Walk #44 Helvellyn, Cumbria

One of the views from Helvellyn summit

Walk 11 out of 100

Walk #44 - Helvellyn

Cumbria 

Overall Rating - ✪✪✪✪✪

Suggested Difficulty - Challenging

My Difficulty Rating - ✪✪✪✪✪

Suggested Time - 5 hours

Actual Time Taken - 5h 1m

Distance in book - 15.7km

Map my walk Distance - 16.37km

Grasmere, start

For only my second trip to the Lake District I chose to take on one of the largest peaks in the area, Helvellyn. Standing 950m above sea level it is a bit of a beast to climb compared to most of the other walks I have done so far. The views were spectacular and in my opinion, better than those from Scafell Pike.

Looking back at Grasmere

This walk has been rewarded the full 5 stars for both difficulty and overall rating. It is a tough route to take on, steep ascents, steep descents, but fantastic views from start to finish. Unlike Snowdon the weather was great, and I can't stress enough how much it helped spur me on knowing the panoramic views at the top would be awesome. The timings and distance from the book are probably the closest yet, so well done whoever wrote this one!  

This route was slightly different to the others as it wasn't a loop, but it didn't cause any problems doing the linear walk as there is a regular bus service that runs from the end of the walk back to Grasmere. The route itself was fairly straight forward to follow, the paths are pretty clear all the way along except for a small section at the beginning. The terrain consists of mostly solid paths but there are some rocky sections. There are several individual climbs that make this walk hard going, in particular the steep climb up Dollywaggon Pike. I prefer a constant descent once you've reached the top to ease the rest of the walk but there are still two more small climbs after reaching the summit of Helvellyn which were a bit of a nuisance and just added to the overall difficulty. 

Here's some of the more rewarding parts of the walk...

Dollywaggon Pike & Grisedale Tarn

Views towards the other peaks of the Lake District

Jiminy on top of Helvellyn

Couldn't resist, looks like a poof of smoke coming out of the mountain!

Looking back at Helvellyn

The final descent

The final descent back down towards the main road was very, very steep and I would not recommend walking the route in the opposite direction unless you are crazy or a mountain goat!

I would highly recommend this walk as the views are stunning and it is a good challenge, if you want to say 'I did Scafell Pike' then go for it, but if you want better views, this is better in my opinion! You also get this lovely waterfall as a reward at the end to cool off...

Thanks to Mike for the company and thanks for reading,  

Stef.

Here's the link to the walk on 'Map My Walk'

And follow me on Twitter @stefanvilla1991