Guided Fell Walking in The Lake District. Helm Crag. Friday 21st October 2016.

After our great day out on Blencathra the previous day, Iain was back at working guiding Donise and Leila the next morning. This time the pair had picked Helm Crag, Grasmere as their objective and our start time 11am.

This pretty little mountain overlooks Grasmere and is famous for it's distinctive summit rock outcrops known as "The Lion & The Lamb" and the true summit going by the names of "The Witch and The Organ/The Howitzer". Photo one sees Leila enjoying some rock climbing on the true summit of Helm Crag which is a steep rock crest overhanging on it's east side.

Photo two sees Leila and Donise just beyond the true summit of Helm Crag. Iain & Leila climbed four routes on the left hand sloping side of this rocky buttress. Leila was delighted to be "working with the rope" again just as she had been the previous day on Sharp Edge. Donise was quite happy to sit and watch her little girl climbing today.

Our next objective - the "other" rocky outcrop of The Lion & The Lamb lay only a couple of hundred metres along the summit crest, but disappointingly for Leila. there was, no easy rock climbing to be done there.

However, there was this deep cleft just next to the outcrop of The Lion & The Lamb for Leila to explore. The downhill entrance to this could be easily reached and so Iain & Leila went to explore.

Photo three sees Leila in the cleft with Donise just beyond at the head of a short but difficult climb out. It was easy for Iain to get Leila up this climb; at which point she duly ran back around and asked to do it again. Anything to keep the customers happy! Iain wasn't getting out this way himself, so had to walk back down the cleft and climb back up by the easy route.

There has clearly been some geological cataclysm on Helm Crag many thousands of years ago. The whole of the east side of the mountain appears to have subsided by some 25 metres having torn away from the mountains crest. This has produced a rocky trench just below the summit crest and the distinctive shapes of The Howitzer and The Lion & The Lamb which both overhang on their eastern sides as a result.

Out route up Helm Crag had started at Ghyll Foot on the north east side of the mountain, we crossed the foot of the pretty Greenburn Valley and then headed up to the col between Helm Crag & Gibson Knott - a distance of only 3/4 of a mile and some 600 feet of ascent. From there is was only a short distance to the summit of Helm Crag where, we climbed for a while before going to explore the cleft at The Lion & The Lamb. We then descended via the south ridge of Helm Crag (photo three) to Lancrigg (another of Wordsworth's many one time residences in the area) through a pretty arboretum before following the road back under the eastern side of the fell back to Ghyll Foot - it didn't take long!

The total distance for this short, but pleasant guided walk in The Lake District was 4.2 kilometres (2.61 miles) and 264 m (866 feet) of ascent. We did the whole route in under four hours which suited Donise's itinerary for the pair for the day very well.

Our half day (four hour) guided walks in The Lake District cost just £100 for one to four persons. for more than four persons add £20 per additional person. With Iain's lifetime experience living and working in the area you can be sure to have a great experience. Contact us here to book your guided walk in The Lake District - we look forward to working with you.