A Langdale loop ‘The magnificent 7’
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:09 am
On Saturday 30th May in stunning conditions we had the intention of bagging ourselves 7 Wainwrights over 16 miles and completing a loop around the entirety of Great Langdale Head, here’s the report and some pictures of our long but rewarding day;
We started from Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and walked the short but steep climb up Stickle Ghyll to the tarn under Pavey Ark.
Due to the extremely nice weather and the popularity of Landale the first part of our day felt more like a slog around the M25 there were so many people. Once we reached the tarn we turned our attention towards Jacks Rake which I had seen in Sue’s post (viewtopic.php?f=16&t=747)
My friends Border Terrier ‘Oscar’ was with us and we both wondered how he would fair with the scramble ahead. Needless to say we had nothing to worry about, he shot up the Rake with little problem. I’ve tried to get the pictures of the tricky bits but like Sue pointed out, its a little difficult snapping away when your clinging on by your finger nails!
Once at the top we headed across to Harrison Stickle, Loft Crag and Pike of Stickle.
These were rewarding as they offered us some great views back down into Langdale, the crowds had also eased somewhat which made our walking a little easier too. After Pike of Stickle we had a pleasant and swift walk across the grassy slopes between Rossett Crag, High Raise and Upper Langstrath towards Angle Tarn. Parts of this walk were quite wet with peat bog sections to navigate. I’m only please we weren’t there in wetter conditions as I’d imagine this would be a tedious section.
We made Angle Tarn our lunch stop and what a lovely stop it was. With boots kicked off and fresh air around our hot feet we made ready for the assault on Esk Pike and Bow Fell, the latter being the highest on our route at 902m
As we climbed to the shelter between Allan Crags and Great End we were rewarded with stunning views down into Great Moss and also the Scafell range towering above.
Esk Pike was reached with no problems save for the heat and we were now starting to feel the mileage we had done so far. From the summit we could clearly see our next challenge and the route to it – Bow Fell. Approaching from the N/W as we did gave us a steady climb from Ore Gap which didn’t trouble us too much. The summit was quite busy but not half as busy as it looked when we saw Scafell Pike!
We came off Bow Fell and headed towards our penultimate set of summits on Crigle Crags where we had to negotiate another scramble. Oscar had to be manhandled down as the 12foot drop was too much even for a mountain hardened Border Terrier.
Cringle Crags afforded some great views over the peaks we had done even though the sun was westing and our legs were feeling the strain.
We could see our last summit ahead of us – Pike of Blisco.
Although we were both hot and with aching legs we decided that we came to do 7 and 7 we would do – Oscar looked at us with those soulful eyes and if dogs could speak, I’m sure he would have asked for the car keys and a couple of quid for a pint and been quite happy to take the shorter route back to the car!!
None the less we summited Blisco late in the afternoon and with the satisfaction that we had conquered the entire Langdale range headed down to the car. Our totals were 16 miles and 9 Wainwrights on a very hot day in the Lakes
Paul
We started from Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and walked the short but steep climb up Stickle Ghyll to the tarn under Pavey Ark.
Due to the extremely nice weather and the popularity of Landale the first part of our day felt more like a slog around the M25 there were so many people. Once we reached the tarn we turned our attention towards Jacks Rake which I had seen in Sue’s post (viewtopic.php?f=16&t=747)
My friends Border Terrier ‘Oscar’ was with us and we both wondered how he would fair with the scramble ahead. Needless to say we had nothing to worry about, he shot up the Rake with little problem. I’ve tried to get the pictures of the tricky bits but like Sue pointed out, its a little difficult snapping away when your clinging on by your finger nails!
Once at the top we headed across to Harrison Stickle, Loft Crag and Pike of Stickle.
These were rewarding as they offered us some great views back down into Langdale, the crowds had also eased somewhat which made our walking a little easier too. After Pike of Stickle we had a pleasant and swift walk across the grassy slopes between Rossett Crag, High Raise and Upper Langstrath towards Angle Tarn. Parts of this walk were quite wet with peat bog sections to navigate. I’m only please we weren’t there in wetter conditions as I’d imagine this would be a tedious section.
We made Angle Tarn our lunch stop and what a lovely stop it was. With boots kicked off and fresh air around our hot feet we made ready for the assault on Esk Pike and Bow Fell, the latter being the highest on our route at 902m
As we climbed to the shelter between Allan Crags and Great End we were rewarded with stunning views down into Great Moss and also the Scafell range towering above.
Esk Pike was reached with no problems save for the heat and we were now starting to feel the mileage we had done so far. From the summit we could clearly see our next challenge and the route to it – Bow Fell. Approaching from the N/W as we did gave us a steady climb from Ore Gap which didn’t trouble us too much. The summit was quite busy but not half as busy as it looked when we saw Scafell Pike!
We came off Bow Fell and headed towards our penultimate set of summits on Crigle Crags where we had to negotiate another scramble. Oscar had to be manhandled down as the 12foot drop was too much even for a mountain hardened Border Terrier.
Cringle Crags afforded some great views over the peaks we had done even though the sun was westing and our legs were feeling the strain.
We could see our last summit ahead of us – Pike of Blisco.
Although we were both hot and with aching legs we decided that we came to do 7 and 7 we would do – Oscar looked at us with those soulful eyes and if dogs could speak, I’m sure he would have asked for the car keys and a couple of quid for a pint and been quite happy to take the shorter route back to the car!!
None the less we summited Blisco late in the afternoon and with the satisfaction that we had conquered the entire Langdale range headed down to the car. Our totals were 16 miles and 9 Wainwrights on a very hot day in the Lakes
Paul