Glenridding

A Village Shaped by Beck and Fell

Glenridding Beck runs straight through the middle of the village and out into Ullswater, and in December 2015 it did so twice with more force than anyone wanted. Storm Desmond pushed the beck over its banks, debris flows tore through the village, and then, in the same month, it happened again. Flooding a village once is bad luck. Twice in one month is something else.

The beck is calmer now, and it sets the shape of the place. Glenridding sits at the southern end of the lake, hemmed in by Helvellyn behind, Sheffield Pike to one side and Place Fell across the water. Helvellyn rises to 950 metres more or less directly out of the back of the village, which is the reason most people are here.

Ridge and Mine-Track Walks

The classic way up is Helvellyn via Striding Edge, a 7-mile circular from the village and the most famous ridge walk in England. Striding Edge is a knife-edge arête, the sort of thing you traverse rather than stroll along, and most walkers come off the top by Swirral Edge or the gentler Mires Beck route. The summit is at 3,116 feet. In winter or high winds it is a serious undertaking, not a stroll with a flask.

For something shorter there's the Greenside Mine trail, a two-mile there-and-back up the valley to a set of ruined Victorian mine buildings and processing floors. Greenside was one of the largest lead mines in the Lake District. Lead ore was found here around the 1650s, reputedly by Dutch adventurers, and once the mining got systematic it gave up over a million tons of galena before closing in 1962.

Secrets Underground, Shelter Above

The mine has an odd afterlife. During the Cold War its tunnels were used for Operation Orpheus, secret experiments involving acoustics and the effects of underground nuclear tests, the details classified for decades. The buildings now house a YHA hostel.

The pub is the Travellers Rest, sat on the path to Helvellyn and busy with walkers coming down off it. The bar and lounge are wood-panelled and cosy, and the gravelled terrace looks up the valley toward the fell. The kitchen does homemade steak and ale pie with chips and mushy peas, a sharing fish platter of plaice goujons, salt and pepper squid and prawns in mayo with fresh bread, and a chicken breast burger. Hesket Newmarket's Helvellyn Gold is a regular on tap. Dogs are welcome.

Boats, Shore and Ways In

Down at the shore, the Ullswater Steamers still run. The MV Lady of the Lake first launched in 1877 and the MV Raven in 1889, and their original job was carrying passengers, Royal Mail, provisions, slate and lead ore from Greenside down the lake. Both are still in service, now diesel-electric, running from Glenridding Pier to Howtown and Pooley Bridge.

There's no railway; the nearest station is Penrith, fifteen miles north. You get here by car on the A592 along the lake, or over Kirkstone Pass from Windermere, and the seasonal 508 bus links Penrith and Patterdale. Beyond the tourist shops there's watersports hire on the water, and the church, St Patrick's.

From Lead Boats to Fell Walkers

The steamers were built to carry lead down the lake. The lead is long gone, and the boats now carry walkers up to the foot of the fells the lead men used to work under.