Mountain Walks Helvellyn: 15 routes to enjoy on and around Helvellyn

By Tina Codling

Mountain Walks Helvellyn by Tina Codling is a guide to walking routes to the summit of Helvellyn in the Lake District National Park. Alongside the summit routes, there are also lower-level alternatives for mixed weather or shorter days and those new to mountain walking.
Among the 15 inspiring routes, the classics are all included, such as Helvellyn summit via the iconic Striding Edge and Swirral Edge, and even those who are familiar with the area will find new and imaginative route ideas to discover. Whether you aspire to climb Helvellyn on the most straightforward route from Thirlmere, or you're looking for a bigger adventure, this is the only guidebook you need.
Together with stunning photography, each route features: Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps; easy-to-follow, detailed directions; downloadable GPX files; essential info about public transport and safety advice; details about the terrain and navigation; and facilities, refreshments and points of interest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vertebrate Publishing
• Release date: Apr 3, 2025
• ISBN: 9781839812538

Tina Codling

Tina Codling is a qualified summer Mountain Leader who works all over the Lake District and beyond guiding people doing charity challenges and on walking holidays, as well as devising bespoke mountain days for families and groups of friends. She also works with young people doing their Duke of Edinburgh awards and community groups such as Muslim Hikers and Wonderful Wild Women. Since moving to Cumbria in 2019 she has enjoyed exploring the lesser-known parts of the Lake District National Park and the surrounding area and what she calls ‘the places in between’ the mountains. She is particularly interested in the economic and social history of the area and is fascinated by the seemingly unlimited number of different gate latches she finds on her walks. Over almost 40 years of walking and playing in the Lake District, she has ascended Helvellyn via all of the walking routes in all conditions, including at night, and has had a lot of fun looking for wild flowers in the coves and cooling her feet and body in icy waters. As a volunteer ‘dogsbody’ for the Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs she spends a lot of time on the sides of fells or in remote valleys waiting to be ‘rescued’, which gives her plenty of time to dream up new adventures and routes. Mountain Walks [e-mail]

Book preview

/ About the Author

© Alvina Labsvirs

Tina Codling is a qualified Mountain Leader who works all over the Lake District and beyond guiding people doing charity challenges and on walking holidays, as well as devising bespoke mountain days for families and groups of friends. She also works with young people doing their Duke of Edinburgh’s awards and community groups such as Muslim Hikers and Wonderful Wild Women. Mountain Walks Helvellyn is her first book. @tina.codling.mountain.leader

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Contains Ordnance Survey Data © Crown Copyright and Database Right.

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MOUNTAIN WALKS

HELVELLYN

15 ROUTES TO ENJOY ON AND AROUND HELVELLYN

First published in 2025 by Vertebrate Publishing.

Vertebrate Publishing

Omega Court, 352 Cemetery Road, Sheffield S11 8FT, United Kingdom.

www.adventurebooks.com

Copyright © 2025 Tina Codling and Vertebrate Publishing Ltd.

Tina Codling has asserted her rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as author of this work.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-83981-252-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-83981-253-8 (Ebook)

All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanised, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems – without the written permission of the publisher.

Front cover: Striding Edge. © Garry Lomas Photography.

Photography by Tina Codling unless otherwise credited.

All maps reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of His Majesty’s Stationery Office.

© Crown Copyright. AC0000809882

Edited by Helen Parry, design and production by Jane Beagley.

www.adventurebooks.com

Every effort has been made to achieve accuracy of the information in this guidebook. The authors, publishers and copyright owners can take no responsibility for: loss or injury (including fatal) to persons; loss or damage to property or equipment; trespass, irresponsible behaviour or any other mishap that may be suffered as a result of following the route descriptions or advice offered in this guidebook. The inclusion of a track or path as part of a route, or otherwise recommended, in this guidebook does not guarantee that the track or path will remain a right of way. If conflict with landowners arises we advise that you act politely and leave by the shortest route available. If the matter needs to be taken further then please take it up with the relevant authority.

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/ Contents

About the Author

Introduction

Acknowledgements

About the walks

Navigation

Safety & well-being

Weather

Kit & comfort

Mountain rescue

Behaviour & respecting the environment

Walking with your dog

How to use this book

Wainwrights

Glossary

THE ROUTES

01 / Glenridding to Aira Force 4km/2.5 miles

02 / Lanty’s Tarn circular 3.9km/2.4 miles

03 / Raven Crag 4.6km/2.9 miles

04 / Glenridding Dodd 4.2km/2.6 miles

05 / Gowbarrow Fell 7.2km/4.5 miles

06 / Sheffield Pike 8.5km/5.3 miles

07 / Grisedale Tarn from Patterdale 12.8km/8 miles

08 / Place Fell 12.2km/7.6 miles

09 / Birks, St Sunday Crag & Arnison Crag 9.6km/6 miles

10 / Helvellyn from Swirls 10.9km/6.8 miles

11 / Helvellyn via Raise Beck 12.8km/8 miles

12 / Sticks Pass to Helvellyn 12.3km/7.6 miles

13 / Catstye Cam, Swirral Edge, Helvellyn & the Keppel Cove pony track 15.3km/9.5 miles

14 / Helvellyn via Striding Edge and Swirral Edge 13.1km/8.1 miles

15 / Ambleside to Thirlmere via Helvellyn 18.5km/11.5 miles

Appendix

Download the

Mountain Walks Helvellyn

GPX files from

www.adventurebooks.com/MWH-GPX

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View of Skiddaw on the descent from Helvellyn (walk 12).

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/ Introduction

Set within the Lake District National Park, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017, Helvellyn is the highest point on an undulating ridge running from Clough Head in the north to Dollywaggon Pike in the south. At 950 metres, it is the third highest mountain in England and offers extensive views across the Lake District to the tops of at least a hundred other fells.

From the east, the Helvellyn massif is made up of ridges and coves. Two of these ridges are among the most well-known features of the Lake District and are on the must-do list of everyone enthralled by the mountains or excited by an element of risk. Carved by ice, Striding Edge and Swirral Edge are like two arms reaching out to embrace the glacial corrie containing Red Tarn.

Helvellyn is part of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group of rocks, formed through geological processes starting around 450 million years ago. However, the landscape we see today was shaped during the last ice age, which ended around 12,000 years ago. All of this means there are lots of interesting nooks and crannies to explore in the coves and valleys below Helvellyn and its near neighbours, including tarns and waterfalls, flora and fauna, and the remains of mining activity carried out in the 19th and 20th centuries. Ullswater, a ‘ribbon lake’ and the second largest body of water in the Lake District, is another point of interest.

As well as the airy ridges of Striding Edge and Swirral Edge, there are plenty of other interesting ways to reach the broad summit of Helvellyn, which boasts not only a trig point but also a well-built shelter in the shape of a cross. From the west, near Thirlmere Reservoir, there are routes that are shorter and less precipitous than ‘the edges’ on the eastern side. There are also gentler routes from Glenridding and Patterdale.

There are many grand days out to be had on the big fells surrounding Helvellyn, but with low-level walks and outings to some of the smaller summits, this book caters for everyone from thrill seekers to historians and naturalists, as well as those looking for easier walks with people not yet ready, or no longer able, to take on a big summit. It also leaves plenty of routes to be discovered once you have fallen in love with the area.

Tina Codling

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/ Acknowledgements

This is for everyone I have walked in the mountains with since my first tentative steps on Blencathra in the 1980s. That includes other professionals and clients as well as friends. You’ve all helped me build up my knowledge, skills and confidence. Special thanks go to Gavin, who made me go down Sharp Edge in the rain (I was terrified), and Hilary, who was with me on my first ascent of Striding Edge (I loved it). It all led me to the point where I was brave enough to say, ‘I can do that’, when Kirsty at Vertebrate Publishing quietly mentioned she might be looking for someone who could write walking routes. Thanks for believing in me, Kirsty.

Thank you also to the many friends and Wonderful Wild Women who supported me during the writing process (you know who you are) and all of the team at Vertebrate who worked on the book. Finally, to Cody – remember it is never too late to try something new.

/ About the walks

Most of the upland terrain on Helvellyn and its surrounding summits is owned and managed by various estates, farms and organisations, including the National Trust and the Lake District National Park Authority.

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act of 2000 (CRoW Act, sometimes referred to as the ‘right to roam’) came into effect in May 2005, and this granted legal access for those on foot to enjoy exploring ‘access land’. Given that there are also a huge number of historical public rights of way (public footpaths and public bridleways) within and outside the ‘access land’, there is a wealth of terrain to enjoy and explore in this area.

For clarity, ease of use and planning, the walks described in this guidebook usually follow established public rights of way, where you have the legal right to ‘pass and repass along the way’. Some of the routes use permissive paths, where a landowner has granted access for users, but this is not defined by law and walkers must adhere to waymarkers or signs placed by