The Beefmeister relishing the scrambling

This rates as one of the best walks in England. Not only does it have a summit over 3000 ft (one of only 4 hills in England to reach this magical height), you can get there by one of the best ridges in Britain. I know a lot of people will say it doesn't compare to this ridge in Scotland or that ridge in Wales but it has the advantage of being an ideal introduction to mountain ridges, highways in the skys. There are numerous routes up Helvellyn from the A591 Thirlmere side but if you want to do Striding Edge, the best start point is the A592 near Ullswater. You have a number of start points Glenridding, Grisedale or Patterdale whichever you choose, they all head for the hole-in-the-wall. I climbed it five years ago with a good friend Mark Bothamley, known as Beefy because of his resemblance to the world famous cricketer and his prodigious strength. We started from Glenridding, heading through the village and up into the woods towards as I said before the hole-in-the-wall. It is without a doubt a fair old slog and Beefy, like so many strong people, struggled in the heat with the ascent. To be fair I was happy with the many stops on the way up as it allowed me to catch my breath and enjoy the views. From the hole head for Bleaberry crags, the start of striding edge. The route along striding edge has few technical difficulties hardly warranting a grade 1 scramble, what it does have apart from stunning scenery is enormous exposure. Don't get so enamoured by the views that you walk off it. At the end of the ridge is a little scramble down, the notorious bad step (isn't there always) before a final scramble to the summit plateau. There are various memorials adorning the summit plateau ranging from cairns for people to ones for old dogs lost whilst hunting. This is one of the best vantage points in the lakes for catching a superb sunset (weather permitting of course). 

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