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Previous day - Loughrigg FellCycle 21.01km, 271m ascent & 1 hour 25 mins
It was a beautiful day - we had both been working during the day, but figured we had enough daylight for an evening quickie, with the added bonus of a stop at the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop...a cycle over the pass to Grasmere and returning via Ambleside seemed like a good idea, and then Malky suggested going up Helm Crag...why not?!
We decided to go straight to Grasmere - the hill was steep but not as bad as we thought it would be. The views back to the Langdale Pikes were great
The worst bit was right at the start... from then on it was a steep climb but over mercifully quickly
The descent to Grasmere was a real test of the brakes (especially as the last section was littered with people wandering around asking to be run over
)
We reckoned we'd have enough time to get up the hill and do the Gingerbread shop on the way out, so we cycled up the Easedale road (accidentally heading up towards Lancrigg before checking the map and correcting ourselves!) and then locked the bikes to a convenient signpost. Malky had kindly carried my boots and poles in his panniers
The path ahead - this was going to be steep
As soon as we were out of the trees it was baking hot, with no wind. Brutally oppressive, and I was shattered already
Bits of the path were steep, but there were more zig-zags than I remembered from my aborted attempt during a storm as a kid
This wee guy was pretty tame, even Malky clomping around didn't scare him
Despite being horribly steep and hot, we were gaining height fairly quickly!
Eventually the gradient eased and we were out on the top - there was even something of a breeze!
This is where I'd got to aged 13 (ish) and we hadn't been able to stand, and had retreated!
Seat Sandal & Fairfield
Looking back down the ridge to Grasmere
As we approached the summit ridge the path became rockier and a bit more hands on
We knew there was a tricky climb to the "summit" but hadn't been able to find a lot of info on it - initially we thought this might be it...
Until we saw this imposing bit of rock further along the ridge
The Howitzer, or the Lion & the Lamb
Malky managed to get up it no problem
I found it a bit of a struggle (short limbs and lack of confidence!) but Malky managed to talk me up, and then get me back down again. It was an awesome feeling being up there, despite the huge swarm of flying ants
Howitzer with Seat Sandal behind
Blencathra peeking through
Seat Sandal & Fairfield
We had a bit of a breather afterwards and enjoyed the views. We had thought to drop off from the next bealach and walk along the glen in order to make it a circuit...Malky then noticed that the next summit - Gibson Knott - was also a Wainwright and he could hardly contain himself with excitement.
When we checked the time we realised that we weren't going to make the gingerbread shop anyway, and might as well enjoy the nice evening
Along the ridge to Gibson Knott
As we walked along the ridge, I realised how much I missed ridges! Given how limited in how much I can do, I've been stuck on one-hill-at-a-time days, whereas in the Lakes with high starts and small-ish hills I can get a bit more out of a day. It felt good
Gibson Knott ahead - a decent path the whole way
Looking back to Helm Crag, Grasmere and Loughrigg Fell
The summit of Gibson Knott was a bit easier than Helm Crag
But it was also home to a massive swarm of flying ants which sort of spoiled the view of Calf Crag
Gibson Knott summit
Looking back to Helm Crag and Loughrigg from Gibson Knott
Nethermost/Dollywaggon & Helvellyn
We needed to get going - we still had to get back to the bikes, cycle home the long way (because there was no way in hell I was going over the hill again
) and be back in time for tea
We back-tracked to the bealach, where the path dropped steeply down on relatively rough ground at times (in Scotland we would call this a good path
)
Far Easedale
It got a wee bit sloshy towards the bottom and Malky in his trainers decided the wade through bracken instead of water!
Soon enough we were on better ground as we met up with the path along the glen - from here it was an easy walk back to the bikes
The cycle home felt long but, other than the hill that Malky got me to cycle up because he said the main road was busy (how do I fall for this every time?!
) it wasn't as bad as I thought....
Even better, my Mum had cooked dinner and all we had to do was to collapse at the table and eat
[urlhttps://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=100179]Next day - cycle from hell (Holme Fell)[/url]
