Thirlmere, Birk Side, Helvellyn, Lower Man, Cumbria.
[12.3 km] Tue 23 Jul 2013

OS Grid Ref: NY 3161 1730
Lat/Long: +54.546360, -03.058680

The weather forecast was bad with thunder and rain due. The rain started as I approached Thirlmere and when I reached the lay-bye at Station Coppice the rain was torrential with thunder and lightning. The main problem wasn’t the rain but the lay-bye car park which is now pay and display. To leave my car here for the day would cost £7, which is obscene. A short way back to the north is a length of the old road with plenty of space. So I left my car there. I set off in full waterproofs but the heavy rain soon subsided and just drizzle remained.

The thick cloud didn’t lift so I walked along the forest path towards Wythburn in very dreary and misty weather. It was a mix of forestry track and path and easy going.

Some years ago a lot of pine trees were cut down and now there is a good high level view of the Thirlmere Reservoir Strainer House below.

Where the track crosses the gulley where higher up are a series of led mines I came to a memorial bench. The inscription reads “In memory of Christian and Niggy Townend aged 29 and 21 who died 5 Dec 2010”

An internet search revealed that they were Christian and Nicholas Townend who were cyclists riding along the A595 when they were run down from behind and killed by a coach. It’s such a terrible tragedy when such keen and young cyclists are killed in that way.

At the trial in Carlisle the coach driver was cleared of causing their deaths by dangerous driving and also cleared of the lesser charge of causing their deaths by careless driving.
At the time the road was dead straight with low winter sunshine, it was freezing and his windscreen was partly obscured and the driver admitted to driving into “blinding” sunshine. Or put another way his incompetent maintenance of the windscreen meant he didn’t even see the cyclists he killed who were directly in front of him. This just underlines the fact there is no justice for cyclists and their families. Before I found the results of the driver’s prosecution I already knew he would have been let off. Judge and Jury; hang your heads in shame.
The BBC website said the following “He was cleared of the charge after a jury at Carlisle Crown Court heard he was dazzled by the sun for a few seconds and did not see the men.”

I reached the path signposted to Helvellyn and headed up through the wet trees and gloomy weather. The path is well made with stone steps most of the way. The climb to Birk Side is steady then up ahead I could see that the misty views of Thirlmere would soon vanish. At the old stone ruin I stopped to have an early lunch. It was getting windy so I managed to find some shelter behind a large boulder nearby.

Continuing through the mist I reached the saddle above Nethermost Cove which on a good day has great views, but not today. Before reaching the Helvellyn stone shelter wall I saw the small memorial on the right to the landing of an Avro Gosport plane landed in 1926.

I reached the shelter to find a couple of walkers sat sheltering from the wind and eating their sandwiches. I pressed on to the summit trig post then left the path to head south west to find Brownrigg Well. The visibility was only a few metres so I had to use my GPS to keep to the correct line.

The well is supposed to be the highest spring in England and it’s the highest I know of. The rate of water flow never seems to vary through the year and is always crystal clear. I headed north to re-join the path and begin the descent. Just past Lower Man I met 3 walkers heading up. We stopped briefly to chat and they asked how far they had to go to the summit.

I gave some information about the path and descent route then we continued our separate ways. The descent was steep but mostly of stone steps making it straightforward. I descended below the cloud at 650m and could see the landscape below me. At the bottom of the climb I walked though the main car park to the main road and back to my car.