2 friends and the coast to coast walk

Just a few words about the other walks we did whilst we were in the lakes…

With Dan and Hat we attempted Helvellyn; it was quite a windy day so we chose to avoid striding edge and opted for the swirral edge approach.  We started from Glenridding, heading to the Grisdale valley we started the steady ascent up to the hole in the wall.  After lunch in a relatively sheltered spot, we aimed west to red tarn; what a magical place that seemed…such a large yet peaceful tarn set against the dramatic backdrop of the Helvellyn summit was quite a sight.  Despite the increasing wind we continued to swirral edge and began our ascent to the summit.  But as the wind increased, the path (though it was mostly scrambling at this point) became less and less clear and eventually we lost confidence.  We turned back approximately 50m from the top, but were not disappointed for long as the weather soon closed in and we spent most of the return leg to Glenridding battered by wind and rain….a summit for a nicer day, we decided!

A few days later we tackled Scafell Pike in preparation for our 3 peaks challenge.  As we were camping at Wasdale Head it didn’t take us long to get to what would likely be our starting point on the 3 peaks.  We knew it would be quite a steep climb from the OS map, but I think the sheer relentlessness of the ascent took us by surprise.  Basically we just walked up and up and up, on stony paths, slippy paths, rocky paths…  I must say it’s not the most inspiring peak I’ve ever climbed, although perhaps there are better approaches, but we did manage to glimpse some good views on the way up, and enjoyed a brief, chilly lunch at the summit.  We managed the ascent in 2 hours, and descent in 1.5, which made us feel good about the 3 peaks.  Still, it was a little daunting to think that the next time we’d be here would be at 4am in June!

After the more strenuous walks of the preceding week, we opted to finish our holiday with a gentler stroll around Burnmoor tarn; no steep ascents, no scrambling, no freaky weather!  This would have been a lovely walk from Wasdale campsite but the ground for much of the way was exceedingly boggy, which somewhat impeded on our enjoyment of the nice scenery and weather.  We’d almost forgotten the frustration of walking through such marshy bogs and almost turned back, but we persevered and eventually enjoyed our lunch on a little bridge by the tarn.  The marshy conditions underfoot continued as we circled the tarn, taking in the mysterious Burnmoor lodge (so isolated!) and returned to Wasdale.  Not the best walk we’ve ever done, but not the worst either.