Friday 28th January 2005

Start point: Patterdale (NY 394 160)

Patterdale - Hole-in-the-Wall - Striding Edge - Helvellyn - Nethermost Pike (273) - High Crag (274) - Dollywagon Pike (275) - Grisedale Tarn - Patterdale

Route Map

Weather: Sunny at first, gradually becoming overcast. Cold, biting wind on the tops.

As it is StridingEdge 's first birthday on Monday, what could be a more fitting walk than an ascent of Helvellyn across Striding Edge. The day promised to be clear but by the time I reached Helvellyn across a deserted Striding Edge, the cloud and cold wind arrived. Still, it was a very enjoyable round...

Elevation profile of the route.

Key: HitW=Hole-in-the-Wall, SE=Striding Edge, H=Helvellyn, NP=Nethermost Pike, HC=High Crag,            DP=Dollywagon Pike, GT=Grisedale Tarn

3D image of the walk route.

Looking to the head of Grisedale at the beginning of the ascent.

Birkhouse Moor from the Hole-in-the-Wall.

Catstycam.

Helvellyn with Swirral Edge to the right.

Helvellyn from the start of Striding Edge.

Striding Edge from the ascent of Helvellyn.

The steep ascent up the face of Helvellyn.

A bitterly cold Helvellyn summit. The wind was so strong here that I could hardly stand up.

Looking west on the descent from Helvellyn. See below for an annotated version of this photo.

Striding Edge from Nethermost Pike.

Looking along Grisedale to Ullswater and Place Fell from High Crag.

High Crag, Nethermost Pike and Helvellyn from Dollywagon Pike.

Grisedale Tarn.

Wordsworth's Brothers Parting stone lies below the outlet of Grisedale Tarn. It is a memorial to his brother John, this being the place they last saw each other and parted on September 29th 1800. The inscription:

 'Here did we stop; and here looked round
    While each into himself descends,
    For that last thought of parting Friends
    That is not to be found.
    ...
    Brother and friend, if verse of mine
    Have power to make thy virtues known,
    Here let a monumental Stone
    Stand--sacred as a Shrine.'

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