With a prominence of only 405 meters (1329 feet), Helm Crag sits overlooking the village of Grasmere in the Lake District. It’s not very high, but will give more than higher fells if you time it right. It really is worth a visit.
The fell is easy to access via Easedale Road using the path that runs across the front of Alan Bank and then along the edge of Easedale Road heading into Easedale itself.
You can cross over Easedale Beck using the bridge called ‘New Bridge’ and then up past Lancrigg Crag and the coppice located there.
The path heads up onto White Crag on the southern flank of Helm Crag. It's worth looking out for local wildlife at this point.
Once on top of White Crag the views start to come into play. Although Easedale Tarn is not yet quite visible, Grasmere Lake is just coming into view.
As of summer 2015 Fix The Fells (www.fixthefells.co.uk) in association with one of their partners, the National Trust, is carrying out path repairs on the path that goes up Helm Crag. So care might be needed if they are out working.
Just below High Raven Crag and Grasmere Village is in view sitting nestled in the valley below.
After a brief scramble onto the summit, and the Helvellyn massif is in view to the north east. The Lion and the Lamb can be seen. And Easedale Tarn can just be seen.
As I was descending the fell I noticed that the waterfall on Easedale Beck as it passes Ecton Crag looked extremely heavy. So I quickly descended Helm Crag down to ‘New Bridge’ and headed up the path along the Beck to get some photographs.
As I returned to Grasmere village I found that the river was very close to breaking it’s banks. There must have been a lot of rainfall to cause this.
Helm Crag, not a big fell by any standard, but worth a walk.
No comments:
Post a Comment