Helvellyn - A circuit of Red Tarn timed to perfection

A friend asked me to take him over Striding Edge, not that you need an excuse! The forecast, depended on where you looked, it could go either way but I wasn't expecting a view. As it turned out the cloud lifted as we walked our way round and dropped behind, the rain started as we reached the car - a walk timed to perfection.

Birkhouse Moor...

views down Ullswater open up as the staircase is climbed...

it does get rougher further up Mires Beck...

the High Street range comes into view...

the path passes by the highest point, Helvellyn in cloud...

attempt & fail at an 'arty' shot, back to Birkhouse Moor...

Red Tarn, cloud licking the summit of Catstye Cam...

finally on Striding Edge...

Helvellyn still in cloud...

but it does look like its lifting...

the Dixon Memorial (1858)...

situated on a rock platform...

Striding Edge, sharp & pointy...

the cloud rises above Helvellyn...

& above Catstye Cam, Red Tarn in its entirety...

Striding Edge & the final chimney...

still a couple of short rock buttresses to climb...

 still not a soul to be seen, who said the Lakes are busy???

Gough Memorial (1890)...

Helvellyn trig & summit, still a few patches of snow & no cloud!!!

Swirral Edge and the route to Catstye Cam...

& back to Helvellyn...

by the time Catstye Cam summit is reached the cloudbase is falling...

the North West ridge...

Glenridding...

the breach in the Keppel Cove Dam, the concrete High Dam just down the valley..

 High Dam (breached in 1931 without the disaster of the Kepple Cove Dam breach), Catstye Cam now in cloud...

cloud still dropping...

the valley of Glenridding, the car was reached just as it started to rain...