Andy McKay

Jun 22, 2008

Climb up Helvellyn


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This weekend was the longest day, so my father and I decided to climb Helvellyn. Not of course a normal hike up, no we decided to hike up in the evening so we could watch the dawn rise on summer.

Hiking up England's third highest hill overnight is not as crazy as it sounds, until about 1am it wasn't really dark, the sun set about 11.30pm but it never got really pitch dark. Until about 1.30am when the wind picked up the cloud descended and we said that's it time to hide behind rocks before we do something daft like fall off the hill.

About 3.30am the clouds and winds lifted and we saw an absolutely glorious sunrise with about 20 or 30 other people on top of the hill. Helvellyn's eastern side is a very, very steep slope and the view goes for a very long way. Would do it again, but next time we'll head up a bit later so we have less time hanging around on the top of the hill.