We set off walking at 12.45, probably the latest start we have ever had. Our luck soon changed again as we walked along the road, for some reason I decided that we were going in the wrong direction. We retraced our steps until we found a footpath that led away and started to walk along it. It took about ten minutes of walking before I realized that I did not recognize any views, by now we should have been in Grisedale but after taking a few minutes with the map I realized that we were in Glenamara Park and heading towards Arnison Crag. Now I know that my navigation is getting a bit ropey lately but this was silly! Turning around we followed the path back and contoured along another path that led to Thornhow in Grisedale and back on track after 1 mile and half an hour of wasted time, argh!!
By now the weather had changed about five times and John had stopped to put on over trousers and jacket while I was still wearing my new Paramo gear thinking that I was having the better time of it. Once we reached the road we started to make good time along it. The weather was very changeable, ahead low cloud blocked any view to the tops whilst above the sun shone on us, it was strange indeed. One good thing about the cloud was that it did silhouette The Tongue and gave us a good idea of our route up to Dollywaggon Pike.
The further up Grisedale we got the weather improved and we even got a bit of blue skies ahead, perhaps the weather men actually got it right this time! The track we were walking along got narrower and rougher as it made it's way along the valley below St Sunday Crag, the character of the valley had changed considerably and it now felt like a wild place, especially as we met something approaching gale force winds at one point, they did not last long and I was feeling very pleased with myself, all snug and warm and dry in my new gear.
As we crossed a footbridge and started to climb up towards Ruthwaite Lodge my legs started to complain, as I looked up at the route that I had chosen I began to wonder if I was up for it, why do I do this! I consoled myself with looking at the sight of Nethermostcove Beck, Eagle Crag and Ruthwaite Beck. They all looked like they offered some good scrambling opportunities; in fact I did have a route in mind up Ruthwaite Beck but the amount of water coming down soon put us off.
The sun came out as we reached Ruthwaite Lodge and I sank down on the step to have a drink and something to eat. A plaque on the side of the lodge gave me pause for thought as I had attended Ullswater Outward Bound School in 1981, I am useless with names and cannot remember these names but perhaps I did know these two people. As I ate John was busy on the phone to his new better half. After a while we talked about what to do. Our chosen route looked very steep and grassy and although we had been able to see most of the route on the walk in now below Spout Crag we could not really see it, all we knew was that it was steep and long way up! I mentioned the alternative route via Grisedale Tarn and the zig zags.
I was now thinking deep thoughts about the wisdom of attempting what lay before us, 1300 feet of steep grassy fell side! If I had planned this walk and had a few days to think about it I would probably have bottled it. Although I have walked countless miles along the flat since my heart attack in January I have only really done 3 walks that involved height. Parlick and Fair Snape Fell in the Trough of Bowland, I felt great after that walk. Eagle Crag and Sergeants Crag that I had found hard work and last week a jaunt up Raven Crag to Holme Fell with the kids that I found really easy. This was a different proposition though and I started to feel a bit worried. As I thought these thoughts I took the time to remove one pair of socks as my toes had occasionally been giving me some pain on the way here.
John was around the corner of the lodge as I finished my rest stop busy on the phone still, and I made my mind up that I had not come this far just to admire the view. It was going to be hard work but no pain no gain! I left Ruthwaite Lodge and started to follow a faint path through the bracken. I needed a head start on John so I put my head down and got on with it without telling him I was going! All too soon he realized that I had left him and started to follow me up. He caught me up within minutes! AW said that this is a rarely used route and it was hard work to try and find any sort of path or track upwards, funny how some things never change! What looked like a faint path turned out to be more of a stream and we had no choice but to pick our way upwards by whatever route looked easiest. With the sun out it was very warm and I soon thought about taking off my Alta jacket. The only thing that stopped me was the occasional breeze that cooled me down, John by this time was back in just a tee shirt! We, or rather I made my way slowly upwards heading towards the right of Spout Crag. John kept having to wait for me as I was finding it hard work, my legs felt really weak and I was making hard work of it.
As we reached the edge of Spout Crag we had a choice, up and into the crags above or carry on around and up AW's gully. John let me decide, in fact he was in a very mellow mood today. He is in countdown to holiday mode and did not want to do anything silly that might injure himself like he normally does, so he was just happy to be out and about, this suited me down to the ground! We decided to head around to the gully, even this was hard work as the area we had to walk around was strewn with rock , most of which was slippy. I made slow progress around the lower part of the boulder field while John made much quicker progress along the top.
I was sweating like a pig now but stubbornly refused to take off my jacket. Into the gully and although it was not long it was very steep and hard work. Again I found myself eternally grateful to John as every time I stopped for a sneaky break I looked upwards to see him just standing there waiting for me, no sarcastic comments, no taking the Mick, just waiting quietly for me to catch up, thanks mate! He did say that he was not feeling very fit himself at the moment, we talked about this and decided that Sarah must be the fittest of the terrible trio at the moment as she is doing three nights a week at the gym, I think John was just trying to make me feel better by talking himself down!
As in Hall's Fell ridge, all of a sudden the top is there. And there is no doubt that that is the top. From this side Dollywaggon Pike's summit looked like a “proper” summit, i.e. pointy. All of a sudden we were there, down in every direction and the cairn that we had visited last September away in the distance slightly lower. On one hand I was chuffed because now I knew I had reached the true summit but on the other I was disappointed that Sarah had missed out on it. That day in September we missed out by about a 2 minutes walk, but with the visibility as it was I cannot blame myself. I will leave it up to Sarah to see if she wants to revisit here or to be happy enough to have got within 40 feet altitude of the summit. If she does want to revisit I do not think that we will come by this route. I am glad that I did it but would not really want to do it again, perhaps a direct assault on Nethermost Pike and then a return this way?
I can't remember how I was feeling now, I should have been ecstatic but now that I was here the thing I really wanted to do was visit Helvellyn. Now that would make me feel really good. So after taking a 360 degree panoramic photo we headed off in that direction. The only other choice we had was a return via Grisedale Tarn and seeing as Nethermost Pike and Helvellyn were just over there why not!
This is one of my favorite times when out walking, having just sweated and toiled for ages getting up high, now it was time to walk along an easy path that had magnificent views in every direction. This is what I have missed most of all being away from the tops, that sense of achieving something by getting there and then taking the time to enjoy the surroundings as the ground beneath you disappears behind on route to the next summit.
We passed the cairn where we had thought the summit was last time and then continued on towards High Crag and Nethermost Pike. Looking back at The Tongue it looked like a much more interesting route than it actually was, funny that, how sometimes the good looking routes turn out to be dull and the dull looking routes turn out to be great.
We stuck to the path instead of following the edge of the crags around High Crag and then as we neared Nethermost Pike summit area we ventured over to double check if we had reached that top last time. To be honest last time I think we visited every cairn in the area just in case and now with clear visibility we had no doubts about the highest point.
And then there was Helvellyn.
When I decided to do this walk the main aim was to check Dollywaggon Pike but in the back of my mind was always the thought of Helvellyn. You have to put yourself into my mind now. On the 15 th January I ended up having a heart attack while doing High Rigg and then Raven Crag. Led there in hospital with too much thinking time I honestly thought that my ambition to climb up all of the Lakeland Fells was at an end. With time and patience I got back my health and fitness (although I know I am still along way short of where I want to be) and got back walking again. Miles and miles I walked on the flat starting off with 5 or 10 minutes spells. Eventually I started to set my self targets and goals and before I knew it I had walked the complete coastline of Lancashire . Then came forays onto hills with one of the outlying fells and later Gordale Scar and Malham Cove. My first real hill was a lowly little thing in the Trough of Bowland that made me feel on top of the world. Then came a return to the Lake District with Eagle Crag and I was so emotional it was untrue. It was a bad weather day, no views, rain and hard work but I felt so alive it was all too much for me. I still had that nagging doubt in my mind though, what about some of the big ones? Well in just a few minutes I was going to be stood on top of Helvellyn, one of my favorite hills and without doubt a big one! In fact it was my first “Wainwright” done with my Uncle David in 1979 I think. I ran through my mind what I was going to do at the top, ring the wife and say “you will never guess where I am?” The wife doesn't do hills, so perhaps ring my parents who know what Helvellyn is, I felt like I wanted to share this moment with other people.
Enough of my mind ramblings!
The summit was deserted apart from the one bloke who we had followed up from Dollywaggon Pike and one other sat at the wind shelter, the quietest I have ever known Helvellyn, then again it was now 5.25pm! John found a small stone with an inscription on it and we wondered who Bill Stubbs was and who had placed such a think up here, a nice gesture anyway!
Looking around and trying my best to tear my eyes away from the view over Catstycam to Ullswater (on of my fave views of all time) we could not help but notice some rather inclement weather heading our way. It was time to leave. Swirral Edge looked the easiest option but Striding Edge was just over there, it did not take much of a discussion as to which way we would descend!
The weather hit us, wind and rain and John had to stop and get his gear on again while I carried on to the Gough Memorial wondering what the fuss was about, once again snug and comfortable in my Paramo gear, it had been too hot for most of the time but now I was glad that I was not struggling to pull over trousers up and over my boots, they really proved to me that the extra cost was well worth it!
The descent to Striding Edge was interesting but hard work as my toes, ankles and heels chose this moment to rebel again. And then we were on Striding Edge, I cant remember using The Edge as a descent route, perhaps once during my outward bound course but that was a long time ago! To be honest the first part was fun but it soon became a drag. I would much rather come up this way than go down it after a days walking, it just did not feel the same. About half way along we decided that the wimp's path was the one for us so we hit the path and headed down towards The Hole In The Wall. My feet were really giving me grief now and I decided that once at the wall it would be a sit down time again.
Along this path John came out with one of best quotes ever. He said that walking along a path like this was like watching a film with subtitles. You spend all of your time watching the subtitles and do not see what is going on in the main feature, in this case the magnificent views! If you think about it this is so true, you spend so much time thinking and looking about where you place your feet that you just miss what is going on around you. Obviously John has taken a page out of my book and started to have deep and meaningful thoughts while on the fells! This made me chuckle for quite a while as we headed down to the wall.
Reaching The Hole In The Wall I sank down onto a comfy looking rock and had a long drink and a moment or two to rearrange my footwear John took the time to text Sarah and a rather humorous text message conversation developed. Apparently she was having curry and lasagna instead of a BBQ as it was raining in Liverpool . We've never had curried lasagna!
All that we had left to do was the long walk down the shoulder of Birkhouse Moor back in to Grisedale and the car. We met a couple and stopped for a chat about the day we had, They offered us chocolate and John showed his lack of situational awareness by agreeing with them that we started the walk in Grasmere as they had, I think he had seen a sign post for Grisedale Tarn and Grasmere much earlier in the day and it sort of stuck in his mind, and I thought he was getting better at knowing where he was!
Leaving the couple behind us we walked and walked and walked down the path. Why is it that there always seems to be more downs than ups when walking back. I talked and talked and talked on the way down, I was so glad that I had a hydration pack to suck on to keep my throat lubricated! I must have driven John crazy but I was feeling rather pleased with myself after all!
It was a nice warm evening now and I did eventually take my jacket off. Unsurprisingly my base layer was soaking wet and rather smelly by now, perhaps the Paramo jacket was a bit too warm being the middle of August and all! The trousers were great though, for most of the walk I had the vent zips down and this did help keep the temperature down.
As we walked back along the road we reached the point where I decided we had gone wrong at the beginning of the day, if we had only carried on walking for a couple of more minutes we would have seen that it was the right way! At least we had a laugh about it now but I was still frustrated by my mistake.
So that was Helvellyn again, not the best way up but different. I had a rather chuffed feeling and John seemed happy enough just to be out and about instead of shopping. All that remained to be done was some food as we were both rather hungry. On a recent trip to the Lakes John had been talking to a couple who had eaten in the Kirkstone Pass Inn and recommended it to him. We still remembered a terrible meal there but decided to give it a try again as it was on the way home, not bad but not the best.
The long trip back was not too bad apart from me being asked to check on Ted the horse on the way home. It was show day on Sunday and after washing and wrapping Ted in poo proof blankets one of us, usually the wife nips down late at night to remove any droppings so not as to stain his clean coat when he lies down. It was my turn and as the stable gates were locked I had to climb over, hard work with my aching limbs, I sort of half climbed and half fell over the gate twice! I was too late as Ted was led down on a nice warm spot but I did my best, I must have done a good job because he won all of his classes the next day, besides he seemed impressed as I told him that I had been up Helvellyn, or was it the polo's I had!