards the Helvellyn range.

There are always lots of water fowl at Bowness, all very used to people.  Here we have a canada goose nearest the Lake and a greylag goose.

Such a calm place.

We walked alongside the Lake, where there was what looked like a school party out on the water in kayaks, they appeared to be having a great time!

Another sneaky geocache found in a money tree stump disguised as a 2p coin, which when pulled out contained the cache. Ingenious!

Walking back up from the Lake.

Another beautiful sunny day, 6 miles walked and another area explored. No complaints from me!

Grasmere and Rydal Water - Lake District

Monday 28th September 2015

It was another amazing day weather wise today,  slightly misty early on but that soon cleared and the sun came out and stayed out all day.  We walked from Grasmere around the shore of the lake and on to Rydal Water where we stopped for a bit of lunch then skirted round the lake and returned to Grasmere along the Coffin Route, a favourite walk of ours over the years.

Looking across the lake at Grasmere, with Helm Crag (that we climbed yesterday) on the left in the distance.

Looking across the lake at Grasmere to the Daffodil Hotel in the distance.

Grasmere

And on to Rydal Water.  The fell opposite is Nab Scar and we walked back along the Coffin Route on the tree line about a third of the way up to get back to Grasmere.

Of course the locals joined us for lunch.

Not a bad spot for lunch!

The money tree on the Coffin Route back to Grasmere.

Rydal Water from the Coffin Route (so called because in  years gone by before there was  consecrated ground in Rydal or Ambleside - until the 16th century - coffins were brought by foot along this route to St Oswald's Church graveyard in Grasmere).  How on earth they managed to negotiate this path is beyond belief, it's up and down and very rough let alone a long old way to go - there are coffin stones along the route that were used to rest the coffins on to give the coffin bearers a rest.

This photo shows one of my very favourite smells, wood smoke, seen in the sun's rays.  Someone was burning pine wood on a bonfire as we dropped back down into Grasmere, past Dove Cottage one of William Wordsworth's homes.

Dove Cottage.

To summarise today's walk, we walked about 6 miles skirted 2 lakes and sat on a coffin stone for a rest!  One other note, we passed many friendly walkers today and one of them was one of the Sky TV sports reporters!