Helvellyn via Brown Cove

Date:

16.08.2013

Characteristic:

Hillwalk

Duration:

3:30h

Distance:

7.0km

After a looooong week at a conference in Lancaster I finally got to meet up with my friend Sue in the Lake District. Nice to have a friend with transport too :-) We didn't have a plan when we met up in Penrith but finally decided to try a scrambling route on Brown Cove crag instead of taking one of the normal paths up Helvellyn. Looked like we would be fairly lucky with the weather, even though it looked still pretty dull and cloudy when we drove along the A66 towards Keswick. Anyway, we started from the Swirls car park by Thirlmere and followed the footpath up towards Brown cove. The scrambling guide said we ought to take off from the path at a broken wall, but since we had not seen any wall at all on the way up it seemed a bit confusing. We walked in toward the cove when it looked like we >>>

Helvellyn

Date:

17.02.2013

Characteristic:

Hillwalk

© Hannah Vickers Since I had to catch a train from Windermere in the afternoon, I decided just to take a short morning trip along a route I knew well, beginning in Grasmere and passing over the tops of Dollywagon Pike, Nethermost Pike and Helvellyn. I had a plan to descend back down to Swirls and walk through the forest back to Grasmere but in the end I decided to be lazy and get a bus back to the village instead. Had really nice weather - blue skies, sunshine and it was not cold. Well, that's not exactly true. It wasn't cold in the start of the day when I was walking up Tongue Gill, but by the time I reached Grisedale Hause, there was a massive strong wind coming up from the south, and that made it pretty difficult to walk at times. Thought there might be a bit of shelter behind one of the walls on Helvellyn's >>>

Red Screes

Date:

27.11.2010

A dump of snow overnight, followed by bright sunshine the next morning gave us a great day for a hike up Red Screes. Unfortunately, the bright sunshine didn't hold out all the way to the top of Red Screes, and it was pretty windy and very chilly by the time we got there. No views down to Brotherswater whatsoever. That was definitely a pity, as it's a lovely viewpoint otherwise. Anyway, we descended from there down to Scandale Head and back down the valley to Rydal and Ambleside. My friend Sue and I enjoyed a nice coffee at Esquires before taking in a nice sunset over Windermere on the walk back to the Briery Wood hotel.

Helvellyn winter

Date:

03.01.2010

I met with my friend Sue Jeffrey for a winter hike shortly after the New Year. The weather forecast was for great walking conditions, crisp sunny weather with snow underfoot so it was looking like a good day ahead. Our plan was to leave one car in Ambleside and another close to the start of our route from Swirls car park beside Thirlmere. That way we wouldn't need to worry about catching a bus back and we wouldn't have to trudge back along the A591 either. Many people had already started out on a hike on this day too. It was superb. The snow was hard, and it wasn't too cold. This was possibly the first time I'd seen a proper winter in the Lakes. We stopped only for a short time at the summit of Helvellyn before pushing on towards Nethermost and Dollywaggon Pike. Somehow we managed to go a little >>>

Stony Cove Pike

Date:

28.11.2009

After a long-ish drive up to Windermere from Leicester the previous evening, we woke up to a fresh covering of snow all over the fells. Exciting for everyone who was coming for the Adventure Peaks Christmas party, (even though it was admittedly still a bit early for Christmas celebrations) we drove up to the car parking place at the top of Kirkstone Pass, opposite the inn and began the walk at about 10am. At first the weather was dry but quite misty so there was not much to see apart from a lot of whiteness, and it remained like that all the way over Pike How to Stony Cove Pike. No views, chilly and a bit boring. Once we'd descended down Threshthwaite mouth into Pasture Beck it was just a bit drizzly but warmer and we were down at Hartsop in the early afternoon and walked back along the road >>>

Fairfield again....

Date:

08.11.2009

Patterdale to Windermere

Date:

18.04.2009

Duration:

5:00h

A really splendid day in perfect weather - started off early-ish from Patterdale youth hostel, walking along the road past Brotherswater to Hartsop. It was bang in the middle of the lambing season too so I got to see some cute little lambs and their mums along the way :-) From Hartsop it was a plod up the track toward Hayeswater, from where I then ascended up to The Knott. Great views across the Brotherswater valley to the central fells of Fairfield, Dove Crag and Middle Fell etc. Continued along at a speedy pace along the nice high ridge toward High Street. Took a short break as I reached Thornthwaite Crag and then cracked on towards Froswick, Ill Bell and Yoke. I was making such good time I was practically down in Troutbeck by lunchtime, having caught the sun a little on my arms. It had been >>>

Grasmere to Swirls via Helvellyn

Date:

10.02.2008

Characteristic:

Hillwalk

Duration:

4:00h

This was a rather straightforward but satisfyingly scenic route from Grasmere in a northerly direction. Since I had a bus to catch before midday, I left the youth hostel at about 7.30am, well on schedule, and made the route into a bit of a time trial by attempting to complete it in as fast a time as possible. It basically follows the A591 northwards for a while until the foot of the valley starts that leads up to Grisedale Tarn from the south (and not the valley going up here from Dunmail Raise). From Grisedale Tarn it was a bit of hard slog up Dollywagon Pike with a heavy rucksack to carry, but after that there is very little more ascent to make to pass over both Nethermost Pike and Helvellyn. Great views all to myself at the summit, since I arrived there at about 9.30am on a Monday morning >>>