Our final day trip of the year took us to beautiful sunny Grasmere.

Waking up to clear blue skies in Newcastle boded well for the day as the sun was shining as we alighted from the bus in central Grasmere to begin our walks.

The medium walk navigated through the village and out past the youth hostel up into Easedale where after buying some homemade flapjacks the group continued up the valley and had a wonderful time scrambling up the waterfalls of Sourmilk Gill where the warm morning sun quickly dried out the damp clothes from those who slipped into the stream. After reaching the top of the waterfall section we ascended the rocky slopes of Tarn Crag (549m) where some optional Scrambling was enjoyed before enjoying a warm and sunny lunch on the summit. We then walked around the back of Ash crags reaching the days highpoint at just over 700m before descending back down towards Calf Crag where we experienced some hail that fell like blossom petals. After summiting Calf Crag (537m) we continued over Gibsons Knott (422m) before reaching the top of Helm Crag (405m) where some of us scrambled to the true summit atop the ‘Howitzer’ a pointed Borrowdale volcanic rock formation resembling the artillery emplacements it is named after. We then descended past the ‘Lion’ and the ‘Lamb’ (more rock formations) back into Grasmere and were only 10minutes late for the coach.

The short walk led by Matthew and Jack had a scenic walk along the side of Grasmere and up Loughrigg fell (335m) before returning to Grasmere village to sample the famous gingerbread and strong pints of cider.

The Long walk headed east and first ascended Seat Sandal (736m) before ascending Fairfield (873m) from Grisedale tarn and descending back into Grasmere village via Great Rigg (766m) to enjoy the aforementioned local delicacies.

Overall a wonderful day out in great weather with great people.

Josh

Above – Waterfall in Sour Milk Gill

Below – Looking east from Ash Crags

Above – Looking north over Grasmere

Below – The ‘Howitzer’ on Helm Crag