I had 2 companions for the day ( well 3 if you include Lester of course!), my son Joe who is in training for his D of E award and Nathan, a keen rock climber looking to get more 'mountain experience'.
We parked in the main car park in Grasmere and Nathan, who had only visited The Lakes once previously, immediately fell in love with the place. It's the olde worlde charm of the Lakeland towns and villages that gets people, like a glimpse into a far simpler bygone era. For more regular visitors like myself (or maybe it's just me!), the tacky shops selling 'backpacking gear' at 'bargain prices' and 'I love the Lakes' memorabilia, all made in China of course, have ruined villages like Grasmere. Windermere is even worse, a place I avoid like the plague.......The Blackpool of the Lakes!
Walking through Grasmere to the start proper of the walk gives a nice gentle introduction and provides a 'warm up' for the real walking to come. The tacky shops aside, the village is stunning! If you can see past the rows of Regatta waterproofs, past the 'All I got was this Lousy t shirt' displays, then Grasmere is a real treat! Lakeland stone walled houses and Westmorland Slate roofs blend effortlessly into the surrounding countryside in stark contrast to the shop wares, which do not!
The road leads through the village and on towards Easedale Tarn but then the path takes a sharp right, into the woods and the fell proper.
This section of the walk, through the woods of Kitty Crag, past the ruins of a once walled garden complete with man made ponds is very pleasant indeed, gentle and with a well formed and marked path.
But don't let this lull you too much into a relaxed state! Although only 1329 ft in height, the ascent to the summit of Helm Crag, is done over a short distance, 1.5 miles. It is therefore steep and soon gets the thigh muscles burning!
The walk soon breaks out onto the open fell above the tree line and with Lancrigg Crag on the right and Jackdaw Crag to the left, it strikes a path between the 2 before turning east above Jackdaw and then meandering up past White Crag, Raven Crag and on to the summit.
Be sure to take in the views on your way up, they are simply stunning! to the west, Easedale Tarn and Sour Milk Gill in full Winter flow! Beyond and slightly southerly, the Langdale Pikes of Harrison Stickle, Pike of Stickle et al, rise imperiously from the valleys beneath them. To the south, the village of Grasmere and the vale down to the mere itself and then onto Rydal Water, get ever smaller as you near the summit.
the summit itself appears (or appears to appear!) just in time as burning thighs start to complain! The last section to the plateau is quite rocky and a little care is needed. But then there they are, the Lion and the Lamb, the two rock formations on the summit plateau that give the Fell it's nickname.
But they aren't the true summit! A short walk northwards along the summit plateau and we soon arrive at The Howitzer! An impressive leaning buttress of rock in the shape of a huge canon, about 20 ft from base to peak, lies between us and the actual summit.
Now of all the 214 Wainwright Fells in The Lakes, this was the only one Wainwright himself didn't summit on, his aversion to rock climbing on this last section of the route would defeat him sadly, for eternity. So on this particular rain soaked occasion, with the already polished rock now sodden and like glass, I'm not ashamed to say that this time round, I decided to join lofty company and give the summit a miss. One of our party, Nathan, did however make it to the top!
Just as we were preparing for our return descent of the fell, Nathan and Joe both experienced what will prove to be an invaluable lesson to them!
You can hear tales of bad weather experiences til you're blue in the face from other climbers and mountaineers, but until you've actually experienced something for yourself, it never really sinks in.
Within literally seconds, a summit which was clear, with views for miles around, became engulfed in cloud and visibility was down to yards! We didn't see this coming, there was no warning, it was clear one second and then it wasn't! Being aware of the conditions, logging your position regularly, being aware of exactly where you are, where you are heading, where potential dangers are, are all essential skills in the hills, for exactly this kind of event. I would like to think that both Joe and Nathan, if they weren't before, are fully aware of this now and will take this with them whenever they venture into the hills themselves.
Knowing the fell, we found and followed the descent path easily enough though, despite the weathers best efforts at preventing us and were soon once again below the cloud level and with full visibility.
We made good time on the descent, despite the glass like surface of the soaked stone slabs, and were back at the car in no time, soaked, a little tired, but safe and exhilarated! Another excellent day in the fells.
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