Discovering the Stunning Helm Crag Hike in England's Lake District
- That's How We Travel
- Jun 21
- 3 min read
Summary. The Helm Crag hike in England's Lake District is a beautiful, approximately 6-mile trek of moderate difficulty that every hiker should think about undertaking when in the area. Even a heavy rain couldn't spoil the day, as it led to a stunning display of rainbows. Our day in the Lake District first started with a train trip from London to Manchester where we then rented a car and drove to Ambleside and stopped for lunch. From there we drove to Grasmere to pick up some world famous Grasmere Gingerbread before making our way to the Helm Crag trailhead.
[This blog is part of our 15-days in the British Isle trip].
Traveling from London to Keswick. The day started with catching an early 2 hour train from London to Manchester. From here we rented a car for the rest of our journey.
Ambleside. From Manchester we drove another two hours to the town of Ambleside in the Lakes District where we stopped to stretch our legs and grab lunch.
Grasmere GingerBread shop. Our next stop was the town of Grasmere, where we stood in the rain to try the famous Grasmere Gingerbread. It had been highlighted on Rick Steves' show, which naturally made it very crowded. Honestly, we're uncertain if it was worth the wait. If you're pressed for time, you might consider skipping it.
Helm Crag Hike. Finally, we arrived at the day's destination: the Helm Crag trailhead. Typically, we prefer hiking early in the morning, so beginning a hike late in the day was new for us. However, since the trail is only about 6 miles long, we thought we could complete it before it got too late.
The trail head is just along the side of the road. The first part crosses a field, runs into a residential neighborhood, and then eventually heads up the hillside and into the countryside. We suppose because it was later in the day, but we unexpectantly had the entire place to ourselves.
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No Photos Here. Missing from the photos here is when we got deluged with rain. We mean, deluged. The sky opened up and just dumped on us, out of the blue. Here we were, hiking along a beautiful trail, as shown above, and then within minutes it turned dark and we learned about the lovely weather in the Lakes District.
Rainbow Reward. The rain disappeared as swiftly as it arrived. As we reached the top of the trail, the sun emerged, and we were treated to stunning rainbows. We were drenched, no doubt, but the view was truly unforgettable.
Top of Ridge Line. The hike follows the ridge for quite a while, offering breathtaking views in every direction. You might even encounter some sheep friends along the route if you're fortunate. It's a fairly easy hike, and aside from the rain, the scenery is absolutely stunning. We highly recommend this hike if you're visiting the Lakes District.
The very end of the hike takes you back through a neighborhood where it started to rain again on us. Here, we took a couple of moody photos for fun.
Keswick. After our hike, we drove to Keswick where our accommodations were for the next couple of nights. This bar (photo one), below cracked us up. The second photo was our lodging, which included a mini kitchen.
Video of the full hike. Here is a video of our Helm Crag Hike.
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