With the mural complete I was very keen to get out and show off the beauty of the Lake District to Dave before he returned to California… It would have been great to get out, tie in to a rope, and do some real rock climbing (we had of course made full use of the indoor climbing wall while based there painting the mural). But, with a mostly cloudy day ahead we felt our climbing would have been focused on cold hands and misery rather than fun routes. We were lucky though, on our chosen adventure – Striding Edge in wintry conditions – the clouds parted nicely at the summit to provide us with some breath taking Lakeland views.
When the clouds parted revealing the beautiful Lakeland landscape Dave asked, “… so where’s all the climbing?” We had to explain that the Helvellyn area isn’t the Lake’s best area for crags – hmm, and that nowhere in Britain for that matter has walls of rock quite like Yosemite!
