Scafell Pike

So we had the weather on our side, the daylight was long, and we were staying close enough to get a decent car parking space.  Time for Scafell Pike.

Difficulty: 8
Walkers: Tim, Caroline, Grace (12), Evie (9), Poppy (6 1/2)
9:17, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (102)
13:59, 9.5km 4h41 1027m, Scafell Pike (978, Wainwright, Hewitt)
14:35, 10.1km 5h17 1071m, Broad Crag (934, Hewitt)
15:07, 10.9km 5h49 1107m, Ill Crag (935, Hewitt)
15:54, 12.2km 6h36 1166m, Great End (910, Wainwright, Hewitt)
16:42, 14.1km 7h24 1223m, Allen Crags (785, Wainwright, Hewitt)
17:51, 16.4km 8h33 1312m, Rossett Pike (651, Wainwright, Hewitt)
19:40, 22.0km 10h22 1329m, End (102)

We parked at the National Trust car park at Old Dungeon Ghyll, there were just a couple of spaces left at 9.15am when we go there.  You could tell there were lots of people heading the same way as us, but it wasn't actually too bad until the top.  We met a couple of groups several times, leapfrogging them on the water stops.  Exchanging more than a few words was great, one three-generation group taking their grandfather up to the top.

Up to Angle Tarn, with Esk Pike overlooking on the left.

After the hot climb up we decided to stop for lunch before getting to the summit, so got some peace and quiet before we hit the crowds...  There were several boulder fields to cross, which always slows things down.

Made it to the top, Poppy looking proud.  We got quite a few comments praising her for making it, although we never really had any doubts - she certainly is a star walker with years of practice. There were a load of people at the top - lots of people stopping to soak up the sunshine and recover.

Across to Ill Crag (having crossed more boulder fields via Broad Crag), with great views across to Scafell Pike.  We decided to try and catch a bunch of extra peaks on the way back, not surprisingly the crowds disappeared straight away on these diversions! 

Across to Great End, and met another couple at the summit who offered to take a rare family picture.

Along to Allen Crags.  We'd made sure we had plenty of water, unlike a couple of days earlier when we had run out in the sunshine.

Back to Esk Hause, looking down towards home.

We stopped for a while by Angle Tarn to finish off our last food supplies (maltloaf, appropriately for this blog).

And finally to Rossett Pike, for a last panorama of the growing shadows.

Mopping up the Langdales

We'd done a few walks in the Langdales before, but not covered this exact ground, so it was a good choice to end the weekend on.  We parked in one of the car parks by the hotel at the bottom of Dungeon Ghyll (cunningly named the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel).

Difficulty: 6

Walkers: Tim, Caroline

10:39, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (98)

12:46, 6.7km 2h06 566m, Rossett Pike (651)

14:30, 11.3km 3h50 810m, Pike of Stickle (709)

15:03, 12.6km 4h24 916m, Thunacar Knott (723)

15:22, 13.4km 4h43 950m, Harrison Stickle (736)

15:54, 14.4km 5h14 999m, Loft Crag (680)

17:22, 17.0km 6h42 1022m, End (100)

We started up the path we had come down when we walked up the Crinkle Crags and Bow Fell on honeymoon, I always remember that descent being really quite hard, and it was certainly a lot easier going up on fresh legs.  The weather didn't really look that promising though.

Still the cloud would occasionally lift and give us both hope and a stunning view.

The route we took to Rossett Pike was great, up until the path disappeared after we reached Angle Tarn.  I'm sure this was my navigation, but it wasn't that far.

Our path woes continued on the route across to the Pike of Stickle,   In parts it was good, but we ended up walking freestyle for most of the first stretch before the crossing with Stake Pass.  This picture shows the Pike sticking up - it took a bit of persuading before Caroline got up.  In fact I had given up and gone up myself, had enjoying the view and taken some pictures before I looked behind me and saw Caroline had clearly got bored waiting and had made it to the top.  A small amount of climbing up is needed...

The view from the top, probably taken when I was waiting for Caroline.  Thankfully the cloud had really started to clear, so we were getting reliable views.

I love this picture - I'm sure some foolhardy people go this way, but not us.

Following a fairly tedious cross country stretch we made it to Thunacar Knott.  I suspect that with the obvious views from the peaks around the cliff edges many fewer people make it over to here.

Harrison Stickle, with a great panoramic view taking in Pavey Ark on the left, to Stickle Tarn in the center and Loft Crag to the right.

Our final peak for the day, Loft Crag.