Lake District Walks: Tarn Crag and Sergeant Man from Grasmere

After a long drive up the M6 motorway, I eventually arrived in Grasmere at around 11 am. The sun was shinning as I sat outside a tea shop to have a drink and study the route I was going to take. I was still undecided at how I was going to get from Easedale Tarn to Tarn Crag as there didn't seem to be an obvious path.

After I finished my brew I set off up the narrow road towards Easedale. Just before taking the path to Easedale Tarn I stopped to take some photographs of Helm Crag which seemed to be towering up in front of me at that point.

I crossed the footbridge over a fast flowing stream under the shade of some trees. The path then opened up as I passed through farm fields before starting to climb beside Sourmilk Gill.

The path wound it way up throught the braken slopes over rocky sections, and at one point passed close to the waterfall with its foaming white water. I pressed on up to the tarn where I got a fantastic view of Tarn Crag.

I crossed the stream where it flowed out of the tarn and made my way up the slopes on the other side. It was hard going through the bracken, but I eventually got to the top of the ridge just before the final ascent to tarn crag.

I headed for the summit on the left to begin with. I remember reading in Wainwrights Central Fells that this offered a good view down to the tarn - which it did.

After taking the photo's of the summit cairn and view down to the Easedale Tarn, I made my way over to main summit where I sat down to have some lunch. The views from here were amazing. In one direction I was looking across Far Easedale, over the Gibbson Knott ridge between Helm Crag and Calf Crag. I could see Steel Fell behind, and the Helvellyn range behind that. The photograph that I took does not capture the full openess of the view which I found inspiring. In the other direction I was looking across Codale Tarn and over the ridge to Pavey Ark and the Langdale Pikes. Another great view to see.