Striding Edge to Helvellyn, from Glenridding

Glenridding exists, as a base, largely because of one mountain. Helvellyn is England’s third-highest summit, and Striding Edge, the narrow scramble that leads to it, is the best-known ridge route in the Lake District, well known enough that most people who attempt it have never done anything quite like it before. This trip gives it a full day, with Aira Force’s waterfall on either side as the gentler counterweight.

Who this suits

Fit, experienced walkers, or a confident first-timer roped in by someone who has done it before. Striding Edge is graded severe, and guides put it at the top of their difficulty scales for a reason. Couples splitting a hard day and a rest day either side of it get good value from the three nights here, and Aira Force, easy and mostly on maintained paths, gives a fair sense of Ullswater’s western shore without asking anything of tired legs.

The honest caveat

This is not a walk for dogs, and it is not a walk to bring children on regardless of how confident they are on a normal footpath. On the narrowest sections the drops toward Red Tarn are real, and fatal accidents happen here most years, usually in poor visibility or when the ridge is treated like an ordinary summer path rather than the scramble it is. Anyone hoping for a gentler introduction to Helvellyn’s neighbourhood should stay with Aira Force and the Ullswater shore and leave Striding Edge for a different trip.