Stage 1: Glenridding to Striding Edge

Starting at the Glenridding car park, cross the road bridge over the stream in front of the corner shop. Turn right and follow the road parallel to the stream. Keep right as the road gives way to a track as you pass Gillside Farm campsite to your left. After the campsite, keep left on the road until you come to a T junction. Take the right-hand path and turn left immediately after the gate onto the fell. The path now rises steeply up Birkhouse Moor for about 2.5 km, leading to Hole-in-the-Wall and the beginning of Bleaberry Crag and Striding Edge.

Stage 2: Striding Edge

Continuing on the ridge from Hole-in-the-Wall relatively quickly leads you onto Striding Edge itself. The edge provides some great Grade 1 scrambling, with the real fun to be had by sticking to the very ridge itself. There are trickier places, including one more significant downclimb, but these can be avoided by taking the numerous side-paths should you wish. The last few hundred metres up to the wide top of Helvellyn are steep but rewarding.

Stage 3: Helvellyn and Swirral Edge

Once up on the wide top of Helvellyn, turn right to the summit itself. This provided us with an excellent stop for lunch, with views in all directions – the lip of the plateau looking down over Red Tarn provides a particularly convenient place to sit. Swirral Edge begins a few hundred metres north of the summit, heading east. The start is difficult to miss, and the scrambling is considerably easier than Striding Edge. Again, there’s fun to be had by sticking to the ridge itself, but plenty of side paths provide an easier route should that prove to be the sensible choice.

Stage 4: Catstye Cam and the Descent

Swirral Edge ends at a saddle point on the ridge between Helvellyn and Catstye Cam. At this point, you can head down to the tip of Red Tarn (top your right), or, as we did, continue along the ridge up Catstye Cam. Once at its summit, take care to find the right path going down: it leads east from the top, in the direction of Hole-in-the-Wall on the other side of the valley. It quickly joins the main valley path, on which we turn left. It is an unremarkable path that leads us quickly and directly back to Glenridding, via some excellent wild swimming pots in Glenridding Beck (not shown on the OS map – be opportunistic!).