A bit of a late decision by Theo and I on Saturday afternoon to go to the Lakes on Sunday for a walk. The original plan was to do Steel Fell, Calf Crag, Gibsons Knott and finish at Helm Crag. 3 new Wainwright tops in a day.
We set off early Sunday morning and were parked up in Grasmere at 9:15 and off we went. From the centre of Grasmere it is a couple of miles to the base of Steel Fell. You almost walk around the base of Helm Crag as you make your way to Steel Fell, a handy reminder of where you'll be later!
The first couple of miles is pretty much on a single track road.
And then, after a couple of miles, you get your first glimpse of Steel Fell.
As you can see from the photos the weather was pretty kind. As you get to the end of the road you go through a gate onto the open fell. The path is grassy and quite distinct
Now as you see that rocky outcrop our first thought was this isn't as bad as we thought. However, we knew the top of Steel Fell was the high point of the walk and we could see we were still below Helm Crag summit height. Another one of those false dawns!
There is nothing tricky about this first outcrop. The path winds slightly to the right as you look at it avoiding any sort of scrambling.
Once you are around the other side you can then see the summit which, again, has an obvious path to it. The first cairn you see has some ironmongery around it.
But it does come with a cracking view. From this cairn you take a left and the true top is about 70 yards away. And with that I had hit 40 fells and Theo was up to 35!
We did then begin our move towards Calf Crag but after a brief chat decided we'd call it a day. No disappointment in that as we have a few rules on our walks, watch where you put your feet, if you want to look around stop first and if either of us says we want to stop we just stop. No moaning or complaining from the other as we know the mountains will still be there next time.