The Lake Country is a glorious region...May26
So said Charlotte Bronte so it must be true.
The local weather man has promised a hot day in the north of England and we have opted to head for the Lake District to walk up Helvellyn, third of the four highest bumps in Cumbria(Helvellyn =Norse for pale yellow mountain, possibly) There are six of us, Brian, Ray, Harry, Dave, Ben and me.
As it is a two car job we met in the first Keswick car park you come to (£1.50 for an hour) and had tea/coffee/ bacon sandwich in The Coffee Lounge.
Keswick car park. In the background is the old police station and magistrates court, complete with cells. It is now a Wetherspoons
Breakfast over we headed down the road to Windermere and pulled in to a lay by near Stanah. Usual we start this walk from here but today we decided to catch the Arriva 555 bus to The Travellers Rest, just outside Grasmere, thus having a true gadgie walk using bus passes.
Two car parks today, this one is free.
Almost all the walk is covered by OS OL 5, English Lakes, North Eastern Area and the lay by is at NY336087
Having made a slight error to start with by taking the wrong path we corrected ourselves and followed the steep path up Tongue Gill. At one point we met a Welsh Canadian couple which pleased me immensely. One of the quiz questions in the pub last week was "How many points on the Canadian Maple Leaf on the flag. " We got it wrong, saying 5 but now I know it is 11, I counted them on the ladies T shirt.
This route is fairly steep but steady and eventually we arrived at Grisedale Hause giving us the first view of Grisedale Tarn below. Although we had not come far we called a Herbie Spot overlooking the tarn and giving us a good view of the zig zag path that would take us up Dollywagon Pike. We shared Ben's ginger biscuits, Yorkshire flapjacks, Brownies from jesmondcakecompany.com and chocolate cake from Mrs A.
View from Herbie Spot. You can just make out the zig zag path on Dollywagon Pike.
Lunch over we walked round the end of the tarn and started the long but steady plod up the next bump on our day out. The zig zag makes it easier but it was tough in the heat.
Once on the top we had another short break. I looked south at Morecambe Bay and observed I could no longer wave to my mum. Brian said "Of course you can," lay back and waved at the blue skies. Touching!
From Dollywagon we continued north to Nethermost Pike and then on to the cross shaped shelter on the top of Helvellyn itself. Always a popular walk, there were quite a few people around, some taking selfies, some on mountain bikes.
Memorial to a man who landed a plane on Helvellyn
Admiring the view from Nethermost Pike
Harry tells us he has read a biography of Neville Shute. Brian said Nevilles' dad was in the Paras.
Rested, and it was hot even with the southerly breeze on our backs, we continued on what Ray claimed were the last three bumps on the route, Lower Man, Whiteside and Raise. On the way we admired Striding Edge, Swirral Edge and Red Tarn below the main mountain.
Striding Edge, looking benign. It is quite tough if you follow the pinnacles
Red Tarn
Swirral Edge and Catstyecam beyond, lovely children's conical hill
Beyond Raise, at Sticks Pass we turned west across the grass before hitting the path down to the cars. The path becomes very steep towards the end and I must admit to being very tired, and dehydrated in spite of the extra water I had carried. I think the rest of the gang were suffering a little too. At one point the breeze vanished and Harry and I decided the temperature had reached at least 30C, no wonder we needed extra water.
Welcome waterfall near Stybeck Farm at the end of our walk.
To rehydrate we went to The King's Head hotel a few miles south. It had several beers on offer, Jennings, Banks and Marstons but I opted for a dehydrating pint of soda and lime with ice, even if I wasn't driving.
Kings Head Hotel. The sign has a picture of Charles I
On the way home we called in at the now familiar Carts Bog pub which dispensed some fine tasting Wylam Ale, very hoppy.
This is a cracking walk but it was a hard day's trek, mainly because of the heat or am I getting old?
The Matrix MMXVII QQ
steps miles
NAK 28827 10.0
iPhone 25786 10
OUTDOO GPS 9.8 and a total climb of 3136 ft
Dave's 3D 24635 9.33
""" USB 22847 9.38
""""NAK 22891 9.39
Brian 10?
Contain OS data,copyright Crown copyright and database right 2017
Gallery It was a sunny day
So said Charlotte Bronte so it must be true.
The local weather man has promised a hot day in the north of England and we have opted to head for the Lake District to walk up Helvellyn, third of the four highest bumps in Cumbria(Helvellyn =Norse for pale yellow mountain, possibly) There are six of us, Brian, Ray, Harry, Dave, Ben and me.
As it is a two car job we met in the first Keswick car park you come to (£1.50 for an hour) and had tea/coffee/ bacon sandwich in The Coffee Lounge.
Breakfast over we headed down the road to Windermere and pulled in to a lay by near Stanah. Usual we start this walk from here but today we decided to catch the Arriva 555 bus to The Travellers Rest, just outside Grasmere, thus having a true gadgie walk using bus passes.
Almost all the walk is covered by OS OL 5, English Lakes, North Eastern Area and the lay by is at NY336087
Having made a slight error to start with by taking the wrong path we corrected ourselves and followed the steep path up Tongue Gill. At one point we met a Welsh Canadian couple which pleased me immensely. One of the quiz questions in the pub last week was "How many points on the Canadian Maple Leaf on the flag. " We got it wrong, saying 5 but now I know it is 11, I counted them on the ladies T shirt.
This route is fairly steep but steady and eventually we arrived at Grisedale Hause giving us the first view of Grisedale Tarn below. Although we had not come far we called a Herbie Spot overlooking the tarn and giving us a good view of the zig zag path that would take us up Dollywagon Pike. We shared Ben's ginger biscuits, Yorkshire flapjacks, Brownies from jesmondcakecompany.com and chocolate cake from Mrs A.
Lunch over we walked round the end of the tarn and started the long but steady plod up the next bump on our day out. The zig zag makes it easier but it was tough in the heat.
Once on the top we had another short break. I looked south at Morecambe Bay and observed I could no longer wave to my mum. Brian said "Of course you can," lay back and waved at the blue skies. Touching!
From Dollywagon we continued north to Nethermost Pike and then on to the cross shaped shelter on the top of Helvellyn itself. Always a popular walk, there were quite a few people around, some taking selfies, some on mountain bikes.
Rested, and it was hot even with the southerly breeze on our backs, we continued on what Ray claimed were the last three bumps on the route, Lower Man, Whiteside and Raise. On the way we admired Striding Edge, Swirral Edge and Red Tarn below the main mountain.
Beyond Raise, at Sticks Pass we turned west across the grass before hitting the path down to the cars. The path becomes very steep towards the end and I must admit to being very tired, and dehydrated in spite of the extra water I had carried. I think the rest of the gang were suffering a little too. At one point the breeze vanished and Harry and I decided the temperature had reached at least 30C, no wonder we needed extra water.
To rehydrate we went to The King's Head hotel a few miles south. It had several beers on offer, Jennings, Banks and Marstons but I opted for a dehydrating pint of soda and lime with ice, even if I wasn't driving.
On the way home we called in at the now familiar Carts Bog pub which dispensed some fine tasting Wylam Ale, very hoppy.
This is a cracking walk but it was a hard day's trek, mainly because of the heat or am I getting old?
The Matrix MMXVII QQ
steps miles
NAK 28827 10.0
iPhone 25786 10
OUTDOO GPS 9.8 and a total climb of 3136 ft
Dave's 3D 24635 9.33
""" USB 22847 9.38
""""NAK 22891 9.39
Brian 10?
Contain OS data,copyright Crown copyright and database right 2017
Gallery It was a sunny day
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