Morning brought a dull day, but no sign of rain. We had breakfast with our usual speed and efficiency – life is so straight-forward in a hostel. Soon we were packed and had our chores done.
We set out at 9.15 – well armed with sweets and sandwiches. The sun made a token appearance. We walked about a mile back the road we had walked yesterday. Then we turned into Grisdale. There was a bit of a breeze, but it seemed like ideal conditions for walking. We had company on the way up – well for a bit of the way – two guys from the hostel – however they were in too much of a hurry and soon almost disappeared from sight.
As we climbed it threatened to rain a couple of times – but every time we put on our coats it stopped. Sometimes it would be drizzling down in the valley but we would be in the sunshine.
We made good progress, though we had an ambitious programme, we hoped to walk to Ambleside, a total of 14 miles and a lot of climbing, however we would be happy with Grasmere and a bus to Ambleside.
At 2,200 ft we reached the end of the first long climb. At this point the wind was quite fierce and the mist was blowing down from the summit. We thought of Striding Edge with just a little fear. After a rest and some chocolate and after preparing ourselves as best we could for the weather we set off. It was quite a struggle to walk into the wind and the rain on the wind burnt our faces. However, as we approached Striding Edge the wind eased up quite a bit. We couldn’t see very well, but soon we could see what we knew must be the beginning of the Edge.
The rocks were quite slippery and the path a little uncertain. We discovered there were two paths across Striding Edge – one on the very top and one just underneath it. Given the weather conditions and our heavy packs we decided to take the low road. The going got quite slow, though it picked up as the path became clearer.
And so we walked along Striding Edge, in the mist, unable to see its full properties. On we went first on the right hand side of the edge, then on the left and then back to the right-hand side – occasionally the mist would blow away and we could see Red Tarn below us.
As we approached the end of Striding Edge, a rock chimney looked just a bit too like hard work for our liking and we veered off the path and down to its right. Our only path now was sheep tracks and small gullies of scree. However we continued to climb. Below us – almost immediately below, was red Tarn, a lonely looking sight in the mist – with the odd seagull flying above and screeching, making an eerie sort of half echo off the mountain wall – and it was a wall. Red Tarn is the perfect corrie lake with two arêtes – one on each side, stretching like arms on a throne.
The top came as a surprise – the best way. It was miserable and cold. We rested at te shelter, doing our very best to keep warm and not succeeding very well. We didn’t feel like eating anything there. The wind and rain were biting. A quick walk to the very top where we were nearly blown off! We actually lay back against the wind and it supported us standing up, it was that strong. We met a man and his sheepdog on top – the poor dog had nearly blown off Swirral Edge and the man was anxious about going down Striding Edge as he had originally planned.
We almost ran from the top of Helvellyn and such was our hurry to get we took the short way i.e. down to Thirlmere rather than along the ridge to Dollywagon Pike.
We suddenly found ourselves out of the mist, almost down and it was only 1.30 we stopped and ate. It wasn’t warm, but it certainly wasn’t cold and there was no rain. We looked to the summit to see it shrouded in mist. We shuddered a little at the thought of the cold up there.
After a good rest we descended to the forest. Once in the forest we took a forest road running parallel to the main road. We continued on this road and then on a path until we were parallel with Dunmail Raise. We went down to the main road and examined the Raise (a cairn built to King Dunmail, whoever he was). Then we descended into Grasmere by road, getting a good look at the Lion and the Lamb and also the Piano Player!
As we reached the Swan Hotel (cheapest pint around) a bus pulled up. This was too big a temptation and so at 4.00 pm our walking ended as we stepped on board the bus which brought us the last few miles.
It was with just a little sadness that we felt ourselves brought along by a means other that our own two feet, for the first time in 240 hours! We had walked a total of 11½ miles that day and a total of 111¾ miles in all.
We walked to Ambleside youth hostel from the bus station , after having done some shopping in the town.We treated ourselves to a good farewell dinner – Vesta Chicken and rice – delicious and strawberries and cream. Mmmm.
We then walked into Ambleside and looked around, rang Keswick, bought chips and wandered back to the hostel and bed.
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