Date: 13-Apr-2010
Map: Landranger 90, OL5
Weather: Overcast, bits of rain, low
cloud.
From Glenridding car park up to Little Cove and Birkhouse Moor. Up to the hole in the wall, Low and High Spying How, and onto Striding Edge. Up to Helvellyn, down Swirral Edge to Catsty Cam and back again. To Whiteside Bank, and over to Raise and White Stones. Down to Sheffield PIke and Glenridding Dodd, return to the car park :
14.7 miles as measured on memory map.
A quick note before I begin -
my camera hasn't got chicken pox - those spots you may see before your eyes mean you've been drinking too much. Or they could be the dust spots on my camera sensor, and I'm too lazy to remove the offending spots via photoshop - mainly because I don't have time. Anyways read on and enjoy a walk in the hills.
Today was
a return to Helvellyn once more, a mountain that never fails to please. It was erroneously ascribed the title the highest mountain in England by some hack at the BBC - it wasn't on the website long though. This was another walking forum meet arranged by Pearsy - Helvellyn any which way, and we had a great day walking with Fit Old Bird, Barlos, Pearsy, Micky, Tony1970, Cogstar and GrahamA - although a couple of people abandoned the rest of us halfway around!. I hadn't yet done Catsty Cam and Swirral Edge yet so that was included in the route options for me. It was also designed to help a couple of Striding Edge virgins across the famous knife edge walk. It was very misty so at least they couldn't get too nervous, even though I tried my best to describe how far the drop was. We all met up in the car park at Glenridding and fed the meter - it's a while since I went so I don't know the current charges - probably somewhere around the £6 mark? I would say it's best to pay for an all day ticket as you never know how much you'll enjoy yourself. Today for a change it was nice to follow everyone else and I didn't get any stick for leading anyone astray.
A taster of the day -blind pugh on Striding Edge - how
Pearsy laughed
a gloomy looking Glenridding below Glenridding
Dodd
on our first diversion
Barlos had to nip back for his boots
the traffic jam at the end of Striding Edge - not
many pictures today
Carefully descending Swirral Edge
Going up to Catsty Cam
As it happens we wobbled around a bit at the start before heading up into the mist on Birkhouse Moor. Barlos had to nip back to his campasite for his boots as he'd turned up assuming we would be walking back past the campasite - wrong & a good rest for us already. Camapasite? - that's Italian for campsite I think.I didn't take many pictures initially as most of the time it was just grey cloud - that's why there's not many of Striding Edge. We gradually made ground up to Birkhouse Moor, with the more fleet of foot making headway, and disappearing into the mist. We weren't sure if they were waiting for us on the path ahead, so a quick phone call later, we laggards started the long haul up to the hole in the wall. Mist enveloped everything, muffled any noise and it was quite peaceful walking up the moor - the stony path led us on, aided by the Satmap GPS to make sure we were on the right track. Soon enough we were all re-united at the hole in the wall - a natural spot to meet. There's a path down to Red Tarn from here for the ones who decide Striding Edge is not for them, but for the rest the path leads ever higher towards the edge. We were soon up to the Dixon memorial, and remembered to stop, unlike Dixon and his dawgs. Again a few pressed ahead, while the 2 virgins were guided across. They managed fine, so just to gee them up a bit I described what they couldn't see tothe left and right of us.
almost up to Catsty Cam
this is coming back down from Catsty Cam towards Swirral Edge
finally views of Red Tarn with Striding Edge up above
looking along to Catsty Cam from just below the scramble up to Swirral Edge
Swirral Edge and its
splintered rocks
walking down to Lower Man
looking down past Catsty Cam to Sheffield Pike and
Ullswater beyond
The two virgins trotted across quite happily guided by Pearsy at the back and it didn't take long to move along to the end of the ridge. There was a bit of a logjam at the end as everyone descended by the same way, so I dropped down to the right and moved around to meet the others again. All were taking things very easily down, which is a good thing and nobody was putting any pressure on the others to get a move on. After the end of Striding Edge it was a rocky ascent up a stony scree path, steep but thankfully fairly short up to the top and the second memorial - this one marks where a dog waited faithfully by his deceased owner - it makes a good marker post when the mist is down. It was a short walk over to the cross shelter from there, over the rubbly summit, and it's always busy here whatever the time of year. A few bums shuffled up to make room in the cross shelter, and it was a bit chilly in the wind, which never fails to catch out the unwary. I felt for the young lad who had rushed ahead of his parents, and was sat there shivering. Illona - Fit Old Bird - tried to feed him up (or was it chat him up) but he steadfastly refused to be fed. I had my winter mitts on, it was that cold on the fingers. After a swift lunch, Paul and Graham departed the other way to go down and up to St Sunday Crag, while we went the other way to take in Swirral Edge and Catsty Cam. There was still a good sized cornice here and most people gave it a wide berth, but there were one or two prints made by the foolhardy.
down and across to Whiteside Bank
looking back to our route down - Great Gable and the
Scafells in the distance
Helvellyn from Raise
on our way to Hart Side
above Glencoyne Head
on top of Hart Side
We made our way along the summit to the point where the descent to Swirral Edge begins. This was a little snowy / icy down to the top of the ridge and Illona let out a little 'weee' as she slid down behind me, coming to a halt as she bumped into my boots. It was a verbal 'weee' in case you wondered. Tony helped Illona down along the edge to easier ground, and true gent that he is lent her his glooves - it was a bit Baltic. Swirral Edge is ditinctly different than Strding Edge, as it has bigger steps and is less even, but it is ok to negotiate in the right conditions. We still didn't have any views on the way down, but it began to clear when we were on our way back. Up on the top of Catsty Cam we couldn't see anything of note except our feet. We returned by the way we had come, passing a few designer labelled walkers, and a terrier dog who was happier than his owner. After the scramble back up to the summit area our wishes began to come true as the cloud lifted away to reveal Catsty Cam and the edge, with Keppel Cove and it's burst dam below us. The way ahead took us down and over to Whiteside Banks and then up to Raise. There are plenty of Wainwrights up around here and I'd already ticked off one or two - when the others plodded up to Stybarrow Dodd, I cut the corner off up to White Stones and hung around a little while taking a few snaps and having some snap. I hadn't been paying attention to todays route and it was a nice surprise to have a couple more Wainwrights to tick off.
walking around Glencoyne Head from Hart Side
the view down Glencoyne
looking down on
Glencoyne from Sheffield Pike
Catsty Cam with edges left and right
From Whitestones we cut across to Hart Side, with it's good viewpoint down Ullswater, before returning around Glencoyne Head which drops steeply away to the valley below. I dreaded the next bit as I could see how steep it was down to the valley below - my knees have been suffering this year on the down slopes, and I am getting progressively slower as the ageing process goes on - good job Ibubrofen works ok. It was a steep path down off Glencoyne Head, passing above and into old quarry works, eventually reaching a hause that took us up once more to Sheffield Pike. Wainwright must have sat up here quite a few times, the views all around are extensive, and the drop down off the top is very steep on three sides. It was hard on tired legs, and Illona did a fantastic job of keeping going - hats off to her. Tony and Micky made a mockery of the steep descent to Glenridding Dodd, with Pearsy a little behind, and me plodding down - talk about Vic Reeves legs. The guys kindly waited around for me up on top of Glenridding Dodd and we had a good look around before heading down back to Glenridding. By now my legs were really sore, and I was down to a snails pace. On the plus side I did get time to look at the views down into the valley and along Ullswater, and the fells beyond. Eventually I got down to the valley and true gent that he is, Pearsy had waited for me for the short walk back into Glenridding. The nearest pub hove into view and like all good walks up Helvellynwe celebrated with a well deserved pint. It's great enjoyment going up to Helvellyn and it's surrounding ridges, but I'm glad I'm not the weather bloke who goes up there every day of the year come rain or shine or snow....but then again....keep walking - it's brilliant
very steeply down off Sheffield Pike to Glenridding Dodd
looking down the length of Ullswater
looking back from Glenridding Dodd - St Sunday Crag in
the background
Sheffield Pike from Glenridding Dodd - Spot the pointy
Catsty Cam
Arnison Crag is the knobbly bit - across two valleys
and a zoomed in shot of the same
the sun sets on a fine day - over the Scafells
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