Lake District Week – Scafell Pike

Today we climbed Scafell Pike, which is the highest mountain in England, and it stands at 978 metres above sea-level. I’ve climbed it before, and six of us went for the climb today. Sarah had a migraine, and I’ve been asked to make clear that it wasn’t alcohol related. Although the subject was hotly debated today.

We had a little bit of a rearrangement of cars and we drove to the start of the walk, which was nearly 90 minutes away from Keswick. It’s unfortunately not far as the crow flies, but it’s a long way by road. But we got there, and the enormity of the mountain started to loom over us. We decided to do the east route from Wasdale Head, so there were no challenges in terms of the difficulty of the climb, it was just a lot of ascent.

Steve and Gordon at the beginning of the walk, looking rather like terrorists…

Calm and sunny at the start of the walk.

Gordon and Steve having a little break.

Beautiful views.

The view over Wast Water as we climbed up.

Steve posing by the water.

Our first obstacle was a river which went across the path. In the above photo it wasn’t too bad in the morning, but the rain later on made this rather more torrential. I just ploughed through the stream directly, although I managed to get water come in over the top of my boot (I was very brave). The others faffed about looking for an easier spot to cross. I didn’t say anything though, I didn’t want to brag about my bravery.

The view from a little higher up.

The walk through the valley, with the mist now being more obvious. It also blocked our view of the summit, which we never saw from afar.

The walk is more challenging towards the top, much more stony and rocky.

Gordon at the summit. He’s only gone and done it! There’s a story about that coat. It’s a very expensive coat….

Dave and Gordon near the top.

Steve at the top.

Steve, who was wearing his sunglasses to protect himself from the sun, at the top.

Steve kindly brought some Haribo to the top of Scafell, and I was delighted to eat several of them.

And here I am at the top. So very brave.

Dave has done it! He looks about 25 here…

The going down was hardly than we anticipated, as the volume of rain had made it more slippery. A lot of the descent is on stone and great care had to be taken to ensure that there were no falls. Gordon and Dave did slip over, but no harm was done. Steve B was also very graceful whilst descending the mountain, positively skipping down it.

Gordon complained a bit, but was great fun, and Steve M just made the whole thing look so easy. Maggie was also really caring dealing with Gordon’s tendon and putting him at his ease.

Well done to Maggie, Steve B, Steve M, Dave and Gordon for completing Scafell Pike, so very brave! I was delighted to finish too of course.