A good day today climbing Helvellyn from Wythburn, cloud up high but some good views on the way up and down and not a breath of wind on the tops today.
We set off from Wythburn at 10am and headed up the track through the forest to emerge onto the open fellside above near Comb Gill. As we climbed higher there were some good views behind us, across Thirlmere towards the North Western Fells.
We were soon up above Comb Crags and onto the easier slopes of Birk Side, the newer zig-zag path here brought us quickly up and before long we were up into the cloud following the track to meet the main ridge above Swallow Scarth and climbing up towards the summit of Helvellyn.
We stopped quickly by the plaque to commemorate Bert Hinkler's landing of a plane on the summit of Helvellyn before crossing to the summit shelter of Helvellyn.
We didn't stop for too long on the summit today, we were up here very quickly so left a lunch stop until later in the day, we headed up to the summit cairn for a quick picture before following the path back down towards Swallow Scarth and climbing the short slope towards the summit of Nethermost Pike.
We passed a group from Outward Bound near the summit of Nethermost Pike, the last people we saw today.
From the summit of Nethermost Pike we headed back to the main path and descended by High Pike and followed the path until we reached the old gate post next to the path, from here it's just a short climb up to the summit of Dollywaggon Pike, our final summit of the day.
From Dollywaggon Pike we descended to the south west, crossing the path and meeting the gill descending towards Willie Wife Moor. When the gradient eased on Willie Wife Moor we crossed the stream and took a direct line through the mist, heading west to meet the old mine path dropping down over Reggle Knott.
As we dropped down towards Reggle Knott we emerged from the cloud, there were good views north over Thirlmere and south over Helm Crag as we descended to meet the path north towards Birkside Gill.
The track through the woods is closed at present so we dropped down to meet the footpath alongside the main road taking us back to Wythburn Church.
