Grasmere is a great starting point for many walks, especially this one. From the village, head along Easedale road (which is a road used by cars, so take care) and follow this until Easedale beck. Cross here and follow the road to the next right. This forms part of the coast-to-coast route and swings you around Helm Crag, the fell we would be returning down at the end of the walk. The track continues on the flat for a long distance, unusual for a typical fell walking day, but this was all about to change! As soon as you go through a gate (which marks the end of the track), the path turns to the right and a long, steady climb is ahead of you.
The way is obvious and you can see all the way up to an early false peak and a rocky outcrop. Once past this, the true peak becomes visible. You can’t go too far wrong following it up the hill. The views out to the right are great, you can see Seat Sandall and even up to Helvellyn at points. To the left, the horseshoe starts to take shape. We found that we gained height quickly and although this part of the walk was a straight line to the peak, the views kept it interesting.
Towards the rockier top, the path was a little less clear, but once on the obvious peak, the view is alluring. The beautiful Thirlmere reservoir is seen, flanked between Low Saddle and the Helvellyn range. We followed the main path over the summit (referred to as Dead Pike), the path turned westwards and gave a view of our second Wainwright in Calf Crag.
From here the way is simple to navigate but at a few points, due to the grassy nature of the peak, we did have to check our bearings. Once at the two nameless tarns we took a little extra care to stay on the path, a walker we had met on the previous peak advised this can be a little harder to follow. Ensuring we stayed on the left-hand path was the most important step here. It was the better route, and after a little time climbing the not too steep path towards the top, we made it to Calf Crag.
The views at Calf Crag are a little less spectacular than Steel Fell, but the scale of the mountains isn’t lost here and it’s a great place to view the ridge walk down to Tarn Crag. Once we had finished taking in the view, we quickly checked the direction to head for the second half of the horseshoe, found the path, and set pace. The path is easy to follow here and is also not too strenuous. We were able to pick up some speed and found it good walking underfoot. Following the main ridge path was not a problem.
As we passed Moment Crag (not a Wainwright), the path became rockier and harder underfoot, with the slow ascent to the next peak, we slowed down. The heat beating down on this beautiful day also assisted and after a bit of a slow climb we found ourselves on the top of Gibson Knott. Once again, the views are brilliant and you can easily pick out the route that we took to start Steel fell a few hours previous.
The route from Gibson Knott to Helm Crag passed by in-memory quite quickly. Although we do remember at this point feeling a little tired (Our post lockdown fitness not being its best!). Even though the path between the two was easy enough, as we passed Bracken Hause we had definitely had our fill. Luckily, as we reached Helm Crag the stunning view so many people have written about revitalized us. Stood next to the huge summit rocks that make the well-known “Lion and the Lamb” are not so small as it may seem at the bottom. The view out towards Grasmere is sublime, seeing even over to Nab Scar and allowing you to easily see the valley that Grasmere sits in.
Dropping down from the last peak, our legs started to ache and knees complaining, we passed some people just setting out on what was probably a lovely spring afternoon wander to Helm Crag. Passing people full of energy only made us want to get down even quicker and have a rest. In the final stretch, all soreness and aches, we noticed that there was a path at the bottom called poets walk, seeing that it wouldn’t add on any time, decided that would be a nice way to finish off the route and hopefully refill our depleted energy reserves.
Once through this meandering path via a small woodland, we found ourselves back on Easedale Road and from here it was just a short walk down to the centre of Grasmere for some of its extra special gingerbread, now this gave us some of the energy we needed! All four peaks have their beauty here, but the first and last in Steel Fell and Helm Crag have the best views and it’s these two that I'm sure are most likely to tempt us back again in the future.
