It's worth pointing out now that for all but Low Pike and Wansfell I have been accompanied on my walks by my 7 year old son. After our last walk, up Silver How, he turned to me and said "Oh well Dad, I think we should do Helm Crag next".
I didn't remember mentioning Helm Crag to him but then it clicked. He'd watched the Julia Bradbury Wainwright Walks series on DVD a number of times and he'd remembered her ascent of Helm Crag. At least we should know the way I thought as we'd watched the DVD many times on a Sunday morning.
This time, though, it was the full Lewis clan on the march up Helm Crag after we decided at the last minute to have acouple of days break in Kendal. The view on the way up (see below) was wonderful and, given the time of year, we werelucky to have such a clear day. A little less lucky waas the fact that many peoplle had had the same idea of climbing Helm Crag so there was alot of traffic to negotiate.
The route is pretty straight forward. We only needed to follow the crowds but I had brought the GPS and map to make sure we stayed on the right route.
Part of it Helm Crag resembles a Lion and the lamb and this illusion can be seen from teh main road in the valley. After about an hour we found ourselves at this outcrop and had a quick climb before returning to the route and the final 50 yards over, by now snow covered, rocks to the actual summit of Helm Crag.
And looking back at Helm Crag you can see how it also got the name the Howitzer.
The following day in Kendal it belted down snow so we'd definitely picked the right day for it.